IF YOU WANT TO SIGN UP TO RUN OR HELP, READ THIS UPDATE FIRST, THEN PLEASE CLICK ON THE APPROPRIATE LINK AT THE TOP OF THE HOME PAGE, WWW.FLAGRUN.ORG

COUNTY RUNNNER ASSIGNMENTS, MEETING PLACES & TIMES, AND COUNTY COORDINATOR CONTACT INFO ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DOCUMENT – ONCE YOU KNOW WHO YOUR COUNTY COORDINATOR IS, PLEASE CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY WITH ANY INQUIRIES.

To all runners & volunteers:

Once again, thanks for expressing your interest. A lot of people are e-mailing us directly to sign up. The best way to sign up is to click on the “RUNNERS” or “HELP OFFERS” link on the top of the www.flagrun2001.org Homepage. That way, your info is entered into a database for easier access. If for some reason that doesn’t work, feel free to e-mail us directly bladeryan@aol.com,allisoncmiller@hotmail.com and we’ll make sure you get in on the run. Some of the e-mail addresses we receive from runners or volunteers don’t work; so ultimately, if you sign up or send e-mails and never hear anything back, just check out the Alabama Timeline at http://www.flagrun2001.org/al.timeline.html, then look for the list of meeting places & times which is at the end of this document, try to contact the County and JUST SHOW UP! You’ll get to run! Our philosophy is we’ll find a place for EVERYONE who wants to run, even if in highly populated areas they only get to run a short distance. THERE IS NO MINIMUM DISTANCE YOU HAVE TO RUN! If you can run 50 yards, that’s fine! If you have friends who want to run, no need to sign them up on the web. Just contact the County Coordinator for whatever county you want to run and let him or her know you’re coming. And if you never get a hold of the County Coordinator or anyone else, again, JUST SHOW UP!

COUNTY COORDINATORS STILL NEEDED FOR CLEBURNE, CALHOUN, TALLADEGA, ST CLAIR/SHELBY, and GREENE COUNTIES!!! PLEASE E-MAIL ME DIRECTLY bladeryan@aol.com IF YOU CAN HELP!!!

• We’ve decided to divide up the state by county as far as organizing the route. The counties the run will pass thru are: Cleburne, Calhoun, Talladega, St Clair, Shelby, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Greene and Sumter. (The run only passes thru Shelby county for about 3 miles, so we’ll have one coordinator for Shelby & St Clair Counties.) If you think you would like to be the runner coordinator for a certain county, please let us know. To do this, you must be within driving distance of your county so you can check it out by Friday, October 19. As a county runner coordinator, we’ll ask you to go drive the route for your county and look for prominent landmarks or buildings which could be used as a safe, well-lit, all-weather meeting place for runners to gather before the flag arrives. We need a designated meeting place every 10 miles or so. You’ll be given a list of runners and their e-mail addresses and/or phone #’s so you can contact them a few days before the run and tell them when & where to meet before the flag arrives. If you can help in this way, e-mail me directly at bladeryan@aol.com.

• If you have or know of someone who could lend us 4 or 5 walkie-talkies for the two days the run is passing thru Alabama it would help immensely. They have to be rechargeable from a car cigarette lighter! We’ll return the radios after the flag leaves Alabama Tuesday morning. I will personally drive them back to whomever they belong.

Here's the general plan of how we will work the run:

We'll divide runners into teams of 3 to 10 people and assign them a stretch of route or a county to cover. We'll ask them to meet at one location a few hours in advance of the flag's arrival to meet those in your group and formulate a running plan to cover the distance. For example, a group of 5 runners with a 20 mile stretch to cover may want to break it up into ten 2-mile segments and each runner does 2 miles twice. We’ll ask for a few runners to volunteer their vehicles to carry other runners in their group in the caravan. Each group needs at least one vehicles per three runners to pull into the caravan as it passes – the larger the better! If you have a van or mini-van and don’t mind carrying some of your group’s runners across the county, please let your county coordinator know! Once everyone in your group has shown up at the meeting place, pile into a few cars and backtrack on the route to find the caravan. Also, if you have a cell phone, please bring it, and give your cell phone # to your county coordinator. Those not running can cheer their teammate on from the luxury of the vehicle and rest up for their next segment. The big positive of this plan is that no one will be left standing out in the middle of the night alone waiting for the flag to arrive. SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT!!! At the end of the team's segment, all the runners can pile into the vehicles they used to follow the caravan and drive back to the original meeting place to reclaim their cars. This seems like a good plan for now, but please don't be bashful about sending ideas - there's no such thing as a bad suggestion!

