January 18th, 2007: Phil sends the Solano brothers an email with the subject line "hey bros - up for a run".
He had decided that it would be a good idea for us to run the Tulsa Marathon relay in November, and we were all foolish enough to agree (it turned out to be a great idea). We all began whatever training regiments we figured would get us results, and discovered that our ability to snap back from a few years of sloth have deserted us along with our bulletproof knees and our sharp minds. For months, I figured I was the only one who felt like poop every day as I ran, so I was personally relieved when a couple of the bros told me that they were every bit as miserable as I was with the training. Nonetheless, we persevered, and in November we gathered for a memorable weekend in Tulsa.
Fugawi Logo
We came together as Team Fugawi, complete with Fugawi hats supplied by Phil and team shirts supplied by Mark, bearing the Fugawi name, along with that of Booger John's, a veritable institution of a Route 66 motorcycle dealer in Claremore. Seeing the back of our shirts, there would be no doubt on the part of anyone that Fugawi was not to be trifled with:
Fugawi Shirt Back
We gathered together on the days before the race, and did what we always do when we gather together. We had a great time. We drove the race course, discovering that it was mostly flat, except for Alan (and to a much lesser extent, Phil), who had a particularly vertical challenge in his part of the course, having to climb at least three very long hills in the last couple of miles of the course. We were all relieved, except Alan.
Why we were all relieved except Alan - Relay legs and elevations
For inspiration, Mark took us to the statue of Andy Payne, the Oklahoma Cherokee who won the Transcontinental Footrace of 1928, covering 3,423 miles in 84 days, or 572 hours. When I did the math, I figured that he averaged the same thing over 3,423 miles that I was hoping to do for my 3.7 miles (about 10 minute miles). I will not be entering the Transcontinental race anytime soon.
The Andy Payne Statue on Route 66