The 24 Hour Brigade got off to a great start. Samsonite was the star of the show as the media sought him for interviews:

Lots of people showed up to participate and cheer. After some words by Randy Swanson and the National Anthem, They were off and running:

Samsonite and Mav are running the entire 24 hours. There is a countdown clock to mark time and volunteers are keeping count of laps, both the total for everyone and Samsonite and Mav’s individually.

In the first 45 minutes the total miles logged were over 100!

We will keep you posted…

Hooah! That is what Brother Samsonite says (he is military you know) and this week he is saying it a lot. Friday (March 20) at exactly 1700 CDST (military thing again) he will begin running around the quarter mile track at Yukon HS and he plans to not stop until 1700 on SATURDAY. You read that right, 24 hours.

This is the Inaugural 24 Hour Brigade event. The brain child (or aneurysm) of Samsonite, this event was designed to raised money and promote awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. Samsonite has been getting a lot of press lately and Wednesday night while out with the bros at an OKC Thunder game even made it onto television.

The best part though was the subsequent message from a Thunder girl on his facebook page!

Team Pirana will be around the whole time too. Most of the team is training for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, so this weekend’s 20 mile run will be done on the track to support the cause and keep brother Samsonite company. He plans to complete 130 miles. That is 520 laps around the track boys and girls!

If you are in the OKC area, come by and say hello. Make a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project. Run a lap (or several) with Samsonite. Join the brigade!

This morning found Team Pirana joining the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon training group for a 20 mile run on the race course. Having to set the clock forward last night did not help in the sleep department, but it also meant it was dark and cold at 7:00 am when the run started from the official starting line at 5th and Robinson.

Mav, BFG (the Pirana formerly named Mac), T3 and Sweet Tee were ready when Bill Snipes said go and off they went.

It didn’t take long to warm up a bit and from then on the weather was nearly perfect. 40+ with a cool northwest breeze made the early miles a little colder and more challenging. However, once the turn was made to come back downtown the breeze was a help.

This was Sweet Tee’s first solid run at 20 miles, so there was some concern about pace. The plan was to go out around 9:00 mpm and speed up to 8:45 if everybody felt good. The best intentions usually turn to mush, and the trio of Mav, Sweet Tee and T3 somehow dropped into an 8:30 pace and stayed there. There was some talk of slowing down, but nothing ever came of it.

The sun came up and the morning continued to be drop dead gorgeous. The initial plan was for the lead pack to stay on a faster pace and the second group of BFG and Weeble to come along at their own pace. Unfortunately, Weeble’s wife got sick and he stayed home. Turns out that was a good move on his part as she ended up in the ER with severe bronchitus.

Meanwhile, BFG found some people to run with and moved steadily along. The lead group had hooked up with several other runners and that pack stayed together until about mile 15. Sweet Tee was managing the faster pace pretty well.

With about a mile to go Sweet Tee started trying to push the pace, but the older, wiser, and decidely less spunky brothers managed to reign him in and the group finished at 2:55 for an average mile time of 8:35. A quick drink and a banana and it was back out onto the course to find the lost Pirana…

He was not too far beind and Mav ran in with him for a great finish.

All in all it was a great day!

The Sooner State Games Trail Run was a rousing, yet typically cold, success! This annual event grows each year and the P. Bros. sister organization, Oklahoma Trail Runners Association, was a key contributor to it’s production. PIT McLovin was the event mentor and is President of the organization. Brothers Big and Mav, lent a hand with set-up and aid stations. Meanwhile, Brother Mac was tearing up the course in the 25K. His blazing speed and strategic course plan, resulted in a silver medal, which he wore with pride! T3 and his brood, meanwhile watched the O State Cowboys battle to another win!

Only a matter of time til the next event!

Monday night was a special night for Brother T3. Of course, as you already know, Sunday was his 45th birthday, but Monday was like icing on the cake.

The day started with a fabulous mid morning run with some of the other Brothers on their favorite local trail. Low 30’s, no wind, and sunshine made for an exceptional day to be out on the trails. Work reared it’s head for a little while, but soon it was time to head home to pick up Sweet Tee and two of his younger brothers and head to Stillwater. They went by and picked up Frank and Jo Robinson, long time family friends and the grandparents of Oklahoma State University Quarterback, Zac Robinson.

On the way to Stillwater the Robinson told them that Zac’s roommate, Matt Fodge (OSU punter), would be joining them. They arrived and got a table and then waited for the guest’s of honor to arrive.

When Zac and Mat walked in the boys were in awe. However, Zac and Matt turned out to be very nice and rather normal college guys. They chatted with the boys, answered their questions and before long everyone was at ease and having a nice dinner and pleasant conversation. Zac’s grandparents had lots of questions for Zac about his sister and how things were going in school. Matt brought everyone up to speed on his NFL hopes, and Zac cleared up some rumors that Frank had heard. Oh, and the boys all ate. Of course, Sweet Tee and his brothers are growing teens and pre-teens, and Zac and Matt are both trying to bulk up a little.

After dinner, Zac and Matt signed things the boys had brought, and Zac signed two jerseys for T3.

One is going up in the club room at his house along with the Thurman Thomas autographed jersey and the Barry Sanders autographed jersey (anyone guess that T3 is an OSU alumn and fan?). The other will be up for auction at the Crossings Christian School Auction in March.

Everyone had a great time and T3 gave Zac and Matt Pirana shirts, so maybe you will see the Pirana brand being sported around Stillwater soon…

Today is a special day! Another year has come and gone for the Pirana’s fearless leader.

