Andre Silva serves up world class tennis at the Western & Southern Open

By John Erardi, Contributing Writer
Photos and video by Madison Schmidt

As youngster, Andre Silva once played tennis with countryman Pele -- yes, that Pele, the soccer legend because Silva's tennis coach was himself a former soccer player.

“Maybe that's why I wasn't that good of a tennis player," says Silva, laughing.

It's easy to see why the second-year tournament director of the Western & Southern Open is so popular with the touring tennis pros. Not only was the amiable Brazilian the ATP Chief Player Officer for seven years, he has a delightful sense of humor.

Last year – his first as Western & Southern Open tournament director – was buffeted by a rough patch of weather, not exactly what one would wish on a man who'd been on the job for only three months, making him not only new as director, but new as a director-dad, with a then three-year-old son and three-month-old daughter.

When I asked Silva on Wednesday afternoon at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason what it is that he enjoys doing in Cincinnati on those days when he is not at the tennis center, his answer doesn't surprise me. He’s a family man through-and-through. His family is wife, LeAnn; son Tristan, the eldest, and Tristan’s sister, Harper.

“I like to take the kids to the zoo, the aquarium and, in general, get them outside,” he says.  “The night-life in Cincinnati, I don’t know about much about – I know much more about the parks.”

We both laugh.

I tell him what I heard Reds announcer Marty Brennaman say unsolicited on the air last Tuesday night while I was on my way home from a family trip, at the wheel of mycar in western New York, picking up the WLW-AM  signal as crisp and powerful as a Roger Federer forehand.

Marty has been "at the wheel" as Reds play-by-play man for as long as Silva's been on the planet -- 44 years. When Marty speaks, people listen. And what Marty said (I'm paraphrasing here), is that the Western & Southern Open is one of the true jewels of southern Ohio sporting events.

I tell Silva this because I figure that as tournament director only a few days away from tournament time, there is no way he would have heard it for himself.

“We’re very proud of what we do here,” Silva responds. “So, what he said is a validation of what we’ve done here, especially the last four or five years. Even though I wasn’t here then, I know there’s been tremendous growth. We need to continue to strive to be a premier event, not only in this area, but in all of the Midwest . . . We want to be the best, not only here, but everywhere.”

Silva is personable and really good at the serve-and-volley of interviews. He’s had plenty of experience at it. He grew up in tennis world, first as a player (Anderson University in South Carolina), then as a staffer (Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida).  Running tournaments is in his blood (two-year director of the ATP World Tour Finals in London).

“It’s still a new position for me here,” he says. “It’s true, I think, what people say about really needing to go through a full year to be able to understand what you’re doing. It’s a very different event and setup than what I had in London. You want to try to create something new that doesn’t go against all the traditions that has been built here.  It’s a balance. You want to continue to innovate, but at the same time respect what’s working.  Because it’s been working.”   

When I ask Silva where he expects the tennis tours to be in three years, he doesn’t answer with a platitude; he cuts to the heart of the matter.

“I’m one of those glass-half-full people,” Silva says. “A lot of people are concerned about Roger, Rafa, Serena, Maria et al. They’re getting older, as we are all. We don’t know how long they’re going to play. They are fantastic ambassadors. But I also think there is an exciting group of people who are (in the shadows) of the great legends of the sport. There are great personalities out there. Nobody goes from 0 to 19 (major championships as Federer has done) overnight.

“It will take time to build some of the stars. We went through the same thing when I was starting at the ATP. Pete (Sampras) and Andre (Agassi) were about to retire. There was a transition period where we had four or five No. 1’s. I like new. Don’t get me wrong, I love Roger and Rafa. But I don’t mind new young stars challenging them.”

One of the truly great features of the W&S Open is the closeness of the players and fans. I’ve always admired that, even though I’ve been largely a baseball writer for much of my professional career. Maybe especially because I’ve been a baseball writer. Most major league baseball teams, including the Reds, don’t have what the Western & Southern has.

“It’s one of our goals – keep the players accessible,” Silva says. “But I have to give the credit to the people who make that happen – the players. We’ve been blessed by an incredible generation of players on the men’s and women’s sides. The last 10 years, probably even more, the top players are leading the charge of being accessible. They’re setting the example.  They understand the importance of the fans. We can do a tremendous job of trying to connect, but if the players don’t connect, don’t have personalities, there’s nothing we can do. But when a young player walks into the locker room and sees how, for example, Roger (Federer) treats people, treats fans, I think that has a huge impact. It happens on both tours, men’s and women’s. They (the leaders) are incredible.”

A special strength of the W&S Open is the autograph sessions – very organized, not at all chaotic – and the players know they are safe, secure and assured of pleasant and relaxed interaction.

Likewise, when I ask Silva what he is most excited about regarding the presentation of this year’s tournament, he doesn’t try to hype yet another sort of polish.  He’s a nuts and bolts guy, but one who is mindful of bells and whistles.

“The parking looks a lot better,” he says. “I like having the new practice court. Last year we had a tough situation with the weather. We want to build the momentum of the new building. And I’m excited to have the digital walls on center court. I believe in entertaining the fans. This will get them more engaged. . . It’s all a lot of work, a lot of money. I realize it’s not all sexy, but there’s a lot going on.”  

The late, great Paul Flory continues to be an influence.

“Paul was a player-friendly tournament director,” Silva says. “He understood that the talent is the driver for the whole event. We can put together a great stadium, a great atmosphere, but ultimately (fans) are here to watch great athletes perform on the tennis courts. We want to athletes to feel ‘at home,’ so they can perform at their best. It’s the same concept Paul created many years ago.”

After his total 14 years with the ATP, Silva did 2 ½ years as an executive at Roger Federer’s Team8 sports agency.

So, oh my yes, does he ever know the players. In fact, he knows them so well, his immersion at tournament time will extend well beyond the Western & Southern Open.

He’s headed to New York and the U.S. Open immediately after the W&S Open tournament concludes, to work on player matters.  No rest for the weary, but it will ensure that player relations are at the forefront of the sport.

It’s what makes the Western & Southern great, and the whole tennis world knows it.

About the Western & Southern Open
The Western & Southern Open will be held August 12-20, 2017 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, 20 miles north of Cincinnati in Mason, OH. The tournament is one of the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 events on the men’s tour and a Premier 5 event for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), making it one of only five events in the world outside of the grand slams with events of that caliber occurring during the same week at the same venue. The tournament is also one of the last stops on the Emirates Airline US Open Series before the US Open in New York. Since 1974, the tournament has contributed more than $9 million directly to its beneficiaries: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Barrett Cancer Center and Tennis for City Youth.

Single session tickets are now available, as are grounds passes for select sessions. For more information, visit www.wsopen.com.

Chandler Carter: One to Watch at the Cincinnati Music Festival

By Betsy Ross, Contributing Writer
Photos and video by Madison Schmidt

It’s amazing what you can do with a Guitar Hero microphone and a boatload of talent. It was enough to win Chandler Carter the #SharetheRhythm Emerging Talent Competition at the Cincinnati Music Festival and earn her a coveted main stage slot both Thursday and Friday night at the Festival. 

You might already have seen the Mount Notre Dame and University of Cincinnati grad perform around town, but this weekend will, literally and figuratively, be the biggest stage of her life. It’s a Herculean jump from that aforementioned video game mike and her first attempts at performing. 

“I got into ‘Glee,’ the TV show,” Chandler said. “And on the show Naya Rivera, who has a really smoky tone that mimics Amy Winehouse, covered one of her songs, ‘Valerie.’ I really liked the style and from there I really got into listening to Amy Winehouse’s music. 

“So I got in the closet, on a Guitar Hero microphone plugged into my computer, and did a cover of ‘Valerie.’ I played around with the song and figured out my sound and how I wanted to portray my voice, my style.”

That closeted performance led to a very public one while she was a senior at MND—tryouts for NBC’s “The Voice” in Chicago. 

“There was a group of 10 people,” she said, and everybody has 12 seconds to sing. I sang the first part of ‘Valerie’ and I was the only one in the group to get chosen. 

“They give you a secret location for the next day where you get interviewed and sing two songs. (Her phone rang during the middle of one of the songs from, you guessed it, a telemarketer). Then they say wait six months, so I went back home. I ended up not getting it, but that gave me the confidence to go public with my singing.” 

Fast forward to her freshman year at UC and her first performance in front of a live audience--which, by the way, almost didn’t happen.

“My friend was doing her capstone project and she said, ‘I’m doing a benefit concert, do you want to come sing?’ And I was like sure, while I was internally screaming, but I knew I had to take that first step. 

So I got a backing track for ‘Valerie’ and ‘Change the World’ by Eric Clapton. I got to the show, and almost backed out, but I went through with it and everybody’s like, ‘I didn’t know that you did this, why didn’t you tell anyone?’ And I said, ‘I didn’t know I wanted to do this.’” 

More gigs followed, both solo and with a band called the Plainfield Rhythm (“We were driving up and down Plainfield Road all the time”), singing covers and originals at benefits around town. Chandler’s solo career then started to blossom when she dusted off her guitar, picked up where she had left off after her first-grade lessons, and again, found her own style. “I started out with simple songs, singing and playing kind of a folksy sound, until I got to the point where I could accompany myself.” 

That’s why now you’re likely to catch her at the AC Marriott in Liberty Center or Jekyll’s on Fountain Square, and why the psychology degree she earned in December is on the shelf—for now. 

“My mom said, ‘Can you find a job? You need a full-time job and get insurance.’ At the same time, I told her, ‘You have to let me try.’ One of my biggest fears is falling into the trap of getting a real job, putting music on the back burner and then wondering ‘what if.’ I’m passionate about psych, I love it to death, but I can’t see myself being in one place, one job, and not doing music.” 

She’s able to mix both of her passions when she performs at the Seacrest Studios at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where kids who are in their hospital rooms for treatment can call in and request songs and then listen to the music. “I’ll see some of the kids walk by the glass doors, they hear the music and start dancing. It’s the best thing ever. For me, that’s what this is all about. There could be two people at a show and if one of the two people makes a connection with the music or with me, I did my job. 

“You never know what song is going to impact somebody. Yesterday I did Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ and someone came up and said, ‘You just made my entire week.’ It makes it so worth it. I love it so much.” 

