Defending Flying Pig Champion Looks at Future of Running
Anne Flower holds a number of titles: Two-time and defending Flying Pig Marathon champion is one of them; Olympic Marathon Trials participant is another; and now, perhaps most notably, Doctor.
Dr. Flower is wrapping up her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Kentucky this month and will be heading closer to home, in Northern Kentucky, to start her practice this summer. In between her shifts at UK before the running calendar was shut down, the Anderson High School grad was one of four former Pig champions to participate in the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta (joining Caitlin Keen, Autumn Ray and Amy Robillard in the field).
We’ll talk running in a moment, but first, Anne reflects on being on the frontlines of medicine during the pandemic. “I think we were blessed in central Kentucky in the sense that we were not the first wave,” she said, “we got to see how Europe and then New York City dealt with the pandemic and then when it finally got here, we were ready.”
A recent New York Times article described running as “a natural for social distancing” and Anne says her running routine helped her make it through med school. “I ran a little through high school and college, but when I was stressed and doubting myself in medical school and not really sure this was what I wanted to do, running was really something that was rewarding every day,” she said.
“It got me outside, definitely did incredible things for my mental health, especially when the sun’s out. I’m here in Lexington, so I can go out on the trails, I can go out to the horse park and get away from it for a little while.”
Running opportunities, at least in an organized sense, have been few and far between for all runners since the spring shutdown, which makes Anne’s appearance at the Olympic Marathon Trials even more special. “Oh my gosh, so much imposter syndrome,” she laughed. “You’re walking down the hallway at the hotels and you’re seeing all the Olympians, it was so amazing.
“They treated us all like we might be one of the top three, everything from organizing travel so that when you got off the plane, there was someone there to direct you toward the bus or train and when you checked in at the Omni, all the stops were pulled out for us. There was so much athlete support, it was really, really cool.”
The Olympic Marathon Trials, held at the end of February, just made it under the wire before activities began to shut down to control the pandemic. So what does Anne think it will take to get running events back on the calendar, given her unique perspective as a runner and as a doctor?
“I think that spacing out people would be the best way to mitigate corrals,” she said. “Also making sure there’s some signature form that says you haven’t had symptoms in 14 days. Maybe that’s part of picking up your packet now, the accountability that you sign to say that you don’t have symptoms.”
She also said the development of faster, more reliable rapid testing at the event sites might make participants feel safer about returning to the start line. “I know that folks like the NBA and other sports organizations are interested, so there’s a lot of effort being put toward it. It will be interesting to see where biomedical research goes with that.”
As for her own schedule, even with a new job on the horizon, Anne’s planning to continue running. “I love traveling for races. I got to fly to Moab last October (for the Dead Horse Ultra) and to see a new city, run a race the first day and then travel for three or four after, was really fun.
“I don’t know if I need to do 50 miles again, but I would love to run marathons when the world opens up, in Europe and Japan and Chamonix and all these incredible places. Even San Francisco, they shut down the entire city and you get to run through it for the morning, so that’s my hope. I love marathons so hopefully I’m staying on with that.”