Brother Samsonite has hit upon a fabulous idea. It started with the idea to do a 24 hour run to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. Samsonite intended to run laps around the track at Yukon High School (his Alma Mater) for 24 hours and get people to pledge money for laps or miles.

Then the thought occured, “what if other people come out and run laps and raise money for the laps they run?” So this became the 24 Hour Brigade. An army of normal people, walking or running some number of laps/miles, for pledges and donations, all supporting the WWP.

“How many miles could get completed by those people? A thousand?” That is where it started to get interesting. What if companies (or individuals) pledged 50 cents per total mile completed? What about $1? The numbers get big fast.

As soon as people started hearing about this they said, “we could just run where we are.” So satellite runs started cropping up. That, along with the easy solution WWP provides for individual fund raising, makes this idea infinitely scalable.

So, March 20, starting at 1700 (that’s 5:00 pm for the rest of us) and continuing until March 21 at 1700, Samsonite will be running to raise money. Hopefully a lot of people will run with him, both in Yukon and wherever they are, and together all those miles will raise a lot of money for the men and women who gave so much to serve our country.

Wanna join up?

While Little Sammie was celebrating the turn to adulthood (do they let the little fella’s celebrate the two one at the big WP?), and Mav, Mac and the big T along with PIT Sweet Tee were training with the OKC Running Club, Big and PIT McLovin were out on the trails with the OTRA crew for the monthly run.

The post run activities is where McLovin started to lose time, Mimosa’s in the kitchen, Hot Tubbin’ with the sweet (yet aging) babes, an afternoon at Chili’s; who knows whether the McLovin even knows his name now.

Meanwhile, Big (bum leg and all) did the cookin’ and watched all of the calories for everyone, leech to his double extra large backside.

In any instance, the P Bros. got a workout in and represented the crew with honor!

On January 17, a mere 21 years ago, Young Samsonite was born. His mother says that he was an easy baby (of course, he has gotten progressively more difficult as the years have passed) but that they were concerned from early on that he was “not quite right”. In spite of the concerns and sometimes ridicule of their friends and neighbors, Samsonite’s parents just loved the bugger and did their best to prepare him to face the cruel world. Of course, who wouldn’t love this little guy?

So now it is 21 years later and our little buddha baby has grown to be a man (a little too effeminate some might say, but a man never the less.) So this morning while on a long run the Piranas called their brother at West Point and sang him a rousing and bawdy rendition of Happy Birthday.

Speaking of the long run…

The Piranas joined the Oklahoma City Marathon Training Group for a hill run this morning. The Piranas want to thank all the committee members that make these runs possible. Also a big thanks to Do Fitness for sponsoring the water stops along the way.

That is Wendy Jordan in the middle (water stop volunteer) and Donna Banks (a fellow runner) on the left.

Team Pirana met early for a couple miles, met up with the training group for 10 more and with running back and forth and such got various distances in from 12 to 14 miles. Some of the boys got some good speed work in on the hills and Sweet Tee tore it up to finish in front of the Piranas. More importantly, Sweet Tee went back out onto the course and reran the last 1.5 miles with his grandmother to see her safely in.

Mav, Mac, Sweet Tee, and T3 are pictured here. Goose had to leave early due to prior commitments and an aversion to actually training and so is not pictured.

One great thing about joining the training group is the food after the run. Today was no exception and of course Mav was there early and often:

The Piranas visited a local Broadmoor establishment called the Golden Bee for dinner. The Golden Bee originally came to The BRO^ADMOOR in 1961 as a collection of panels and fixtures from an entire 19th-century pub that were shipped from England and reassembled in Colorado Springs - a town once nicknamed “Little London.” Celebrated as a unique dining adventure, the Golden Bee offers wonderful pub-fare and plenty of English charm. A ragtime piano player tickles the keys to a repertoire of sing-a-long songs, and the ale is served in yards.

So, speaking of yards, Mav did that:

They had a lovely meal of spinach salad and fish & chips and they sat at their table got to meet and get to know several nice folk including Robert Boniface (left) and Julia Vitarello (second from left) of Winning Time:

And Brad (aka Dirk Diggler) and Lori (aka birthday bee):

If you are wondering about the bees on their foreheads…since the Piranas were at an establishment called the Golden Bee, the wait staff throws these embroidered bees at patrons and they stick to you. If you stay long enough you end up with several bees:

The boys were completely amazed at how deftly their waitress, Lisa, could throw a bee at them and have it stick on their clothes:

Another important fact about the Golden Bee is the piano player:

The piano player plays songs from a song book that is on your table and everyone in the joint sings along. Mav and T3 stood and belted out a rousing rendition of “Oklahoma” and received a hearty round of applause from the establishment.

The boys walked home from the pub (if home is their hotel room) and are now safely tucked in bed. On the way home they snapped this pic of the front of the Broadmoor.

Tomorrow they get up early and catch their flight back to the 405.

Well, the boys survived the first full day in CS and the USAT Race Director’s Certification Conference. After a fitful night in way to comfortable beds, day broke on the second day.