She comes by her interest in psychology honestly: Her entire family has, in one way or another, been involved in the health/medical profession. “Mom got her master’s in psych, was a job coach, vocational rehab, and did that for 30 years. She and my dad met at work. My sister works in medical research and her ultimate goal is to be a neurosurgeon. My grandmother, she’s 86, and still works at the EPA. She’s a virologist and she and my grandfather, they met at work. He was on the team that discovered the vaccination for polio. So the medical side, that kind of trickled down. The artsy side comes from my dad, for sure.”

Chandler plans to sing three original songs for Thursday’s Opening Night 15-minute set: Cold (Cigarette Smoke), Moonlight and OG Flowers. 

She knows that the performance is only part of making the most of this opportunity. 

“Best case scenario for the week: Because I get to hang out back stage is that one of the headliners (including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Fantasia) will come to the lounge show or hear me during the opening of the festival. We’ll talk, they’ll take me on and I’ll work my butt off.” 

As for short term goals? 

“Moving from the bar scene to the festival scene. I’d like to do a radio edit of Cold and put that out there, then hop city to city performing. Then I’d like to come back and do a homecoming show and be able to sell out 100 tickets without having to pester my family and friends.

“I’m not looking at it in a way that it can’t be realistic. Some people say, ‘I’m going post on YouTube and hope somebody finds me’ and that’s not how it works. Realistic goals are selling out 100 tickets, opening up for somebody on tour, then eventually, like Lady Gaga and her Dive Bar tour, do something like that and work my way up. Then it’s about surrounding yourself with the right people to get you where you need to go.” 

That includes her family, and yes, Mom is now warming up to the idea. 

“At first she was skeptical but now I think she realizes that this is something that could really happen. Dad’s crazy about this. My older sister, two years older, when we were kids and I was singing in the car, she was always telling me to stop singing. I thought, you know what? One day she’s going to like it.”

As will a lot more people, after this weekend. 

Tickets for the Cincinnati Music Festival are on sale at CincyMusicFestival.com.

About the Cincinnati Music Festival
The Cincinnati Music Festival (CMF) began in 1962 and is one of the largest music festivals in the United States attracting over 75,000+ people from around the country with its roster of leading R&B, jazz, soul and hip-hop artists creating an economic impact of $11 million for Cincinnati.  CMF is set for July 27, 28 and 29, 2017 at Paul Brown Stadium. Procter & Gamble is the presenting sponsor for the Cincinnati Music Festival for the third year in a row. P&G is proud to #ShareTheRhythm at the 2017 Cincinnati Music Festival, connecting thousands of music lovers with the sights, sounds and spirit of the “Queen City” through musical entertainment, new experiences, and bringing P&G brands to life.  P&G hopes to foster an inclusive spirit that reflects the diversity of our employees, consumers and the surrounding community.

The entertainment line-up includes the following:
Thursday, July 27 Party with a Purpose:  Doug E Fresh, Kid Capri, Rob Base
Friday, July 28:  Mary J. Blige, KEM, SWV, En Vogue, Bell Biv Devoe, Ed Thomas
Saturday, July 29:  Usher, Fantasia, Anthony Hamilton, Confunkshun, Ro James
In CMF’s 55th year, P&G will continue as title sponsor with Kroger as its retail partner and provide areas at the Stadium where concert-goers will be pampered, delighted, and refreshed in the My Black Is Beautiful patio spa with Pantene and Olay, Always/Secrete refresh station, enjoy the go in the Charmin bathrooms and more.

Laura Chrysler Moves Cincinnati, One Step at a Time

By Betsy Ross, Contributing Writer
Photos and Video by Madison Schmidt

If someone tells Laura Chrysler to take a hike, she sees it as a compliment. The former corporate sponsorship specialist for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber wants us all to become a more peripatetic society in her latest job as executive director of go Vibrant.

She’s starting with Cincinnati’s neighborhoods through this summer’s go Vibrant Million Step Challenge, the second year of the friendly competition to see which area of town can log the most steps. And although she didn’t realize it at the time, this mission came about through her extended stay in Europe.

“I had the opportunity to move to Geneva, Switzerland for a few years,” she said (through her husband’s job transfer with P&G). “What I noticed about Europe overall is how much walking they do. It’s just integrated in their lives. They walk to the store and they walk through their neighborhoods, it’s their way of life. And what it does is gets you in touch with your surroundings and it makes you stop on the corner and talk with someone you might not have met before.

“When I moved back to Cincinnati in 2014, I remember walking through downtown and seeing how much development had happened and how many people were outside taking a walk. So when I was approached by go Vibrant, it just made sense.”

go Vibrant is responsible for those wayfinding signs that you might have seen downtown and in Cincinnati neighborhoods that map out walking routes from one mile up to five.

In 2016, go Vibrant started incentivizing neighborhoods to use those routes through the “Million Step Challenge.” Last year, five neighborhoods were involved in the Challenge: This year the event kicked off with a two mile walk downtown on Taste of Cincinnati Saturday, with 15 neighborhoods now included.

“We wanted every neighborhood that has embraced the walking routes to have the chance to win this Challenge,” she said. “What we found last year was when Avondale learned that Madisonville was winning, they got all fired up and said, ‘how can we win?’ We’re already finding out that’s happening now among the 15 neighborhoods as they figure out how they can knock Avondale out of the top spot.

“But Avondale is a great model for the Challenge. (Avondale won last year with more than 30 million steps, earning the top prize of $1,500 from go Vibrant, and $2,500 from the Gen-H “Step Up Cincinnati” challenge.) They’ve done a great job at mobilizing both the neighborhoods, and the companies there, like Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Cincinnati Zoo. They get it, they bring the mission into the neighborhood.”

That mission is to make an active and energetic lifestyle irresistible for each neighborhood, and Chrysler is finding out it’s not a tough sell. “They (the neighborhoods) are coming to us,” she said. “They’re saying we want to hear about this. We find the gems of their community, like the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Walnut Hills that people don’t even realize that is there. It’s walking within your neighborhood and finding these gems to be proud of, that’s what gets the City Council and neighborhood associations fired up.”

“And then, having those Wednesday at 6 p.m. walking groups start from, for example, Café de Sales and take a three-mile loop. You get to meet folks in your community, but there’s also a safety aspect. That’s not originally what we started with, but neighborhoods are telling us it’s a huge benefit. If people know there’s going to be a dedicated group of people walking every week on these routes, then it curbs crime.”

The 15 neighborhoods (yes, Laura can rattle them all off from memory) are, in alphabetical order: Avondale, Clifton, Covington, Delhi, Downtown, Mt. Adams, East Walnut Hills, Evanston, Golf Manor, Madisonville, Mt. Washington, Newport, Northside, Pleasant Ridge and Walnut Hills, with Pleasant Ridge and Delhi the early leaders. (you don’t have to be in one of these neighborhoods to participate in the Million Step Challenge, but only the designated neighborhoods can win prizes).

The Challenge wraps up with the Zombie Walk at the end of October.

And even though it may have seemed like a big step (pun intended) to triple the number of neighborhoods involved this year, Chrysler says it’s just the beginning.

“We’d love to get all 52 neighborhoods involved. Our ideal would be to have a citywide challenge, then take on another city like Cleveland or Pittsburgh, and have some years of experience under our belts.”

Last year, some 2,000 walkers took the challenge: This year, the goal is 6,000 participants and 250 million steps.

Whether it’s walking neighborhoods or playing at the go Vibrant scape along the river, Chrysler says it’s all about staying active.

“It’s so great when I’m talking about go Vibrant and somebody says, ‘Oh those purple route signs, I didn’t know that was you.’ It shows that our mission is getting out into the communities and people are using it. They are aware of how important it is to get healthy and get your steps in.”

For more about the Million Step Challenge and to register, visit www.govibrant.org.

Iris Simpson Bush keeps the Flying Pig Marathon running

By John Erardi, Contributing Writer
Videos and Photo by Madison Schmidt

It is no exaggeration to call the executive director of the Flying Pig Marathon "the "peripatetic Iris Simpson Bush," so that is what I am going to do.

From the time, Iris was six years old, she was walking the two-mile round trip from her home on the East End ("4369 Eastern Avenue; it’s gone now”) to St. Stephen Grade School. To this day, she finds walking and running to be as much therapy as it is exercise -- part and parcel of her life's philosophy.

You can bet the good sisters at Marian High School (it merged with Purcell to become Purcell Marian in 1980) knew that the root word of peripatetic is "peri," derived from the ancient Greek and Latin, meaning "around" or "about." Yes, the good sisters at Marian knew a lot of things – right from the get-go. (Iris was a member of the first incoming freshman class at Marian.)

From the time peripatetic Iris Simpson was 15 – she’s the oldest of four siblings; the lone gal, and one who changed a lot of diapers--the good sisters of Marian knew that she was literally working her way through high school. She worked for her aunt at an electrical company downtown (she rode the bus from the East End to Clay Street; the store is no longer there; it’s the Salvation Army now).

By 17, she was working at Zayre department store.  She worked modeling shoes for U.S. Shoe; the nuns let her leave school early for that gig; it was a good-paying job, and she was even able to save up money for college.

Zayre had its own “Flying” program: It was called the “Flying Cashiers.” Yep, the peripatetic Iris Simpson was a Flying Cashier long before she was a Flying Pig.

I’ll let her explain:

“I was barely over 18, and they made me a front-line supervisor. I worked in the cash office. In back to back weeks during the summer they allowed me to work 80 and 84 hours.”

It wasn’t that her employer insisted on it, but because she wanted to. She was assigned to various departments at the store, so that it wouldn’t be obvious to do-gooding outsiders that she was working more than 40 weekly hours as a teenager.

“The Flying Cashier program was great for me,” she remembers. “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. They’d send me all over, one time to Missouri. I’d fly in and help open a store – get there a week early, train the cashiers, work with them during Grand Opening week, and at the end of those two weeks, they (Zayre) would take us someplace nice. I saw my first play in the Ozarks – Fiddler on the Roof.”

I have a friend who has long tried to convince me that Cincinnati is not a blue-collar town; he describes it as a "blue'ish"-collar town. I've always disagreed with him on that, given that I know a blue-collar work ethic (if not a blue-collar job), when I see it. I've always felt Cincinnati had and has the blue-collar work ethic. Now I have somebody to give my friend as Exhibit A: the peripatetic Iris Simpson Bush.

When I began interviewing her for this story, it wasn't as though she volunteered her life story from age six forward. I asked her where she grew up and where she went to school. Ten seconds after she began to take me back to her roots, she said: "Are you sure you want to hear all this?"  I said yes, and off we went.

