Thursday, April 30, 2015

A Preview to Family Duel II: The Rematch

Alright, readers, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for all season: a rematch of the Family Duel. 

A little background to bring everyone up to speed: in 2012, my loving, wonderful older brother decided he wanted nothing more than to beat his little sister in a ten mile race. He did.

Now, three years later, we will meet again on the streets of Philadelphia (well, just the one street really) to duke it out for the title of 10-mile family champion. The stakes are higher. The race has been talked about all over the country (well at least in DC’s best running magazine), the Twittersphere is abuzz, merchandise is being hawked on the streets. (Okay, I made that last one up, but I wouldn’t put it past Brother to sell ‘Beet Teal’ shirts.)

'Beet Teal'
The 2012 Family Duel shirt, designed (and worn) by Brother. 
Let’s size up the competitors:

Brother

The undefeated champion. Two weeks ago he tried to spark some fear in his competition by running a world record in the 5K, but the time was later overturned and ruled as a “chip malfunction.” (The IAAF has decided not to pursue Brother's questionable ethics in this matter, because that’s how they deal with these things.) He has since taken his smack talking to Twitter, in the hopes that rhymes are correlated with times.

For more, check out @Realblakeconnor.
Note the avatar and bio. #obsessed
RunnerTeal

On paper, I have the faster 10 mile PR. (I tried to spark some fear in my competition by running a 56-minute 10 mile at Cherry Blossom, but that backfired when the shortened course was made public.) My downfall could come in the location: I have a 0-7 record for running well in Philadelphia. Ultimately, I’m focused on the marathon and not on petty tune-up races, but still hope to get back at Brother for getting Will Smith stuck in my head all week.

The Dark Horse

Don’t discount Cousin, who could come steal all the glory from the two trash-talking siblings. He’s another Philly native (who beat Brother at last year’s race) so keep your eyes on him.

The whole family after last year's race.
Sometimes we actually like each other.
Truthfully, (as always) I really only care about the time and competition with myself. If I beat Brother, but don’t run the time I want, I’ll be upset. If I lose to Brother, but do run the time I want, I’ll be happy.

But where’s the fun in that? That kind of talk isn’t so exciting to the bettors, the Vegas odds makers, and friends and family watching closely. So back to talking big: I'm going to try to win this one for the little sisters everywhere. 

Who do you have? Join in by leaving your predictions in the comments below. And stay tuned Sunday morning, when it all goes down.

After all, this is certainly the most anticipated matchup of the weekend, if not the century.

Dream big,
Teal

6 comments :

  1. Crazy fast family! I have my eye on another Cousin with the speed and strength to surprise everyone on Sunday. I'll wear my DREAM BIG runnerteal tshirt proudly, but must admit the Beet Teal logo sure is stylin.

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  2. Can I say how much I love the fact that your family is so active (and competitive!)!! That is so fun - and the shirt is a classic! Alright - I'm going to go out on a limb and say THIS IS YOUR YEAR!! You've got the confidence coming off of your OTQ and the Cherry Blossom not-quite-10-miler - I think it'll be Teal for the win! :) Good luck to you all on Sunday - I'll be cheering you on from RVA! :)

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  3. As a Philadelphia resident who is in the Connor family, but not running Broad Street this year, I'm undecided about who will actually come in first. There's just too many variables in play. One thing for sure, they'll be lots of Connor relatives blasting south on Broad Street at a high rate of speed on Sunday morning. I'm expecting someone to break the 60-minute barrier.

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  4. As brother I object to the lower 10 mile pr statement. I just, uhm, can't prove it because those lower times came during the Clinton administration and the Internet wasn't keeping track of things. But still that's muscle memory I'm counting on.

    Also I think you're leaving out two more dark horses here. Girl cousin who's been coming on strong and runner teal husband - who hmm - anything is possible. Dream big right?

    Finally we're going to debut a Fresh new t-shirt this year. I'm taking orders.

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  5. Hey, while all you runners are trotting merrily down the lane, enjoying the sunshine and the crowds, I have taken on the bone-rattling, nerves-shredding, eye-and-brain-aching True Challenge of the day:

    How many of this year’s five family runners can I find to photo among the 40,000 competitors -- while the race is on?

    You could all make it easier if the first of you to reach my position halfway down the course would simply stop and wait for the second…and then both wait for the third…and so on, until we could pose all five of you together for a sweet, sweaty photograph.

    Then you could jog arm-in-arm to the Navy Yard for a quintuple-tie-finish!

    Doesn’t that sound like the way to do it?

    No, I didn’t think so.

    Go for it, everyone. It’s will be a thrill to watch you all speed by – in whatever order you come.

    Thanks to each of you for training and participating so the rest of us can enjoy the spectacle and the drama.

    jjc

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  6. We love family duels! May the best sibling win! ;-)

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