14th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

by admin on May 14, 2014

We are embarrassed to admit that we haven’t run any events since the last OKC Memorial Marathon. T3, Mav and Weeble trained (if you can call it that) and ran this year.

The start of the races was delayed nearly two hours by severe weather. With a line of thunderstorms producing lightning, hail and high winds approaching the Oklahoma City area as the 6:30 a.m. start neared, race officials decided to push back the start 30 minutes. Several more delays followed as the weather lingered. The Pirañas hung out in the 5th Street Parking Garage to stay out of the rain while waiting for the start. The weather actually pushed the race dangerously close to being canceled. Race officials have a policy of starting by 8 a.m. That is to avoid the heat of the day, when runner safety could be put at risk, and because road closures for the race could only be maintained by the city for so long.

Pirañas at the start: OCMMstart

Run Pirañas Run OCMMrun

As the race wore on it quickly became evident that this was not going to be a great day for the Pirañas. Weeble moved out in front running with friend and training partner Jim while Mav and T3 tried to settle into a rhythm which never came. The boys saw many friends along the way and T3 was his usual friendly self, running up into lawns and sitting in people’s chairs and taking food and libation from new found friends. Beer, Mimosa’s, Bacon, a shot of Vodka…all found within a 26.2 mile long block party.

Between 8 & 9: Weeble and Jim, Mav and T3
ocmmweeblejim1
 ocmmmavt31

By Lake Hefner Mav was struggling and T3, with head down and focused on making the bridge, dropped him unintentionally. T3 caught Weeble who was slowing down, then went on. Mav almost quit at the Lake after T3 left him (T3 was very sorry about that), but Mav has never quit anything, so on he went eventually catching Weeble.

Mav and Weeble around mile 24
ocmmmavweeble1

Finally the day was over: T3 in 5:18, Mav and Weeble in 5:58:
ocmmt3finish ocmmmavfinish ocmmweeblefinish

If one plots the percentage of finishers in each half hour slot for every year of the race (and T3 is just the one to do this) you find an expected bell curve with some deviation year to year. The curve for this year is shifted significantly to the right indicating that it took everyone longer to finish. To support that, one can also plot the average finish times for all 14 years (again, one did) and the same thing shows up: the longest average finish time by a wide margin occurred this year.

Finish Dist
Avg Finish

Turns out it was a bad day for everyone. However, even the worst day running a marathon is a blessing.

13th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

by admin on April 30, 2013

Sunday, April 28th, 2013. The 13th Annual running of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. This is a race that the Piraña Brothers know very well. T3 is the co-founder of the marathon. All the Pirañas have run in the race at some distance most years, and T3 has run all 13 marathons. All the Pirañas have participated in producing the event, holding positions from generic volunteer to president.

But this year the race was different.

Several significant things changed in the past year, but one was more significant than all the rest. The Pirañas lost Goose. More importantly, Goose’s family lost Goose. His wife and 6 children now have memories in the spaces once once filled by the man they called dad. The Pirañas all have kids, and to think of leaving them is more painful than any race they ever endured.

So the Pirañas ran for Goose. In his honor. For his memory. For his family.

During 168 seconds of silence…

Pirañas ready to run!

Overall it was a difficult day for the brothers. Goose would have been proud. Team Piraña trained poorly, ate like oil field workers, started slow and slowed down.

PIT Sweet Tee decided to run the half at 5:30pm on Saturday. In spite of no actually training and having worked all day Saturday he still turned in a respectable 1:47 half. The rest of the crew didn’t fare so well…

Weeble, Maverick, T3 and PIT Action started together but began getting separated as early as mile 7. Maverick struggled with knee problems (post surgery) during most of training and that came back up early in the day. Weeble, running on fumes from having worked marathon logistics for several days prior started faltering at Lake Hefner around the 14 mile mark. At that point the Pirañas could see each other, but that would be the last time.

Action ran strong until mile 16 or so then started having overall issues (most likely due to a broken arm causing him to miss 3+ weeks of training) and started slowing down. T3 stayed with Action (it was a father son thing) and was sure they would be caught by Maverick and Weeble at some point. Maverick did catch Weeble, but they never caught T3 and Action. Action finished his first full marathon in 4:54:33 (as did T3)…

Maverick came in at 5:17:09, took off his shirt, pranced around the finish area, did his pushups, pranced around somemore…you get the picture. Weeble was right behind him at 5:18:47.

Weeble not Wobbley

by admin on January 31, 2013

Weeble participated in the Houston Marathon finishing in a respectable sub-4:30 time. We don’t have a race report from him yet, but we do have a pic of his new friends from Texas:

Interestingly, Weeble managed to run an almost even paced race. That’s not very wobbley at all!

You can go to the RunPix site and see how he did compared to all the other runners that day:

Gone but not Forgotten

by admin on January 5, 2013

Goose was laid to rest today. The Piranas were in attendance to honor the memory of our fallen brother.

Mrs. Goose (would that make her Mother Goose too?) did a great job planning the service.