I knew I was onto something when she told me about that mile walk to school and the mile back home, but I really knew I was onto something when she told me that after two years at the University of Cincinnati, she packed her belongings into a U-Haul at 21 and headed for Florida. Her job in the president’s office at the fledgling "FIU" (Florida International University) in Miami had a "bilingual" in its description, but after the interviewer got wind of how fast she spoke English and how many bases she covered, he told her: "You talk enough in English to cover several languages -- you're hired."

Although she liked the year-round warmth and the flat topography of Florida for her running – it’s where she first began the pursuit, she missed our four seasons here in Cincinnati, and was back home in a few years, working (ofcourse) and finishing UC with marketing degree.

In 1997, toward the tail end of her 30 years in broadcast sales in the Cincinnati market (she began at WSAI radio, was at WCPO-TV for 20 years and three at WLWT), she read with a great interest a newspaper article that Bob Coughlin was trying to bring a marathon to Cincinnati.

The Flying Pig’s inaugural run was in 1999; this is its 19th year. After three executive directors (and an interim director, her husband, Jim Bush) in the first four years, this is the peripatetic Iris Simpson Bush’s 15th year as the Pig’s executive director.

Even though I’m not a runner – I’m a walker – I have been spent my share of time at the Pig’s starting and finish lines doing human interest stories. And, like most Greater Cincinnatians, I’m proud to have the Pig woven inextricably into the fabric of my adopted city.  I love its growth:  A hoped-for 3,000 the first year (it drew 6,600) is already at 40,000 this year.

This year, all 50 states and Washington D.C., and 20 foreign countries are represented, including China, Norway, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and five from the Ukraine. The youngest full marathoner is 10 (the minimum age is 18, but, occasionally, with parental waivers and Pig due diligence,  some exceptions are made), and the oldest (a female) is 86 (running the Pig on her birthday, May 7); the oldest male is 82; there is a 95-year-old doing a half-marathon, and a 90-year-old doing a 10K. Sixty percent of the field is female, 40% male; 94 of the registered runners have done all 18 past Pigs – they’re known as “Streakers.”

Even a non-runner can appreciate the “we-don’t-take-ourselves-too-seriously” aspect of the name, “Flying Pig Marathon.”

Simpson Bush spent several minutes talking about that very thing: “A lot of names were offered up,” she remembers, “but ‘Flying Pig’ Marathon made everybody laugh, and of course it hearkened back to the 1800s and Porkopolis… But there was a bit of a risk with ‘Flying Pig.’ A marathon is a serious undertaking, and people are investing their money and months of training. But we’ve been recognized as one of the best-named brands in the country.  The name has worked for us.”

The peripatetic Simpson Bush doesn't have time to run the Pig on race day, so she runs the week before (she likes staying connected with the course). Suffice to say it is always emotional for her running through the East End. She calls herself a “recreational” runner, who has never run “competitively.”

Her first race was Cincinnati’s Thanksgiving Day special in 1975 (she has since done 31 more). Her first full marathon was one I didn’t even know ever existed – the Pacesetters Marathon in Northern Kentucky, which went out and back Route 8 along the Ohio River; she did that in 1979 and 1980.  About that time, she also began playing soccer in a recreational league, something she thoroughly enjoyed for 20 years. (Marian High offered only volleyball and basketball, and Iris couldn’t participate, anyway: she was always working.)  

On Sunday, Simpson Bush will again work the Pig finish line, but only in the way somebody “works” a room; she knows the real work that day is being done by others, all of whom she names and praises to the heavens.

She loves seeing the faces and hearing the stories and absorbing the scenes and emotions of personal accomplishment. A few finishers (ok, more than a few) will hug her, and then upchuck on her feet. That’s the way it’s always been. It’s as much a badge of honor as it is anything with the executive director.

It is why she keeps an extra case of water bottles handy -- to wash down her shoes, providing the next runner-hugger a fresh canvas.

“It’s not all glamorous, but it is all fun,” says the peripatetic Iris Simpson Bush. “I don’t worry about getting sick, those are healthy people crossing that finish line!”

FC Cincinnati new coach ready to tackle new season

By John Erardi, Contributing Writer

Photos and video by Phil Didion

Alan Koch's first memory of soccer came at four years old, sitting underneath a table in the pouring rain watching his father play the game in South Africa.

"I was completely engrossed,” said Koch, FC Cincinnati’s new coach. “We moved to Durban when I was six which is when I started playing. I was absolutely hooked. I played every sport under the rainbow growing up, but soccer was my passion. It was my everything.”

At 17, Koch signed professionally, and played in Germany and Ireland, but had to give up playing at 25, halted by what he calls a “minor” heart ailment.

We didn’t talk much about what a kick in the gut that prognosis had to be for somebody with his great passion for playing the game, but he seems to have found his home in coaching.

Koch was an All-American at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and played professionally in the South African first division with Reservoir Hills United. He also signed with Preussen Krefeld in the German fourth division, adding a stint with Limerick FC in Ireland’s first division. Before beginning his professional career, he was a member of the South African Olympic Team and captained the South African Schoolboys team. 

Koch fully realized how much he missed soccer during a brief, six-month career change when he worked in sales for a New Jersey-based lighting company with accounts in China, where Koch did much of his work.

“It was great international experience, but I was talking about light fixtures, not exactly up my alley,” he said. “I’d been passionate about kicking a soccer ball all day long. A friend of mine who was coach at (Simon Fraser), called me and said, ‘How’d you like to take a major pay cut and come be my assistant coach? After that I coached in Japan, Texas, Kansas and back to Simon Fraser as head coach,” leading the team into the NCAA D-2 Final Four two years in a row.

From there, he hooked up with the Vancouver White Caps of Major League Soccer, working in scouting and the draft, then became head coach of the Whitecaps FC 2 team, an affiliate of the big club, where he led the team to its first-ever playoff victory and another win on top of it.

If you notice a trend there, that’s because there is one: he’s always been able, gradually, to get the best out of his players.

FC Cincinnati (1-2) hosts its home opener Saturday night, April 15, at Nippert Stadium at the University of Cincinnati.

"I was impressed with the (venue) as soon as I walked in," said Koch, pointing to the base of the horseshoe up toward Corry Boulevard. "It’s a very impressive stadium.  And that was when it was empty.  I’ve been in several major-league soccer stadiums with the Vancouver Whitecaps. There aren’t many, if any, that are as special as this one.”

Good things figure to happen for this team with time. Starting with three road games, and now hosting three straight home games against such tough competition (St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Louisville) in the one-step-up United Soccer League (second division this year; was third division last year), are undoubtedly going to make for some growing pains. 

“The level of soccer in the stadium week-in and week-out is going to be at a high level and that should be exciting for the fans that come out,” Koch said.

We were sitting on a bench at field level beneath the giant scoreboard at Nippert. To the right, the ribbon boards were already heralding the second-year sheriff in town -- "FC Cincinnati" -- which last year grabbed the attention of Cincinnati and MLS (Major League Soccer) with huge home crowds.

"When I saw what the club was doing from afar – the atmosphere in this city, how people were embracing the sport that I loved, and the club’s aspirations of where they’d like to go – that intrigued me,” Koch said.

He appears uniquely qualified to take over for the departed first-year coach John Harkes.

His background in South Africa is fascinating, because his young playing life transitioned the era from apartheid to post-apartheid in 1991. Like so many athletes, Koch didn’t “see” color – he simply wanted to play with and against the best competition. He played park ball with multicultural pickup teams; he also found himself as the only Caucasian player on an otherwise all-black pro team just out of high school in 1993.

“It didn’t make any difference to me or my teammates,” Koch said. “We were all the same – we just wanted to advance as far in the game as we could. I had the bug. It was one of the few professional clubs in the city I grew up in.”

Crazy how sports interconnects. 

For example, I’ve always been impressed at how college and pro coaches will scour the world to find the best players. Back in 2005 when I did a full season’s coverage of the Cincinnati Kings pro soccer team (owner Yacoub Abdallahi and general manager J.T. Roberts), one of my favorite players to watch and write about was Kevin McCloskey of Belfast, who had played soccer at the University of Rio Grande, and NAIA school in southeastern Ohio, a 15-minute drive from Point Pleasant, W.Va.

I had never heard of the U of Rio Grande before then, and here FC Cincinnati has a player from there (a Brit, Paul Nicholson).  When Koch played for Simon Fraser, it was the only Canadian school in the NAIA, "and when I coached there," Koch told me, "it was the only non-American school in the NCAA." He, too, has known about Rio Grande's soccer program going way back.

Small world indeed.

“I think that’s the true beauty of our game,” Koch said. “It’s a global sport, one of the very few that transcends the whole globe. There’s a passion for this sport everywhere in the world. You can go anywhere. You don’t even have to speak the same language. You start talking X’s and O’s, and we all have something in common.”

We had a good laugh talking about Koch coaching in Texas, the first place he lived in the U.S.

“I lived in Japan before I went to Texas, and I would say that I experienced more culture shock in Texas than I had going to Japan,” Koch said. “I’d never been around cowboys and big belt buckles, spurs and all that. It’s a very distinct culture.”

“Even within the United States,” I noted, having spent my share of time in Texas. (My son was born there.)

“I have some great friends from my time in Texas – I was there for three years (at Midwestern State University), and I loved it,” Koch said. “They’re Americans – but they’re Texans.”

Man, could I ever more agree with that.

Koch also spent some time in Kansas (Baker University), his first real taste of the Midwest.  In Ireland, he played for Limerick, which people will recognize as the hometown of Frank McCourt in the best-selling book, “Angela’s Ashes.”

Koch appears to me to be a “people person.” He even got his master’s degree in human resources from Midwestern State. He’s married to Amy; they have two daughters, Aurora, 16, and Paris, 25.

They’ve visited several times, and ultimately will be back when school’s out in Vancouver.

“They like it here,” Koch said. “Cincinnati is unique; it’s not like this everywhere (the enthusiasm for soccer).”

And, yes, he’s had Skyline Chili.

“I enjoyed it,” he said. “One of my good friends is from Ohio and lived here (in Cincinnati) for several years, and he said, ‘You’ve got to go to the chili parlor. It’s one or the things you do in Cincinnati.’ And I’ve had one or two of the local brews. Very good.”

OK, he’s got the preliminaries out the way.

