Blame Tim! The (Almost) Storied History Of Why I’m Not A Flyer

Steve Lastoe, NYCRUNS

I was thrilled when NY Flyers Blogmaster Dave K asked me to write this piece for the Flyer’s Blog because I don’t get a chance to write as much as I used to…and I have a massive axe to grind against a certain Flyer. Let's call him "Tim." If it weren’t for Tim, I would have been a Flyer for more than a decade and a half now. I’m really glad I finally have the chance to tell the Flyers what happened.

Unfortunately, writing and running share a common attribute: use it or lose it. Since NYCRUNS became a full time job a couple of years back, I haven’t had enough time for either, so if you were expecting Dickensesque prose, this is probably not the place. However, I’m not going to let that stop me from telling you about how horribly Tim has treated me over the years. Of course, I’m sure you realize how much the Flyers have suffered as a result.

Tim was the first Flyer I knew, although I don’t think I heard the term ‘Flyer’ until about eight years later. He kept it that hidden! This was back in the mid 1990s, pretty much at the dawn of the modern age when men (and the occasional woman) ran in hob-nailed boots and races were largely hand-timed. It was a different era, I assure you. One thing that never changed though was Tim’s desire to keep the Flyers for himself. Jerk.

Tim was a co-worker back then and he was Captain of our Corporate Challenge team. He also was a subject of some office speculation because he was the guy running ultras in Alaska…in winter. This was an era when the guy in the next cube was more likely to join you for a cigarette than to run a marathon. I happened to smoke about 30 cigarettes a day back then, so for some reason Tim thought I would be a great addition to the Corporate Challenge team. While I believe I ran a respectable race, Tim never asked me to join the Flyers. To tell you the truth, I felt as used up as one of those cigarettes, and in retrospect had Tim asked me to become a Flyer, I probably would have quit smoking much sooner.

That pack and a half a day habit would decrease over the next half dozen years or so and eventually I took up running on a regular basis. Somewhere in there I picked up an issue of Runner’s World and saw that the centerfold was about Tim and his gigantic collection of shoes. He was preening! I also read something about how he was leading group runs on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail in NYRR Magazine (or whatever it’s called). This was probably around the time I heard about the NY Flyers for the first time. 

One time I saw Tim at a race, but he blew me off. It would have been a great time to ask me to join the Flyers, if you ask me. That said, at the time I was living and working in Brooklyn so a Manhattan-oriented club made little sense for me. I also fell in with a disreputable bunch called The Hash House Harriers, a group most often known as “A Drinking Club With A Running Problem.” The Hash is a great running group. Essentially, you follow a trail of chalk arrows though the city and it ends at a bar. If you like to drink beer and run and possess a juvenile sense of humor – this is worth some of your time. I hashed a lot for the next five years or so and raced for The Hudson Dusters, the running club arm of the New York City Hash. That said, I occasionally looked for more of a traditional club at this time.

Regardless, it was still not meant to be for the Flyers and me, though the Flyers had the chance. After the 2005 Fairfield Half Marathon, a bunch of Flyers were kind enough to offer me a beer in the parking lot, but most likely under instructions from Tim, did not ask me to join. To be honest, I was a little shocked that Tim had this much power, but I was just getting used to the arcane power structure of running clubs.

Not long after, I left Brooklyn and moved to the West Village. You will be pleased to know I gave up smoking and cut back on my drinking significantly. The latter decision plagues me to this day as I now have the tolerance of an otter. In 2009, the recession more or less decimated my consulting “business” and for some reason I thought it would be a great idea to launch a local running website, which would rather quickly evolve into the NYCRUNS you know today.

A big part of my early “work” on that site was getting to know the local running clubs. I joined a small group of Flyers for their West Village Monday night run one time and really enjoyed it. Around the same time, I ran into Tim in the bathroom at The Armory Track. It was nice seeing him after nearly 15 years, but I’ll note that he did not ask me to join the Flyers, despite the fact that I now had some “cache” in local running. The group run on Monday was never really convenient for me either, and I suspect Tim had something to do with that, too.

Some more time passed and finally I was really ready to find a more traditional club than The Hudson Dusters. There were several choices – the Flyers among them. While I couldn’t overlook the fact that the Flyers had spurned me for years, I knew I was moving back to Brooklyn soon and that Prospect Park Track Club was the place for me. Since then, Tim has been really friendly to me. Isn’t that weird?

So, it was never meant to be. If you were hoping the Flyers would have an aging, fattening, slowing, ego-driven race director on the team, I’m sorry it didn’t happen. Blame Tim.

-Steve Lastoe, Founder and Race Director, NYCRUNS

Blogmaster's Note: Steve Lastoe founded NYCRUNS in 2009 as a resource for local runners seeking information about races and running clubs. In 2011, NYCRUNS began offering race timing and management services while launching several races of its own. NYCRUNS is now the largest running event management company in the NY Metropolitan Area. For information about NYCRUNS, including for a calendar of upcoming races, visit NYCRUNS.COM. --Dave K, NY Flyers Blogmaster