The guys decided to skip a morning run and take it easy, with plans to run later in the afternoon. Breakfast was oatmeal with fruit and egg whites for T3 and eggs and trout for Mav. (finding palatable food that is runner friendly has been so difficult for the brothers) Then it was off to the conference for the morning sessions.

Lunch break saw the boys grabbing apples and trailmix and getting the car to go exploring.

They drove up into the foothills looking for trailheads they could run from later. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but did get some spectacular views of CS from above.

After lunch the conference started to wrap up, which included a class picture:

Mav managed to get in the only position he could not be seen in. So we just have to TRUST that he was actually there. It was an interesting group with a broad spectrum of event types and amount of experience represented.

One great thing was guys got the opportunity to interface with USAT personnel and race directors from other areas.

When class let out the boys headed up the hill for a run with the David Christen who is the Membership Services Operations Manager for USAT. Dave was kind enough to take the guys up Gold Camp Road to a great trailhead and spend an hour and a half running with them.

The trail climbed steeply and the guys saw evidence of the mountain lions and other wildlife the area is famous for. Mav saw a mule deer and after the run the crew saw a fox and a lynx. The view from the trail was breathtaking:

The altitude was a factor (they got up to about 9500ft), but running along in the dark looking out over the lights in CS was a treat the guys would have missed for anything. They send their heartfelt thanks to Dave!

Tonight the Piranas (at least those in Colorado Springs) dined on salmon. Salmon is a color (basically pink), but it is also a really tasty fish. This particular salmon was prepared from fresh wild salmon at a trendy little place called Walter’s Bistro. Carol at the Broadmoor made the boy’s reservation and once they arrived Patrick saw to their every need.

The meal started with Gathered Baby Field Greens with apple cider vinaigrette, warm walnut crusted chevre and dried cranberries served with some wonderful sourdough bread. A glass of the house merlot was the perfect accompaniment. The main dish was Pan Roasted Wild Caught Salmon with sauteed potato gnocchi, crispy pancetta, and a butternut squash sauce.

Both the brothers think this may have been the best salmon they have ever had (and they have both eaten a lot of salmon!).

The guys are turning in early tonight and will hit it hard tomorrow with a full day at the conference, a trail run in the mountains and an evening at a very famous local establishment for dinner.

Mav and T3 ran up the mountain this morning. Well, not all the way up the mountain, but up to the Zoo from the Broadmoor. It was about 34° and they watched the sun come up over Colorado Springs. Since the Race Directors Conference did not start until 9:00, they had plenty of time to run, shower, and have breakfast before the Session started.

Breakfast for the Piranas was oatmeal, fresh fruit, egg white veggy omelettes and coffee. Very yummy and good for you too! Lunch was back in the room where the guys had stashed some fruit and whole grain english muffins (with sugar free blackberry jam).

After a whole day in a closed conference room, the brothers are looking forward to another run on the trails this evening. A local who is part of USAT and helping with the Conference has offered to bring the boys headlamps so they can run the trails in the dark! Fun!

The Piranas made it to CS (that is Colorado Springs for you flatlanders) and, after renting a car and using T3’s iPhone as a navigation device, arrived safe and sound at the Broadmoor. Checking in was quite a treat. They really don’t want you to do anything for yourself. Mav had requested a “room with a view” and that is what they got. Located in the south tower, they were taken to their room by a bellhop who the Piranas made very nervous every time they tried to touch their own bags or open a door. From the window T3 and Mav can see all of CS.

The Broadmoor has a storied past (only more storied than the Pirana’s by virtue of being around for 90 more years than the Team) and Mav immediately started reading up on the hotel and “reporting” the facts to T3. It was soon discovered that T3 had forgotten to pack the cable to connect the Pirana camera to the Pirana laptop, so until they find a substitute pictures will be unavailable. You will have to trust that the Pirana flag is hanging neatly on the wall and Mav is lounging in the robe the Broadmoor provided while he eats dried fruit and watches tv.

The room has a tv in the bathrom, a whirlpool tub, a computer controller that does everything from opening and closing the curtains to controlling the tv, and a minibar to die for (Mav and T3 brought their own snacks of course). It only took about 2 minutes in the room before T3 and Mav looked at each other and said, “we have to bring our wives here!”

The Race Director Certification class starts tomorrow morning.

Wow, that is a boring title.

Mav and T3 are off to Colorado Springs to attend the USAT Race Director Certification Program. Poor guys…3 days in the foothills talking about events and running in the snowy hills. It will be rough, but they can handle it.

They will try to keep us posted here, but you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/t3design

Unfortunately for the guys, the conference is at the Broadmoor Hotel.

Mav finished Bandera (last weekend) in 14:04:18. While we are still waiting for a full race report, some pics have come in….

Mav getting his things packed (he is not always this neat)

Mav and the guys in the big town.

Mav at the start the evening before the race.

Another one bites the dust (race that is)

You can’t go to San Antontio without seeing the Alamo.