Now it’s time for the return of the beautiful game to Cincinnati

Christina Gorsuch, Coach of #TeamFiona

By Betsy Ross, Contributing Writer
Photos and video by Madison Schmidt

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team of health experts from around the world to raise a prematurely born hippo. Welcome to Team Fiona, whose job it has been since January 24 to care for a hippopotamus calf born at least six weeks early and a third of the size of most to-term hippo newborns.

To say that Fiona has captured the world’s imagination, if not our hearts, might be an understatement. For Christina Gorsuch, curator of mammals at the Cincinnati Zoo, it’s a once-in-a-career experience measured in challenges and celebrations, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Her job is to make sure team members have the resources, the personnel and the knowledge they need to give Fiona the best care possible. In other words, a coach, of sorts, for Team Fiona. 

The fact that Fiona is at the seven-week mark (and more than 100 pounds!) is a milestone few would have thought possible after her mom, 17-year-old Bibi, gave birth early. 

“I saw her born on video and I ran in,” Christina said.  “Another keeper was here when I got here and she was so tiny I said, ‘Is she alive?’ He said ‘Yes, it looks fine. Small but fine.’ That in itself was very exciting for us.”

After the birth, then it was a waiting game to see how strong the calf was, and how Bibi would react to her newborn. 

“We gave Fiona really good footing and made sure she was warm and had her wits about her. Then we let Bibi back in and Bibi behaved perfectly. But it was clear the calf couldn’t stand up to feed and was really weak, and that’s when we made the decision to pull her out.” 

That decision set in motion the group now known as Team Fiona giving around-the-clock care for the tiny calf. “In the beginning, it was triage and all hands on deck,” Christina said, “and I don’t know when or if our veterinarians ever slept or went home, as well as our nursery staff.” 

Once care became more routine and stabilized, the team created shifts based on bottle feedings. The daytime task of feeding Fiona fell to the two primary nursery keepers, Michelle Kuchle and Dawn Strasser, with the night shift feedings going to Teresa Truesdale, all working seven days a week. 

“It was important to provide consistency with the feedings and to make sure the caregivers could pick up immediately any slight changes in Fiona’s attitude or behavior.”

As Fiona grew, so did her legions of fans who demand their #FionaFix every day. (Remember the outcry when the zoo announced the daily social media Fiona updates would be less frequent? Yeah, they won’t do that again for awhile). And the zoo has been transparent with her fans throughout the milestones, as well as the challenges of Fiona’s development—perhaps none as challenging as when she started teething. 

“In the early days we were all just kind of amazed every day that she was making it, so when she started teething, she just sort of crashed on us and that was really hard on everyone,” Christina said. “But everyone did a good job of remaining optimistic and realistic at the same time and we decided we were going to do our best to make sure she stays here and that we’ve done our best.”

And that’s when #TeamFiona truly became a village—or more specifically, a neighborhood, because it was the Cincinnati Zoo’s neighbors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital who came through when Fiona stopped gaining weight, became lethargic and showed no interest in her bottle. “I can’t remember if was an offer that Cincinnati Children’s made to us by email or through Thane (Maynard, zoo director). They let us know they have this vascular access team and their job is to get catheters in veins you can’t get catheters into.   We needed that, to get fluids into Fiona.

“Our veterinary staff and vet techs are amazing with blood draw so they weren’t having trouble placing the cath, but she was so dehydrated and her veins were so small and weak that they kept collapsing. So I called the vascular team and they offered to come over and help and bring over their incredibly amazing equipment.”

It took about a half hour for the Cincinnati Children’s team to place the first catheter, which blew out after about a half hour. So the team came back to place a second one which lasted four days, just enough time to replenish Fiona’s fluids and nourishment and get her back on track with her development. 

“It was great to have that kind of support for her, because I think a lot of us were at the end of our rope—we just didn’t know what more we were going to be able to do for her.” 

Because as you can imagine, there’s no handbook for how to raise a premature hippo calf. A lot of what Team Fiona has done is based on their combined experience in raising baby animals at the zoo. “We also were taking some from the black rhino hand rearing book, and there’s an orphanage in South Africa that’s raised some orphan hippos. They gave us a lot of ‘this is normal, this isn’t normal’ information.”

Information, for example, on what kind of formula to feed Fiona. “In South Africa, they’re feeding whole milk and eggs because that’s what’s available to them. Here at the zoo we have several powdered formulas and fats and carbohydrates can be adjusted. But no one knew what hippo milk was supposed to be like.”

“The fact we were able to milk Bibi was great because the only other milk sample of a hippo was from 1955. Analyzing Bibi’s milk gave us an idea of what the formula for Fiona should be.” 

This past week has been a big one for #TeamFiona as not only has she reached 100 pounds, she’s been spending part of the night (midnight to 5 a.m.) by herself. As she gets bigger and stronger, of course the next logical question is, when will she be allowed to be with her parents in the exhibit area? Christina says, that’ll still be a while. 

“One of the challenges of neo-natal animals is their ability to regulate and maintain body temperature. For a preemie, it’s even more extreme. When Fiona was first born, the air temperature in the room had to be the same temperature we needed Fiona to be. So it was 98 degrees in her room so she could maintain 98 degree body temperature. When we started giving her pool time, the pools were 100 degree water. 

“We’re easing her into normal hippo temperature range—she’s currently in 85 degree water and 80 to 85 degree air temperature. So to be on exhibit many things have to happen, but one of the biggest things is, body temperature. The water in the hippo exhibit is 65 degrees and air temperature varies. She needs to be able to maintain her temperature and not shiver before we can even consider getting her out there.” 

The other factor in Fiona’s public debut is her compromised immune system. That’s why staffers are starting to feed Fiona hay pre-chewed by Bibi, to give Fiona a boost of her mother’s immune system. “Once we feel she’s strong enough,” Christina said, “introducing her to the great wide outdoors is the final hurdle.” 

For the millions (yes, millions) of people around the world who have watched Fiona grow and thrive, that moment can’t come soon enough. The way that Fiona has fascinated us, well, it’s something Christina hasn’t seen in her 20 years of working with animals. 

“I think we were at a time as a country, as a world, that we wanted something good, something purely good. Everyone likes a success story, and everyone likes an underdog. I think she was tiny and fragile and just pure energy, and it was love and dedication that got her here.

“As an individual little animal, she’s a sweetheart. She’s very expressive, she has a little personality, like all our animals do. Personally, it’s been an interesting experience for me as a manager because I’m making sure everyone has everything they need versus being there, but I still have been able to sit with her. It’s a once in a lifetime experience. She is a sweetie.” 

Marvin Lewis: Making a Difference Year Round

Just like the NFL these days, Marvin Lewis’ work in the community through his namesake Community Fund is a 12-month endeavor.

Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis has made his eponymous community effort a signature source of outreach for more than a decade, raising more than $11.6 million since it began when he arrived to Cincinnati.

When Coach Lewis was named Bengals head coach, he and his wife, Peggy, with the guidance of the first executive director, the late Sharon Thomas, set up the Marvin Lewis Community Fund (MLCF) in 2003.

Its first initiative was funding for treatments and causes of multiple sclerosis. “My brother-in law-had been stricken with MS,” said Coach Lewis, “and we were fortunate enough to sponsor a couple of research grants, one nationally and one here at UC.”

As the Foundation grew, however, the focus turned to being more community focused, which was the genesis for the Marvin Lewis Scholarship Fund, created to recognize and honor outstanding male and female student athletes from the region on an annual basis. Each year at least five, and usually more, four-year, $20,000 scholarships are awarded to students who carry a minimum 2.75 grade point average, have proven financial need, and shown admirable commitment to the community. For students who often are the first in their families to attend college, the scholarship can mean all the difference.

“These scholarships can give them an opportunity to maybe better their life by going to college,” said Lewis, “maybe attend the first college of their choice, maybe not having to work while they’re in college.”

From the scholarships came the “Learning Is Cool” program, an educational reward initiative that recognizes strong academic performance in four school districts, including Cincinnati Public, North College Hill, Covington Independent and Middletown. The program puts an emphasis on the students’ “A” Honor Roll (3.51+) achievements, with more than 30,000 students now involved.

And these students earn quite a reward for sticking with the program. Students who reach the “A” Honor Roll at least twice during the school year are invited to attend the Academic Achievement Celebration at the Cincinnati Zoo, where they get to meet Coach Lewis and Bengals players present them with a special medal of achievement.

“We’ve been able to include our players in the mix, both at the celebration and at the Learning Is Cool assemblies at participating schools,” Coach Lewis said. MLCF partners also visit the schools to talk about career opportunities. “It gives them a chance to reach out to these young people and let the students ask them questions. Chances are, you’re not all going to end up being a pro athlete or coach, but the students need to know there are a lot of career options you can choose to enjoy your life.”

Other community initiatives include Hometown Huddle, a partnership between the NFL, the Bengals and United Way to fix up a school or playground in the community; the Marvin Lewis Coaching Clinic, instructing youth football coaches in the area the correct way to teach the game; and the free Youth Football Camp, teaching 300 area youngsters the fundamentals of the game along with the value of sportsmanship and education.

“This gives these young people the opportunity to be on the stadium floor,” Coach Lewis said. “Most have never been inside Paul Brown Stadium, but they can say they’ve played football on that field. It’s a big deal to them, and gives us the chance to stress the things that are important to us; be a strong reader, thank the people who helped get you here. It’s terrific that these young people are taking advantage of this opportunity.”

The upcoming Cincinnati Scurry, scheduled for Friday, April 7, helps support Learning Is Cool.

Other fundraisers include the always-sold-out Football 101 in the fall and the Marvin Lewis Golf Classic on Sunday, May 21, this year to be held at TopGolf in West Chester.

“Our corporate partners make our events special every time, through gifts in kind, financial support, even providing volunteers. Our board members have been united in our vision and have stepped up as well with their support.”

To learn more about upcoming MLCF initiatives or to participate in the Cincinnati Scurry and Marvin Lewis Golf Classic, visit www.marvinlewis.org. 

Alecia Kintner leads Cincinnati’s ArtsWave, America’s #1 United Appeal Campaign for the Arts

By Betsy Ross, Contributing Writer

Photos and Video by Madison Schmidt

For Alecia Townsend Kintner, President and CEO of ArtsWave, THIS is the busiest time of the year. With ArtsWave’s announcement last week of a $12.6 million fundraising goal for the arts between now and April 27, she and her staff, along with Community Campaign Chair and local Fifth Third Bank Chief Tim Elsbrock and hundreds of volunteers, will be working nonstop to meet that goal.

