[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7171-7172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          FLYING PIG MARATHON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Schmidt) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize not only all of 
those who participated in Sunday's Flying Pig Marathon, but most 
importantly, our male winner from my area, Milford, Ohio.
  Let me tell you the conditions 18,000 participants faced on Sunday. 
Six-thirty in the morning, torrential downpour, with a forecast of a 90 
percent chance it wouldn't let up. And unfortunately, they were right. 
But as 18,000 of us decided to go at least part of the distance, 6,000 
of us decided to go the full 26.2-mile distance.
  The Flying Pig Marathon was the brainchild of Bob Coughlin 12 years 
ago. Twenty-five thousand people participated in the weekend event. And 
it took an enormous amount of folks, including 3,000 volunteers, to 
help make

[[Page 7172]]

that event happen. For all of us that participated, we want to say 
``thank you''.
  But I think this year's winner, Brian List, really wants to say 
thanks to those that helped because his dream came true. This young 
man, Milford High School graduate, cross country participant in high 
school, cross country participant in college, came back to his hometown 
to raise a family and to continue to pursue his dream of running. This 
was his fourth try at the marathon in Cincinnati. He never really 
thought he had what it took to actually be a winner. But on Sunday, he 
was. He posted a great time, 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 20 seconds. He 
followed his dream, his heart, and achieved his goal. And I am so proud 
of him.
  I don't want to not recognize Lauren Arnold from Colorado, the female 
winner, but I do want to brag about Brian List, because as a runner I 
know what it takes to go the distance, and he certainly did that for 
us.
  In conclusion, I would like to say that for most of us I think we 
adopted Barry Manilow's song, ``I Made It Through the Rain.'' But I 
know that for Brian and Lauren they were more like Gene Kelly, because 
at the end they were singing in the rain.
  I want to thank all of those that participated, especially the 
volunteers. And I really want to thank Bob Coughlin for putting this 
brainchild together and allowing all of us to have fun. Because you 
know, Mr. Speaker, in Cincinnati pigs do fly at least 1 day out of the 
year. And next May, the first Sunday in May, it will be our 13th 
running. Let's hope that the weather will compete as well as it has for 
11 of the 12.
  I again want to say ``thank you'' to Brian List for following his 
dream, keeping his pedal to the metal, and getting that crown.

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