Dr. Faulkner (Metro Baptist pastor) officiated. We sang three hymns: “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “It Is Well With My Soul” (all the stanzas per the family’s request). Five of Goose’s friends and colleagues gave personal remembrances: Bill Schlittler (co-worker from Cole & Reed), Robert Black (friend from church), T3 (fellow Pirana), Neil Stratmeyer (long time personal friend and travel companion) and Chuck Robinson (his counselor). Additionally, the family (brother, sister, etc.) sang “Crux Fidelis”.

Some very fun stories were told including one of our personal favorites: On our trip to Kentucky to run the Bourbon Chase, during one of the legs, a girl came up to Mav and said that she had just passed an “older gentleman” dressed like us that was on the side of the road throwing up in the ditch.  That was our Goose.  Trained light, ate like crap, and paid for it when had to put in the miles.

Goose’s earthly remains were laid to rest at Arlington Memory Gardens in Midwest City, OK, but his spirit will follow us on road and trail.

To a Fallen Brother….

by admin on December 31, 2012

Mark “Goose” Dyer

March 13, 1961 – December 31, 2012

Services will be held Saturday, January 5,

10:00 AM at Metropolitan Baptist

(7201 West Britton Road, Oklahoma City)

A Meal Train has been set up to help the family during this difficult time.

Brother Goose has left this mortal life. He will be greatly missed and greatly morned.

As team anchor, Goose prided himself in never pushing the pace. He was the one we counted on to keep easy days easy and hard days easy too. Although a U.S. resident from birth, his internal clock was set to Mexican time. Like the story about the two hikers and the bear, you didn’t have to worry about being late for a training run unless goose beat you there.

As part of his cutting-edge training regimen, he perfected the art of the perpetual taper, and his nutrition plan was the stuff of legend – just eat like #%*& the night before every long training run, if he ever did them, since he was always tapering. Goose was the veteran of many marathons, long course triathlons and a 100 miler, proving that less is more–less training, more pain and suffering.

To steal a line from Ogden Nash confirming his team status, “This solemn thought I introduce: the higher the level, the bigger the goose.”

Goose was a caring and reliable friend. The team will not be the same without him and we will miss his humor and solid step on the road and trail.

Obituary published in Daily Oklahoman on January 4, 2013

March 13, 1961 – December 31, 2012 EDMOND Mark R. Dyer passed away on Dec. 31, 2012, after suffering complications from pneumonia. He was born in Tulsa on Mar. 13, 1961 to Norris W. “Bud” Dyer and Martha Dyer. He married his beloved wife, Elizabeth Sleeper on Jul. 25, 1992, and they had six children. Their home is in Deer Creek (Edmond). Mark had a heart full of love and a deeply held faith in Jesus Christ. He was a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church, where he served terms as Elder and Deacon, and contributed his gifts richly to the church’s ministries and communal life. He was a longtime employee and senior tax manager at the accounting firm Cole & Reed, after becoming a CPA in 1986. He graduated from Oklahoma State in 1984, and loved Cowboys wrestling and football. Mark graduated from Holland Hall HS in Tulsa in 1979. Throughout his life, he retained a love of choral music, Formula 1 racing, Dallas Cowboys football, and working on old Z-cars. His greatest loves, however, were his Lord, his dear wife and children, and his many friends. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:3) Mark is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; his children, Stephen, Josiah, Caleb, Erin, Mary, and Micah; his mother, Martha Dyer (of OKC); his loving in-laws, Julian and Idabelle Sleeper and family; his siblings, Jennifer Dyer, John and Lynne (of Norman), Stephanie Dyer and Mark McCorkle, and Susanna Dyer and Greg Stefanek; and his eighteen nieces and nephews. Viewing Friday at Vondel L. Smith Funeral Home, 13125 N. MacArthur in NW OKC. Funeral service Sat., Jan. 5, 10:00 AM, at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 7201 W. Britton in OKC. Mark will rest at Arlington Memory Gardens in Midwest City. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to: The Mark Dyer Memorial Fund at BancFirst, 6200 Waterford Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73118.

Piraña Wed

by admin on January 9, 2011

Samsonite tied the knot in Ft Collins, CO on December 20th.

The brothers were unable to attend the main event (some are not sure they were even invited…) but they did get an invite to the local reception this past weekend where the lovely couple were greeted by friends and family. Mav, BFG and T3 were there to wish Kelsey luck dealing with the madman.

Pirana Warriors

by admin on January 7, 2011

Team Pirana is planning the next run trip for early this spring! They are thinking about taking on the Warrior Dash in Texas in April

From the Warrior Dash website,

“Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell. This fierce running series is held on the most challenging and rugged terrain across the globe. Warriors conquer extreme obstacles, push their limits and celebrate with kick-ass music, beer and warrior helmets.”

What’s not to like?

The course is 3.24 miles and includes;

  • Slithering Swamp
  • Terror Town
  • Knee High Hell
  • Black Forest
  • Cliff Hanger
  • Rio Run
  • Hell’s Hill
  • Satan’s Slope
  • Hay Fever
  • Cargo Climb
  • Warrior Roast

Stay posted for training and planning posts.

Verdigris and 95

by admin on November 14, 2010

One of the last aid stations left and the guys are hanging on. Walking wounded and sleeping on their feet, but keeping one foot in front of another.

On the bridge to ...?

On the bridge to ...?

And a bit of time for a waiting crew to be goofy! So is the life of a crew.

A true picture of Weeble

A true picture of Weeble