But in reality, work on this campaign had been going on long before the announcement luncheon. 

“This is the public part, these 12 weeks from February through April, but Tim recruited his cabinet last summer,” she said. “Those 30 then recruit other helpers, then inside each company that does workplace giving, there are volunteers to step up there. We counted it up and there are about 1,100 active volunteers over the next 12 weeks of the campaign. But it starts with our leadership.” 

This is ArtsWave’s 68th campaign and the fifth for Kintner who you might say was destined for this job, even though she didn’t know it at the time. 

In the 1990s, she was in New York raising funds for Dance Theater Workshop, which also served as the lead organizer for the National Performing Network that distributed arts funding across the country. From there she took a job at the Greater Hartford Arts Council running their annual united arts campaign, similar to ArtsWave. 

“On my very first day on the job (in Hartford) I asked my boss, ‘How does this work? How do you get so many people to volunteer to do this?’ And he said, ‘Let’s call Mary McCullough-Hudson (former president and CEO at ArtsWave) in Cincinnati, because nobody does it like they do.’”

And so Kintner did, and through her years with the Greater Hartford Arts Council, McCullough-Hudson became a mentor, guiding Kintner through the process of community arts fundraising. “My board in Hartford would say to me, ‘Find out how they do it in Cincinnati—what’s the secret to their success.’ I would ask questions and study it from afar and see how we can make this look more like Cincinnati and the (then) Fine Arts Fund.” 

Then after 10 years in Hartford, Kintner and her husband stepped away—literally—from corporate life, quitting their jobs when their twins were born and selling their home in 2007 to move to an island in the Caribbean. 

“The day I announced that to the field, I got an email immediately from Mary saying, ‘Who does that? You can’t do that, that’s supposed to be me!’”

Island life lasted almost four years, and when the family returned to Hartford, Kintner thought that was it, the family was done moving. 

“But Mary started calling saying, ‘We’re thinking about our succession plan in Cincinnati, would you come?’ And I said, ‘No, we’re never moving again, I’ve never been to Cincinnati and it sounds wonderful, but no.’” 

Cincinnati’s persistence paid off eventually, and Kintner agreed to at least come to town to check it out. 

“I was immediately struck by the energy of downtown. Ultimately, it was an easy decision to come because the arts were everything I imagined them to be, and the job certainly was all I knew it would be. But it was a really big move and a big decision.” 

That decision makes Kintner part of Cincinnati’s heritage of giving to the arts that goes back to the 1800s, when Cincinnati’s civic leaders traveled to Europe and saw what arts and culture meant to the great capital cities there. “They came back and said, there’s no reason why Cincinnati shouldn’t have these same cultural riches and be the Paris of America,” said Kintner. 

From that vision came institutions like the May Festival, the oldest choral festival in the Western Hemisphere, Music Hall, the Symphony, Cincinnati Zoo, and the like. Then in 1927, the Taft family challenged the community to support the arts, pledging $1.5 million in matching funds if Cincinnati would contribute an equal amount. “It was done in months, and I think that was the first community arts challenge that we continue to this day. It’s really part of Cincinnati’s DNA.” 

ArtsWave invests in dozens of arts and cultural organizations, of all sizes, from the Cincinnati Symphony to Bi-Okoto African Drum & Dance Theater in Pleasant Ridge. 

“We’re able to invest literally millions, reliably, into Greater Cincinnati’s arts and cultural community, from organizations to schools, community groups and other nonprofits that are using the arts to achieve bigger goals. It’s significant enough to both sustain organizations and allow them to innovate.” 

Two years ago, ArtsWave introduced its Blueprint for Collective Action with five overarching goals: 

• Put Cincinnati on the map 
• Deepen roots in our region 
• Bridge cultural divides 
• Enliven neighborhoods
• Fuel creativity and learning

"The Blueprint for Collective Action in the arts sector is a 10-year strategy that really is meant to clarify what we believe the arts do for the Greater Cincinnati region," said Kintner. "It’s the ROIthat we believe the arts offers to our business partners and what we can, together as a community, expect from the arts."

To help put Cincinnati on the map vis-à-vis the arts, ArtsWave is partnering with the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network on a cultural tourism marketing campaign to reach the growing segment of cultural travelers, those traveling for a theater performance, an innovative culinary experience and perhaps a brewery visit and tasting.

“We’re getting to the people who might be likely to come check out Cincinnati for a cultural getaway weekend. Research shows there’s quite a large market for those seeking a whole experience, culinary, heritage and entertainment. We offer up a whole array of experiences and that’s what we know people are valuing when they travel.” 

With traditional sources of arts giving shifting, ArtsWave has been changing with the times—and has been encouraging its arts partners to do the same. 

“Opportunities to get on-demand entertainment means it’s so different now to try to compete and offer something in the sense of ‘traditional’ arts. So we’re working with arts organizations to figure out what that new relevance looks like. For example, our largest arts partner, the Cincinnati Symphony, has dug in wholeheartedly on how to reach new consumers with its MusicNOW Festival, listening parties and partnerships with the FreeStore Food Bank to have musicians perform as people are in line for food.”

With the upcoming 31st annual Macy’s Arts Sampler set for February 18 & 19, ArtsWave helps to show off 100+ arts events at 25 venues and 18 neighborhoods, all free, and all to give families around Greater Cincinnati a sample of what the arts has to offer.

It’s a reminder for Kintner, and all who are involved in the arts, just how much it means to the community.

“I think it’s really easy for those of us who live here to take it all for granted. Arts are having an impact across the community, and that doesn’t happen without investment, without strategy, without leadership. 

“We have to be relevant enough as a sector to our business and community partners that we keep the access, keep what is so strong in Cincinnati going for the next generation.”

To make a donation to ArtsWave, visit their website. 

Patty Brisben and the Evolution of Pure Romance

By John Erardi, Contributing Writer
Photos and video by Madison Schmidt

Nothing says Valentine’s Day quite like “Pure Romance.”

Literally. I mean, it’s right there on the building--you know the one, the white one, at 655 Plum on the western edge of downtown, just down the street from Cincinnati City Hall. There it is in black block letters about seven stories up: “Pure” and “Romance” with the pink heart in between.

The story that percolates under that roof is made all the more Valentine-y because Pure Romance, which basically began in a small box delivered to Patty Brisben’s house in 1983 and is now a $200 million-a-year international business -- moved its corporate headquarters downtown three years ago from, of all places, Loveland, where its 25,000-square-foot warehouse is still located.

“People,” says founder and owner Patty Brisben, “ tell me that they think the town changed its name to ‘Loveland’ because of our business being there.”

And what does Brisben say to that?

“Why of course, it did!”

You might say that Brisben’s arrow always finds the sweet spot.

Why it’s enough to make you quiver.

For all the attention that the street car and craft breweries and overall resurgence of Over-the-Rhine has gotten in recent years, don’t you think it’s fair play that Pure Romance finally get some real love, what with Valentine’s Day just around the corner?

One cannot tell the story of Pure Romance without telling the story of Patty Brisben, a dynamo of a woman if ever there were one. 

She built her business on, above all things, being a good listener. 

One at a time, in one-to-one conversations, women reveal to her “their deepest and darkest secrets.”

But I found Brisben to be a good talker as well, especially when it comes to the use of symbolism, metaphor and anecdote -- an invaluable triad for anybody trying to write a profile of somebody else.

For instance, when she tells me the story about the “little box” arriving at her home in 1983, she personalizes the story by bringing the UPS man into it.

“I’d been getting the house ready, like any hostess would,” she begins.  “I happened to be looking out the window, and saw the UPS driver carrying ‘the box’ toward the house. I started panicking.  ‘Ohmigosh. We’d always had such a good relationship! Is he going to think differently of me now?’ When the doorbell rang, I couldn’t even look him in the eye!  I just grabbed the box out of his hands and closed the door!”

I laughed good at that one. Brisben is nothing if not an evocateur. The backstory to the box’s arrival is even better. Its genesis was in Brisben’s having watched the Phil Donahue Show a few days earlier. She was at home on maternity leave, having just delivered her fourth child.

“I was barely making ends meet,” she recalls, “even though I was working for four pediatricians."

When I watched those women (on TV), I could see that their lives had changed -- drastically -- and they were changing the lives of others.  That’s what I wanted to do.  At the time, I really didn’t know what all of that meant, but I knew I wanted to have more quality time with my children. I loved my work, but I wanted to be with my children even more. 

“I didn’t think about wanting to be an ‘entrepreneur,’ or owning and operating my own business. What clicked for me that day were those women finding happiness, those women having quality time with their families; their lives changing. That was everything I wanted for myself and my family. I wanted to stop living paycheck to paycheck.”

What the women were selling that day is what Pure Romance’s own web site refers to today as “sex toys and relationship-enhancing products.”

For Brisben, a conversation later that day led her down the path to the present day.  She was talking to a friend in her children's car-pool.

“The Donahue Show hadn’t left my mind that entire day,’” she recalls. “I kept thinking, I wonder if that could be me; maybe that could be me. So, when my friend called me, all I could talk about was the Donahue Show.  My friend got really, really quiet. I thought I had offended her."

“Remember now, this was 1983 – ‘Sex and the City’ hadn’t been born yet. We (women) did not talk about intimacy;  we just didn’t. There was no permission to have that conversation. So, when my friend was quiet, I changed the conversation to, I’m sorry; I’ll drive, thinking that was going to solve everything.

“And she said, ‘I went to a party.’“

Patty’s jaw dropped.

“Where?” she asked.

“In Milford. One of my neighbor’s relatives who lives in Dayton came in to do a party. The house was packed. People waited in line to make purchases.  Do you want the 800 number?”

“Yes.”

Patty called the number, and spoke to a “well-versed” Consultant who said the same thing the women on Donahue had said. That her life had changed, and that she was changing the lives of others.

“I wanted that for myself,” Patty remembers. “Right then and there, I took the last bit of money I had ($5,000) and decided to become a Consultant for what was known at the time as Fun Parties Inc.“

Patty Brisben, founder of Pure Romance in Cincinnati, gives her thoughts on what couples should be thinking about this Valentine's Day. Mining by Moonlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What were the odds that one of the first people Patty would talk to after that fateful Donahue Show would herself have just been to a party? And that she’d be willing to divulge it? How many times do people miss that moment of listening to their inner voice, failing to ask that one additional question that might lead somewhere?