Although Brother T3 would be hesitant to tell you much about himself, the rest of the Piranas know he only gets better with age. The World, The community in which we live, The people which benefit from his philanthropy, The people he surrounds himself with, are all better for his actions, imagination and generosity. 

HAPPY B-Day from the Pirana Brothers, Brother T3!

The Piraña Brothers did the DanMan today. The DanMan is a test of physical and mental endurance which takes place on Dan Little’s ranch in Madill, Oklahoma. The DanMan Run is held in honor of our own endurance running hero, Dan Little. Dan has completed over 120 endurance events consisting of marathons, over twenty 50-mile races, and three Iron Distance Triathlons. As witnessed by Dan’s accomplishments, endurance events test your physical ability, but more than that, they test your mental ability. The DanMan is designed for all runners to experience this test of mental endurance.

Team Piraña left OKC in the dark of the early morning after meeting up at Panera Bread on the NW Expressway. Panera was not open, but they graciously allowed the team to use their parking lot (ok, they didn’t even ask.) Of course, Big was late and had failed to fill-up before he left, so in addition to getting started late, Big had to stop for gas before the first scheduled potty break in Paul’s Valley.

Once the team arrived at the Oteka D Ranch they got a premo parking spot along the race course as it exited from the ranch yard proper.

Of course, Mav had to take some of his clothes off almost the moment the team arrived. The Brothers got their stuff arranged and then gathered for a group pic on the deck where they had secured the Pirana flag.

After checking to make sure they were all on the board with correct distances:

Mav – 50 miles
McLuvin – 50K (30 miles, his first attempt at ultra distance)
T3 – marathon
Mac – half marathon+
Sweet Tee – half marathon+
Weeble – as far as he could go or a half marathon
Big – injured, intended to ride mountain bike as morale support

the team gathered at the start line (in the front of course)

That is Dan Little on the right with the team!

The TATURS were there too!

After some simple instructions (which Mav ignored, more later) the race was on and the brothers were off. Dan’s ranch is a rolling spread with several lakes, lots of trees and about 16 miles of trails in 3 loops.

Since everyone was doing at least a half marathon the team decided to run the first 6.2 mile loop together. That of course lasted about 2 miles. Sweet Tee jetted off to catch some kid (he was worried the kid would beat him in the half, but the kid was only doing 10K). McLuvin needed to start slow and slow down, so he fell back. For a while Mav, Mac, Weeble and T3 stayed together:

(T3 was taking the pic…)

By the end of the first lap, Sweet Tee was way in front, T3 and Mac were in the middle, Weeble ended up having a bad day and Mav stayed with him, and McLuvin was bringing up the rear. Sweet Tee went out for his 2nd lap (6.9 miles) and Mac and T3 followed him shortly. That is where things started getting weird.

The second loop followed a pipeline being laid across Dan’s property. Everyone but Mav and McLuvin made the first turn where the course left the pipeline and did about a 3 mile loop before crossing the pipeline again. Mav missed several signs and kept running the pipeline and cut at least 2+ miles off the course. Soon, Sweet Tee ran up on them (which suprised him as he was pretty sure he was in front.) Meanwhile, T3 and Mac came in at around 2:10 thinking they would have to wait for Mav and McLuvin. They were also suprised to find all of their companions already at the ranch.

T3 and Mav went back out for the second half of the marathon and decided to run the course backwards (reverse direction and reverse order of the loops) so they ran back along the route T3 and Mac had just come in from and soon Mav was able to see the error of his way. All this time, Mav has been griping about how he moved a sign and probably caused everyone else to go the wrong way too, but when he saw what he had done, it turns out that people missed the turn on their own and his sign tampering had no impact at all.

In a very rare twist, Mav fell off the pace and T3 ended up coming in from the third lap fairly far in front. Having only a 10K left he refueled and split, knowing that Mav would be grinding out more than 5 times that distance.

The rest of the brothers failed to see where T3 went, and then sent Mav in the wrong direction to follow. T3 finished and everyone expected Mav to come in shortly behind. They waited. He didn’t show. They ate.

He didn’t show. They cheered other runners across the line. Mav didn’t show.

Getting worried, since Mav had left for his 4th loop without water or a shirt, Sweet Tee offered to run the reverse direction, find him, and run him in. Off he went. The problem was that Mav had not simply run the loop in the direction he left. He doubled back, changed trails, ran somewhere else, etc. So when neither Sweet Tee or Mav showed up the Brothers started sending out search parties. The first foray resulting in nobody found. So a second search was started with two different vehicles.

About that time Mav showed up all sweaty and proud. He recounted where he had been and the mileage he had wracked up. Then one of the search parties showed up with Sweet Tee. He had continued to run the loop backwards looking for Mav and had managed to rack up another 6+ miles on top of his 13.1.

All is well that ends well, but the Piranas learned to never try to find Mav on a run. Overall the Team did well:

Mav – 37 miles, 5:45
McLuvin – 31.5 miles, 8:47
T3 – Marathon, 4:25
Mac – Half, 2:11
Sweet Tee – Half, 1:41 (then another 6+ for almost 20 for the day)
Weeble – around 11, 1:57

A special congrats to PIT McLuvin on successfully completing his first ultra distance. Midway through the run he took a short break to ice his legs, but his spirits were high and his mood was good. He maintained a steady pace and a great attitude throughout the entire run.

Team Pirana will be back next year for more great trail running, good friends, great food and the fabulous hospitality of Dan Little.

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?