With a Flick of his... legs

TOM HARRIS
Star Beacon

April 10, 2008 01:53 am

— It isn’t unusual for a middle-aged family man to want to get out of the house now and again, kick back a little and just get away from it all. Jeff Flick isn’t any different.
Well, actually, he is.
Flick, a 1977 Harbor graduate, appreciates his time alone; he just appreciates it more when he’s on the run. And run he does, like the battery bunny, he just keeps going and going and going.
So far this year, Flick has been maintaining a race-a-month pace. That might not seem like a lot, but all three races have covered 50 kilometers (31 miles).
He’s got another one coming this month, a 50-mile race in June, a second 50-miler on July 12 and a 50K two weeks later. Then he’s running in a 100K race on Aug. 2. All of which should help him be in shape for 100-mile Wasatch Front on Sept. 8. The Wasatch will be Flick’s first try at a 100-mile race, so he’s not really sure what to expect for a time.
“Well, you have to finish in 36 hours or they pull you from the race,” he said. “If I could do it in 30 hours, I’d be thrilled. The woman who won last year (Liz Irving) finished in a little over 23 hours and set the women’s record. But she’s pretty quick.”
Kyle Skaggs, the 2007 men’s champion, finished in 19:35:14.
Flick, who lives in Salt Lake City, won’t have to travel far to reach the 100-mile race. But he will have to cover a lot of ground once he reaches Wasatch Mountains. The course runs from Layton, Utah to Midway, Utah, and has its share of ups and downs. By the time the runners finish, they will have surmounted a cumulative elevation gain of 26,882 feet and made their way down a cumulative elevation loss of 26,131 feet.
All of which helps explain Flick’s heavy racing schedule this year. The best place to train for a distance race, he said, is in a distance race. The long runs are a necessary part of his training, and it’s nice to have the ancillary services available when he’s putting in all those miles.
“You’ve got to do a lot of training,” Flick said. “And sometimes you’ve got to get out and do some distance work, and the races make it easy. When you get out in the mountains by yourself, there are no water stations and no food. And in a race, if something happens, they eventually come looking for you.”
The son of Jane and the late Clifford Flick grew up in the Harbor and played tennis for the Mariners.
“We did the things kids did then,” he said. “We rode our bikes and went to the beach. I wasn’t much of a tennis player and didn’t play in college except some intramurals.”
Flick pursued his studies at Miami of Ohio and did his graduate work at Washington University in St. Louis, eventually earning his Ph.D. While he was studying in St. Louis, Flick also started to compete in triathlons. He swam, biked and ran his way through 30 or so triathlons before turning his attention to long-distance running.
“I was living in California, in the Bay Area, and I heard about the Western States 100,” Flick said. “It sounded crazy.”
Flick now works for Myriad Genetics, in the pharmaceutical division, where he is involved with drug development. He and his wife, Sarah, have three children, Nathan, 13, Abbey, 11, and Evan, 6.
Once the family moved to Salt Lake City, Flick discovered that training had its pragmatic side.
“I go hiking in the mountains with our three kids,” Flick said. “Sometimes when we’re hiking I have to get back quickly, and the only way to do that is to run.”
Conditions in the mountains aren’t ideal for running in the winter and early spring. Flick still has to get to work, however, and by commuting on the run he is able to avoid the traffic and get in the bulk of his weekly quota of 50 miles.
“My weekly mileage varies,” he said. “It drops off in the winter, because you can’t do as much trail running. But I generally run to work, and that’s about it.”
Flick isn’t a fanatical about training. There are times when taking that first step is difficult.
“I find I have trouble getting out the door,” he said. “But once I’m out and have run a short distance, I want to keep running. I don’t run every day; it’s hard to get out at times, and the weather doesn’t help. But I ski and bike and do some other things, so I do get a lot of exercise.”
Flick got serious about long-distance running a few years ago. At the time, he plotted a schedule of the things he’d like to accomplish and when. Right now, he’s ahead of where he thought he’d be.
“When I started doing this, I thought it would be neat to do my first 50-miler when I was 50,” said the 49-year-old Flick. “But I did a 50-mile race last year. I kept hoping it wouldn’t be a near-death experience. Those races start at five in the morning. So, you’re running when the sun comes up, and that’s really nice.
“Of course, the 100-mile races are more difficult. You start running as the sun comes up, and you have to keep running right through the night.”
The runners wear headlamps to help them find their way after the sun goes down. Flick said it can be intimidating to be running in the mountains during the wee hours of the morning. But even the shorter races, such as the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50K, which was held on March 22, can test the runners and call for large doses of perseverance.
“The Buffalo Run race was two laps around a 25K course,” Flick said. “Between miles 13 and 16, I felt awful. I really thought I was going have to drop out at the end of the first lap. It was cold and windy, and I think I was getting a little hypothermic. Then, I started to feel a little better, and I felt great at the end. I guess there are going to be a few glitches in any race.”
Flick finished the race in 5:45:41.86, placing 28th overall and 13th in his age group. It wasn’t a bad way to spend six hours.
“Being in the mountains is always fun,” he said. “And there is some camaraderie when you’re racing. Sometimes the camaraderie is more important than the racing.”
Flick makes it back to Ashtabula once or twice a year to visit his mother and brother, Tom, both of whom live here. And he keeps in touch with a small group of his Harbor classmates, including Tim Picard, who is an editor of a small paper in the Columbus area. But when he trying to get away from it all, Flick usually starts by lacing up his running shoes.
“Running is my peace-and-quiet time,” he said. “It is definitely an escape and an excuse to get up in the mountains. If you’re in Salt Lake City and enjoy the mountains, this is the way to do it.”

Harris is a freelance writer from Ashtabula Township.

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