Here I allow Brisben go stream-of-consciousness because I had the feeling that this stream was going to lead somewhere.

Plus I wanted to hear about that first party. What in the world was it like?

Patty takes it from there; call it the Full Patty.

“I was so afraid I wouldn’t move forward with the party,” she remembers.

“So I called all my friends on the phone. I had 15 girlfriends who all said pretty much the same thing: ‘Are you crazy? But I’ll be there!’ … And that day, when the UPS man brought the box to the house, I went upstairs, opened up the box and looked inside. I had a total meltdown!”

Call it the Patty Melt.

“I had never used any of those products! Nor had I even ever seen any of those types of products! I just said, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ Within minutes the doorbell was ringing. All I kept thinking was, ‘What am I going to do now?’ So I thought, ‘I’ll just let ‘em drink and eat and send ‘em home. They’ll never know there wasn’t a ‘party.’ ” 

But it worked out.

That $5,000 and that first box – a “kit,” it was called and still is, a $49 kit, the least expensive one that Fun Parties Inc. sold to its Consultants – is what Brisben turned into a $200 million a year business.

“What I learned very quickly is that it wasn’t about what was inside that box,” Patty says. “It was about a safe environment to talk with other women. That was the beginning of the permission. It was our own version of ‘Sex and the City.’ I was determined to allow these women to open up and communicate, even vent on their relationships. I asked myself, ‘how can I make it better; what can I do?’ ”

What started out as a search for personal and family fulfillment turned out to be fueled by the conversations and the expressed needs of her friends and their friends.

“After that first night, I could see that it was the women who were going to keep me doing this,” not the more abstract notion of personal happiness, Patty remembers.

She was being filled up by the women she was seeking to help.

“They needed a place to get giddy and laugh and ask questions and not feel ashamed,” Patty says. “That’s when I knew: ‘This is what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m going to get them some answers.  I said to myself: ‘C’mon Patty, you can do this. You worked in the medical field. You can pick the brains of your medical friends.’ And that is how I grew it into a business. Working in the medical field, I’ve never been uncomfortable talking about the human body – ever.”

Years earlier, one of the pediatricians she had worked for – “Dr. Sanders,” since passed – told her, “Patty, you need to go back to school. You know why? Because you would be a great teacher.  You should be a teacher.  You should go back and get your license and then teach nursing.”

She recalls him as a “tough doctor; he would challenge me every day.”

“I wish he were alive,” Patty says. “I wish he could see this.”

Patty turned out to be a great teacher, only not in the way Dr. Sanders imagined.

---

Patty seems able to free not only individuals to tell her things one-on-one, she seems able to empower some to tell their stories and ask their questions in front of a like-minded audience.

A considerable part of her work is through the Patty Brisben Foundation, the leader in sexual health research across America.  Patty recalls attending a gathering of the Young Survival Coalition, in which the audience was comprised almost entirely of under-45 women who were either undergoing or had recently undergone cancer treatment.

On the manifest of guest speakers was a sex therapist, whose advice to the cancer victims was that “if you want to feel sexy, put on one of your husband’s nice white dress shirts and a pair of stiletto heels.”

Says Brisben, practically bristling:  “I wanted to remove her from the room. I’ve never gone through cancer treatment. But I knew those women were tired, exhausted; dealing with body image; trying to find balance in their everyday with their significant other; looking to regain intimacy with their significant other. They weren’t looking to put on a pair of stilettos.”

Later that evening, Patty held Pajama Night. About 300 women showed up in their PJs. During Patty’s presentation, the ladies laughed until they had tears running down their faces. It was one of the first times that entire weekend they momentarily forgot they were undergoing cancer treatment.

“They became women again,” is the way Patty puts it.

Normally, her speaking engagements last 30-40 minutes. She then opens it up for questions.

Two hours later…Patty had to bring her “team” in at that point; she had a red-eye flight to catch.

She will never forget the first question.

“She was young lady, probably 20, newly diagnosed, had just begun losing her hair, and she had never been intimate with anybody.  Her doctor had told her that atrophy was going to probably set in, and that she needed to buy a bedroom toy so that the atrophy wouldn’t own her body.

“What should I buy?” the young woman asked Patty.

What a first question. Imagine the courage it took to stand up to ask it.

Then more questions…and more questions.

“We were working with Indiana University at the time,” Patty recalls. “I’d follow up on questions to the researchers. I’d say ‘what does this mean?’ ‘What does that mean?’ They’d tell me, ‘This is what it means; there’s a diagnosis, but no real treatment."

“Why?” Patty asked.

“Because there’s been no research into it.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s enough funding.”

“We’re going to change that,” Patty said.

And she did.

The Patty Brisben Foundation for Women’s Sexual Health was born.

Patty had no idea that what she was doing was unique. All she knew is that she wanted to raise as much money she could.

Three-and-a-half million research dollars later…

Here’s the back story of that famous first party and some subsequent events…

“Those 15 girlfriends turned into about 40, because everybody brought a friend. That night, it was a lot of fun, but I didn’t know a whole lot about anything. I had worked for doctors and most of my friends were registered nurses so that helped. I was going to surround myself with the best of the best, and I was going to be able to feed these women information about their bodies, and about themselves, and help them through the process of making decisions of what would work best in their bedrooms.” 

Patty had a successful party from a Consultant’s perspective: She sold a little over $500 worth of products, and five people booked a party apiece.

More than anything, it was the feedback Patty received that made it work. It wasn’t that Patty knew everything; she admits, she didn’t know “anything.”

And that’s the point:

It’s not so difficult to listen, once you’ve trained yourself to do it-- if you care enough to try. 

And if you’re a Consultant, it’s going to help you throw a better party; make the party pay off, both figuratively and literally.

“I listen to conversations; I don’t get into the midst of their conversations –  this is their party, not mine,” Patty counsels. “Somebody will say, ‘Oh, I’m getting married soon and I’m looking for stuff to take on my honeymoon,’ or ‘You wouldn’t believe the product we were talking about today at work."

“So that’s some of what I’m going to talk about at the party --- without mentioning names. ‘Here are some great things to take on your honeymoon, and this is our No. 1 product, and I’m sure they’ve been talking about this at work if somebody went to a party the night before.’ ”

And here, here is the key to a real salesperson: 

When Patty hears women at the party say that aren’t going to buy anything – “My Joe looked at the invitation, and he told me, ‘Here’s the checkbook, buy everything,” but I’m not buying anything; there’s not anything here for me” – it’s an invitation to openness, to borrow a phrase from the famous jazzman, Les McCann.

“There’s one at every party – every party,” Patty says. “She’s going to be my best friend. I love being able to turn somebody’s mind around. I want her to have the best experience in the room.  I am going to put her mind totally at ease, at ease in knowing how to use a product, at ease in knowing how to introduce it (in the bedroom). I’m going to give her ‘permission’ to go home and change things up. I’m going to give her some backbone, going to turn everything around for her.

“She’s the one I want to hear say in the ordering room – like they so often do. ‘Ohmigosh,  Patty, I had no idea it could be like this.’  And even if all they do is say, ‘I’m going to start off with just the ‘Between the Sheets’ (orchid powder-based linen spray)’ or ‘I’m going to start off with the sheet spray and cream,’ I’m okay with that. Remember, she was ‘never going to buy anything.’”

And, yes, it’s always “one client at a time” in the ordering room. 

It’s all between the client and the “Consultant.”

Says Patty:  “So often I hear, ‘Thanks so much for making this the rule. I wasn’t going to buy this if my friend came in with me.’ Or ‘I wasn’t going to ask this question if my friend came in with me. She’s my best friend and we tell each other everything, but…’ ”

Like so much else in life, it’s about communication.

“No kissing, no telling,” Brisben says. “Once I see you, I’m going to forget about what you ordered. I’m going to forget what we talked about. I am a firm believer that if somebody tells you a story, you don’t run and tell that to somebody else. That can ruin a relationship, and in this (line of work), it can ruin your business. I’ve had (clients) ask me, ‘So-and-so is having an affair. Did she tell you about it?’ And I say, ‘No, she never said anything."

“Well, what did she buy?”

“I can’t tell you, and I’m not going to tell you.”

“Well, I was going to book another party, and if you tell me, I’ll book two more parties.”

“No,” Patty says. “No.”

Here’s how Patty makes the parties work, and she traces it back to that very first party:

“As soon as that (first) party ended, I wrote down their questions, and I’d go get the answers for them."

It is in the follow-up in the ordering room where the best of Brisben comes out.

One time, she had a woman tell her, ‘Make it go away; make it be faster.’ (intercourse, in other words) … That gave me an opportunity to ask,  ‘What are you missing in that passionate moment?  What are you running from?” And we talked, and I could tell what was missing was foreplay… And it was so (fulfilling) to later hear from her, ‘That talk you gave me in the ordering room? Ohmigosh, the best.’… I can’t’ always remember the answers I give, but I remember the questions.”

---

Patty has heard the words “Conservative Cincinnati” used so often in introducing her at speaking engagements around the country that it practically sounds like one word now.

Well, how “conservative” does 25,000 square feet of relationship-enhancing inventory sound?

Yes, this is the part of what Brisben does for women that initially “scared” her the most: the business side.

Well, she turned out to be a savvy businesswoman, even though she didn’t have business sheepskin to suggest it might be so. She followed her heart, her common sense and her competitive drive; she’s a born salesperson, always seeking to be top of the heap - or as close to it as is humanly possible.

Her first “Top Five” prize in sales was a cigarette lighter (“I didn’t even smoke!”); the second (it was her choice; actually she let her kids decide), a home entertainment system.

1985? A home entertainment system? Are you kidding me? TV, VCR, stereo, speakers, you name it. That’d get your kids into doing whatever they could do to help you succeed, no? 

From the get-go, Patty made her mission of transformation known to her “oldest” children, 8 and 6.

“This first year’s going to be tough,” she’d tell them, “but at the end of the year, our life will change.”

And, in effect, their lives did change.

How successful were you, Patty? Put it into numbers.

After her first year as a consultant she had enough money to buy a new Dodge Daytona and put a down payment on a new home.

What started in that box the UPS man delivered back in 1983 soon grew to 1,200 square feet and kept increasing… 2,500-3,000 square feet … to 10,000 square feet in Milford (“When we built it, I literally sat down on the floor and cried,  ‘I’ll never fill it!”) … within five years, it was full … to 25,000-30,000 square feet in Loveland in 2005.

This, too, began in Patty’s home. She remembers well the days when she had to rely on 8-year-old, Chris, and 6-year-old Nick to tend to the babies, 19-month-old Matt and 2-month-old Lauren – to make certain she wasn’t interrupted on what she and she and family elders dubbed “Picnic Night.”

“That was the night, Sunday night, when I would call my (Consultants) to go over the whole week,” she remembers. “I’d ask them about their (scheduled) parties, how many people (were booked), things like that. ‘Hostess coaching, I call it.  People ask me, ‘How did you do all this with four kids?’  The answer is that I shared it with my kids what was going on in my world, and I made it a part of their world.”

She needed to have and give the undivided attention of her Consultants.

“I communicated with my kids, got them ‘into it’ with our own (set of incentives) -- the celebration at the end of the year, what we had achieved as a team.  Of course, I didn’t tell them what I was selling (they were far too young for that).”

But they deduced from what their Mom told them – “I’m helping parents; I’m helping them communicate better” – that she was a teacher.

Which, in effect, she was.

And the kids knew that if Mommy continued to have success as a teacher, well, they’d be eating at McDonald’s on Fridays or Saturdays, a very special treat for the young family.

When the phone rang on Sunday nights, that was the cash registering ringing (although Mom didn’t put it in those terms.) She incentivized it: the phone ringing was, in essence, a combination of McDonald’s calling and Mommy bringing home the bacon. And it was amazing, really, how well it worked in those days before home computers and cell phones and a video game in every TV.

---

Fast-forward it a couple decades later when Chris, about 27, was involved at the company. He’d been making his own way, but he recognized that it was time help out Mom again in a hands-on way. He decided he could give her six months of help in a calendar year.

His mission was to get her to relinquish day-to-day operations of the company.  From Day One, Patty had been involved in everything: customer service, recruiting Consultants, warehouse manager, talking with vendors, you name it.

“Giving up all that was like giving up my first-born,” Patty says

Which, come to think of I, she almost did.

Consider: Chris’ first big venture on behalf of the company was the first-ever “on the road” promotional trip to St. Louis in 2002 to recruit Consultants. It was and is Patty’s favorite part of the business; the one that Chris, as her son, wanted to give her yet another head-start on.

Patty did guest-spots throughout the week in St. Louis during morning and afternoon “drive time” shows on radio, and Chris handled the logistics on setting up the big “hit” –  the recruiting of Consultants at the hotel afterward. (“Come meet Patty Brisben! Start Your Own Business! Turn Your Life Around!”)

Thursday night was the big night, party night.

Would you believe that after all that work, only 10 people showed up for the party?

Patty: “Chris hadn’t told me he’d spent over $30,000 (on the ‘tour’)! On the ride home, I was sick, he was sick; it was terrible.”

The next day, Sunday, they were at the warehouse putting product back on the shelves, both a lot less happy-filled than the inventory, to put it mildly. That’s when the phones started ringing simultaneously. 

Patty has a rule that a man can never answer the phone at the warehouse to fill an order. But so many phones were ringing, Chris had to step in.

Caller: “I can’t believe you’re there on a Sunday! (Aside to a husband in the background: ‘Honey, there’s somebody there!’)  I want to become a Consultant.”

Chris: “You must have come to the Sheraton.”

“No.”

“Did you come to the party?”

“No.”

“Then how did you hear about us?”

“You’re on the front page of the St Louis Post-Dispatch: The headline reads, ‘The New Tupperware of the 2000s.’ “

OMG.

It was “0 to 100” in the squeal of the wheels.

Patty and her eldest couldn’t believe how good had been their fortune.

By the end of that first week back home, they had signed up 50 new Consultants for the St. Louis region alone. 

Turns out it had been St. Post-Dispatch reporter that was one of the visitors to the ballroom on Party Night at the hotel.

“I thought back to that night, and I remembered a woman asking me to sit down and discuss the business,” Patty recalled, quickly putting two and two together, having been so eager to tell her things that she totally missed the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” part of the woman’s introduction.

Can you imagine the conversations among wives and husbands that Sunday and afternoon in St. Louis?

Why, it was Patty’s first party times one times one hundred thousand!

And son, Chris who now serves as Pure Romance's CEO & President?

“He said that if that reporter hadn’t shown up that night” and saved the day, recalls Patty, “he didn’t’ know whether as the son of the owner he’d be fired or grounded.”

And that’s when the show really hit the road.

Patty and her son spent a goodly portion of the next three years dragging a U-Haul all over the place, building on that serendipitous success in St. Louis.

“When we got to Atlanta,” recalls Patty of that high-water-mark road trip back in 2004 or 2005, “there were so many women that we filled up three ballrooms.”

The sweet spot isn't always the same.

But you always know when you’ve hit it.

Cincinnati’s Marathon Man: Harvey Lewis on What Keeps Him Going

Harvey Lewis’ “Fave 14 Races"
(In No Particular Order after Flying Pig Marathon, (because the Pig is his favorite marathon) and In His Words, Excerpted)

Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon - Hands down my favorite marathon in the world. Who doesn't love the pig theme?. The route through the neighborhoods: Great. Crowd support: Tremendous. The shirts, posters, medals with Flying Pig character are annually amongst the best in the world. 

Columbus Marathon - Ranks in my top 3-4 in the country. Fantastic fall event, superbly executed, raises money for Columbus Nationwide Children's Hospital. A child champion who is or has been a patient at Columbus Nationwide Children's Hospital stands at each mile, giving high fives to runners.  

Badwater 135 - Known as the toughest foot race on the planet. Covers 135 miles from the lowest point in North America to the portal of Mt. Whitney, highest mountain in the Lower Forty-Eight. Temperatures in mid-July exceed 120 degrees. Magic nature to the serenity of the desert salt flats, the mountains and especially the final ascent of Whitney.

Northcoast 24 - Imagine the challenge of seeing how many miles you can run in 24 hours. This race is frequently designated as the National Championship for the 24-Hour Race. The race is a mile loop at Edgewater Park along Lake Erie; third week of September.

Spartathlon - Follow the route of Phiddipede from Athens to Sparta, Greece, 153 miles. Each village along the route proudly prepares foods and drinks for runners.  Finish with giant celebration in the heart of Sparta kissing the feet of the statue of the famous Spartan, Leonidas.

Gobi Trail Ultra - Inspired by the Chinese monk Xuanzang who explored the remote regions of the Gobi on foot in search of Ancient Buddhist Manuscripts in the 7th century. 400 km (about 250 miles), no course markings. Temperatures range from below freezing to over 100.

Arrowhead 135 - Winter equivalent of Badwater. International Falls (“Frostbite Falls”)  to Tower, Minnesota. All racers must carry mandatory survival gear pulled typically in a sled. Route is a snowmobile trail with a nearly infinite green sea of pine trees.

Twin Cities Marathon - I've run most of the big marathons in the country like Chicago and while each race has something special I prefer the marathons that don't have overwhelming crowds. Superbly run. Climatic finish at the beautiful State Capital Building and Cathedral in St. Paul.

Marathon Des Sables - Famous in Europe and touted for its difficulty, among some professional circles in France and the U.K. Legendary sand dune environment in southern Morocco. Over 1,000 runners from around the world traverse six stages of endless sands across 150 miles.

Hyde Park Blast - Beautiful 4-mile race through Hyde Park in the heart of the summer. The race has raised more than half a million dollars since its inception towards cancer research. Terrific community event with music, food and a festival feel. 

FANS 24 - Iconic 24-hour in a park in Minneapolis in June. To survive and maximize one's ability, stay well hydrated, consume plenty of calories, stay loose and keep an positive attitude.

New York Marathon - My favorite of the large marathon races. How else could you visit all five of New York's boroughs in one day? Marathon is ingeniously executed including starting waves to permit 50,000 people to cross New York's bridges and streets. Finishes in Central Park. 

Mohican 100 - Set in the backwoods of Ohio at Mohican State Park. Is among the oldest

Ultras in the country. “Figure Eight” trail that runners must repeat. Forests and trails are timeless.  Avoid looking down at your watch and being tripped by those nagging roots.

RunQuest Travel Portugal - Final  favorite isn’t a race at all, but an “experience.” Each summer I take guests along with Portuguese guides on running holidays to Portugal. Run past the castles of Sintra, through charming town of Porto or Lisbon, and explore the wilds of Geres National Park.  Learn more at RunQuestTravel.com

By John Erardi
Photos and videos by Madison Schmidt

Three things struck me immediately about world-class ultra-marathoner Harvey Lewis: he is buoyant, imaginative and convincing. I have no doubt that all three qualities play an incredibly important role in his ability to overcome great distances, elevations, terrain and yes, at times, monotony.

Being terrain-aware might be my only commonality with Lewis, a history and government teacher at Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts. I like dramatic terrain, force-of-nature stuff, genuinely awe-inspirational, preferably in the middle of nowhere (but, really, anywhere). But I experience it with my eyes and soul, not my legs. It's not like I've ever hiked the Himalayas. I do like walking, especially hills. But to compare what I do to what Lewis does would be, in the words of Mark Twain, to compare a lightning bug to lightning.

I usually do some sort of preparation for every interview, but I wanted my time with Harvey to be free-flowing, like the man himself in his favorite space: race day. I wanted him to steer the conversation, an ultra-marathoner in charge of his own destiny. I hadn’t scripted a single question, not even the first one:

“What is the most difficult terrain you’ve ever run in an ultra-marathon?”

Bingo!

Ultra marathoner Harvey Lewis talks about running every day and his quest to travel to all 196 countries in the world. Lewis is a history teacher at the School for Creative and Performing Arts.

Fewer than four months ago, Harvey completed the 250-mile personal self-punishment trial known as the “Ultra Trail of the Gobi.” I didn't even know for sure where the Gobi Desert was, just that it wasn't anywhere I'd ever been, which meant it had to be in Asia, where I'd never been, and I suspected it might be in China because of the impossible, sheer mass of land there that surely much include a desert. It was and it does.

"The whole experience was like the movie, ‘Enter the Dragon’ (the 1973 Bruce Lee classic filmed in Hong Kong),” Lewis began. “It was like it in the sense that you never knew what you were going to come up against next. It was the craziest thing you could ever imagine.

“There were only 30 really strong runners, and 11 of us had been invited by the Chinese government -- me because I had won the Badwater (Race, 135 miles through Death Valley, known as toughest race in the world). It was like random people showing up for this race; everybody had their own specializations. They just threw us out in the desert. No course markings. We had GPS (devices), but mine went out in the middle of the night once. Fortunately, there was a guy up in front of me, and I was able to speed up and get on his tail. It was all so crazy! No way that race would ever be insured in America!”

And that’s how Harvey hooked me.

Lewis has a storyteller’s ability for describing things. It goes without saying that the 40-year-old Lewis is washboard-fit. But there’s nothing spare about him when it comes to describing what he’s doing with his life.

Off we went on a 40-minute dazzle-thon of "On The Road With Harvey Lewis.”

“The first thing was the distance – 400 kilometers, 250 miles,” he continued. “You’re having to run right through the obstacles, not around them.  Canyons. Up over a mountain that was 10,000 feet (in elevation). Even a river crossing, where the water was freezing cold. Didn’t have to swim; I could wade it, up to my thighs. But you can imagine that at night time.

“One night I had to go through this area where the brush was super-thick. No way around it. Another time -- a 10k stretch, actually -- of huge mounds of dirt that you had to step directly on the top of, or you’d twist your ankle. Then, huge sand dunes – had to run right across them. At one point, I remembered thinking, ‘Is this some sort of military experiment? Or they just want to see how funny it would be punish Americans?’ ”

Lewis made himself laugh at those last two lines -- and that made me crack up, too.

It was only the second annual Ultra Trail of the Gobi, which means where wasn’t much communal knowledge out there that Lewis could hope to absorb.

“About all I knew is that no one died (in the first one),” Harvey said. He said it with a grin, but I knew he wasn’t kidding.

It immediately came to my mind that death is something ultra-marathoners have to factor in, even if only to avoid it.

Talk about a reality check (and, in the words of the late, great Joe Nuxhall, death certainly is one)…

Harvey didn’t talk any more about “no one died,” but I got the clear sense that it is gallows humor for ultra-marathoners. (“Well, if nobody’s died yet, how bad can it be? Sign me up!”)

After our interview, I read a pre-race article that said there would be “underfed wild dogs” on the Gobi Trail. But if there were, Lewis didn’t see them.

“No wild animals, but a lot of camels,” he said. “Saw one snake, a few birds, that’s about it.”

Lewis was leading the race early, when calamity struck.

“On Day Two, it was the hottest day, about one hundred degrees – normally, the heat is my specialty, living here (in the Ohio Valley with its summer heat and humidity) – but I had number of things go wrong. I drank (a specific hydrating beverage) but overdid it. I also ate some heavy soup at lunchtime, at the zenith of the sunlight, and got really nauseous. I was only about a third of the way through the race.”

(Make sure you’ve got your Wheaties down before reading this next part…)

“I wound up throwing up for about an hour straight. It was really bad. Believe me, I normally don’t do that! I barely got to the next checkpoint. I was little bit delirious (along the way there) – not to the point of death, but I could have maybe passed out for a few hours in the dark in the middle of nowhere -- but I made it. I was in the tent (at the checkpoint) for about eight hours. That was a low point.” (Ya’ think?)

Lewis awoke the next morning feeling a little better, shook the cobwebs loose, and hit the trail. He made up for some of his lost time by running more and sleeping less, trying to calculate his hydration and food intake as exactly as he could. (It took him five days overall to do finish the race, a day under the six-day limit.) Over the course of the next 36 hours after waking up, he stopped only twice, 90 minutes apiece.

Even under that great, physical stress, he enjoyed as much as ever those two special moments of the day that we all enjoy, no matter how sedentary we might be.

Sunrise and sunset.

“I remember coming off the mountain; I was on a completely flat surface, and I looked around as far as the eye could see in any direction and there wasn’t a single human being out there except me,” he said, marveling. “I finished 11th or 12th. I was proud of that. I could’ve given up. I like to compete, push myself, be the best I can, but, really, it’s about, ‘Can you finish this thing?’ In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last. It’s about the experience of the race, in what you overcome.”

And, then, he got to the heart of the matter, why in part he loves ultra-running.

“It’s such a spiritual experience when you’re out there,” he said. “Here I was in this complete, flat, sandy desert. And for so much of the time, I didn’t see anybody else out there. There’s a community that helps you to ‘get there,’ but the self-reliance (that hits home during the race) can lead to these moments of serenity, the opportunities to reflect… (Running these ultra-races) leaves you with a greater sense of the world you belong to.”

The trick, of course, is maintain a state of awareness, while being in a meditative state.

“You want to be as relaxed as possible,” Lewis explained. “Otherwise, you’ll use too much energy. But you also want to be really conscious of what’s happening. At that moment when you’re the most relaxed – you’re meditating, basically – you also have to know there is a rock in front of you, and if you step on that rock, you’re going to be out of the race.”

The way he described it then sounded lovely to my ears; it made total sense, even though I’ve never run an ultra-marathon.

“It’s a microcosm of life,” he said. “There are moments of euphoria, and there are moments of lows, dark places that you have to climb out of. They challenge the way you think; the way you approach things. To be successful in this type of race, you have to have a positive outlook. The best experience is to come out of those dark places because of the way you approached the problem with your mind, and refused to give up.”

But here’s what I find most intriguing about Harvey Lewis, all four decades’ worth of him.

“As I was running the race, I was thinking to myself, ‘I need to finish this race, because I don’t know if I’ll ever do this one again.’ Then, an hour after I’d finished the race, and enjoyed a Chinese buffet, I was like, ‘Man, I would do that again.’ ”  

Amazing, isn’t it?

And, as much as Harvey likes to travel, he always enjoys coming back home. Harvey is on a quest to visit all 196 countries in the world, having just notched #84 with a visit to Barbados over Christmas Break. He’s thinking he might reach 100 countries in the by 2020.

“I really appreciate Cincinnati as a launching pad; this place inspires me,” said Lewis, who counts the Flying Pig (he’s run all 18 of them; that makes him a “streaker” in runners’ parlance) as his all-time favorite event.

He credits his vegetarian lifestyle the past 20 years for being a "substantial part" of his running success and body's resiliency. He said being a vegetarian supplies him with, among other things, the "necessary ingredients for my body to bounce back quickly from punishing endurance events over one hundreds of miles. I drink no milk. I live... entirely (on) plant-based products... I can run a 24-hour race hitting over 158 miles and then run to school the very next day."

I laughed when he told me his fiancé lives in Circleville.

An ultra-marathoner like you, Harvey, a world-class runner with a fiancé, she should live someplace exotic, someplace far out, someplace like the moon, no?

It was Harvey’s turn to laugh.

“Yeah, too easy, right?”

 Right.

---

Countries around the World Visited by Harvey Lewis
Country/ Year       

1.    USA (Birth 1976)
2.    Bahamas (1987)
3.    Canada (1988)
4.    Belize (1994)
5.    Mexico (1995)
6.    Australia (1995)
7.    St. Kitts & Nevis (1995)
8.    Guadeloupe (1995)
9.    Dominica (1995)
10.    Guatemala (1998)
11.    El Salvador (1998)
12.    Honduras (1998)
13.    Nicaragua (1998)
14.    Costa Rica ( 1998)
15.    Panama (1998)
16.    Columbia (1998)
17.    Ecuador (1998)
18.    Peru (1998)
19.    Bolivia (1998)
20.    Chile (1998)
21.    Argentina (1998)
22.    Paraguay (1998)
23.    Brazil (1998)
24.    Venezuela (1998)
25.    United Kingdom (2001)
26.    Ireland (2001)
27.    France (2001)
28.    Belgium (2001)
29.    Netherlands (2001)
30.    Spain (2001)
31.    Andorra (2001)
Aruba (2002)
32.    South Korea (2003)
33.    Japan (2003)
34.    Thailand (2003)
35.    Cambodia (2003)
36.    Italy (2005)
37.    The Vatican (2005)
38.    Egypt (2005)
39.    Jordan (2005)
40.    Israel (2005)
41.    Palestine (2005)
42.    Czech Republic (2005)
43.    Germany (2005)
44.    Austria (2005)
Antarctica (2005) *Reached seventh continent
45.    Uruguay (2005)
46.    United Arab Emirates (2006)
47.    Ghana (2006)
48.    Togo (2006)
49.    Benin (2006)
50.    Greece (2007)
51.    Albania (2007)
52.    India (2008)
53.    Nepal (2008)
54.    Poland (2009)
55.    Sweden (2009)
56.    Norway (2009)
57.    Denmark (2009)
58.    Croatia (2010)
59.    Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010)
60.    Slovenia (2010)
61.    Bermuda (2010)
62.    Trinidad and Tobago (2010)
63.    China (2011)
64.    Mongolia (2011)
65.    Romania (2012)
66.    Bulgaria (2012)
67.    Macedonia (2012)
68.    Guyana (2012)
69.    Suriname (2012)
70.    French Guiana (2012)
71.    Cuba (2013)
72.    Portugal (2013)
73.    Iceland (2014)
74.    Monaco (2015)
75.    Liechtenstein (2015)
76.    Luxembourg 2015
77.    Dominican Republic (2015)
78.    Morocco (2016)
79.    Republic of Estonia (2016)
80.    Latvia (2016)
81.    Lithuania (2016)
82.    Finland (2016)
83.    Grenada (2016)
84.    Barbados (2016)

Introduction to Cincinnati People

Welcome to the first edition of Cincinnati People, a digital digest about and for the people of Cincinnati and those who love our Queen City. One part civic cheerleader and other part charismatic storyteller, Cincinnati People will share the stories of people doing interesting work and making significant contributions to our city. We will throw in a shot of good cheer, food, travel and culture each week.

This week, I am thrilled to introduce you to one of the smartest and wittiest women I know: LPK’s Valerie Jacobs who will share some ideas on trends we should be thinking about in 2017 in a story by veteran storyteller John Erardi.

Is it champagne or sparkling wine? Hart & Cru’s Kevin Hart will let us in on the secrets of champagne and share his tasting notes on six bottles of bubbles we should try.

If you are looking for a slice of paradise this winter, look no further than Palm Island, Florida. Located on the Gulf Coast smack dab between Sarasota and Ft. Myers, it’s Old Florida at its best.

As we begin 2017, we have also outlined a schedule of events happening in Cincinnati throughout the year that you won’t want to miss. Print this PDF and post it to the fridge for reference.

We welcome your story ideas each week as we begin this editorial experiment. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at jreau@gamedaypr.com.

Jackie Reau
Publisher/Editor