• Here’s a rough hack at when the flag will arrive in each county in Alabama, based upon arriving at the AL/GA border at 1300 CDT, Sunday 21 Oct and moving an average of 5 miles per hour (the previous update used a 6 mph pace). The planned pace actually varies in some spots, but for those with time constraints, use this timetable to figure where you might want to run:

  Alabama/Georgia line: 1300 CDT, Sunday, 21 Oct
  Cleburne/Calhoun line: 1645 CDT (18 miles)
  Calhoun/Talladega line: 2130 CDT (24 miles
  Talladega/St Clair line: 2345CDT (10 miles)
  St Clair/Shelby line: 0420 CDT, Monday, 22 Oct (25 miles – assumes detour thru the town of Stewarts to avoid I-20)
  Shelby/Jefferson line: 0455 CDT (3 miles)
  Jefferson/Tuscaloosa line: 1256 CDT (41 miles)
  Tuscaloosa/Greene line: 2315 CDT (53 miles)
  Greene/Sumter line: 0700 CDT (32 miles)
  Aabama/MS line: 1100 CDT, Tuesday, 23 Oct (27 miles)

  We will soon post a list of County Coordinators, and meeting times and places for groups of runners to meet before the flag arrives. THAT LIST IS WHAT YOU NEED TO GO BY! The timetable above is just for guidance on figuring out what county you may want to run.

Right now, we have plenty of people set to cover Birmingham and the rest of Jefferson County. However, if you want to run in or around Birmingham, we’ll make it happen for you. What I need from the other runners is a preference on what COUNTY they would prefer to run. If you have to work on Monday morning, Oct 22, you'll need to run in one of the eastern counties on Sunday afternoon, Oct 21. We will be happy to put anyone on any part of the route they prefer if you tell us soon enough, especially if you have family or friends in a certain town along the way.

A couple of other things to think about for now:

• Inclement weather running gear - may want to have a poncho suitable for running in case of bad weather; also, bring sweat clothes and a jacket in case it’s cold.

• Reflective vests/light – it’s still up in the air as to whether or not the national coordinators will be able to secure reflective vests for everyone, so I recommend you go buy your own before you run if you’re running at night. Also, be sure to wear a white shirt if you are running at night!

• Refreshments/water,etc. The RV won’t be carrying much for the runners, so please bring some water and snacks or fruit or anything you may want to eat or drink. Bonus points to those who bring an ice chest stocked full of goodies for their friends!

• Restrooms along the route. We’ll be dependent upon the good people along the route, gas stations, convenience store, etc. Don’t know if the Toilet in the RV will be available to runners, however, there should be ample opportunity fr carloads of runners to stop, use a restroom, then catch up to the caravan.

• Waiting at a meeting place: If you can help it, DON”T COME ALONE!!! Please bring a friend, especially ladies or young men and women meeting somewhere in the middle of the night. If you’re too young to drive, make sure an adult drives you to the meeting spot and can follow the caravan until you’re finished running. If you’re parked at the meeting place and no one is there yet, stay in your car and lock the doors, especially at night! Don’t get out of your car until you’re sure there are several people from the Flag Run there. YOUR SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT!!!

• Hotel accomodations - if your last or only segment is at 2:00 AM in a rural area 200 miles from your home, it may not be a good idea to drive home that night. Once you have your route assignment, consider looking into hotels nearby for spending the night before or after your segment. Training – if you’re not a regular runner, you may consider doing a little light jogging to practice. 2 or 3 days isn’t much time to get in shape, but just do a few hundred yards a day and above all, AVOID INJURING YOURSELF IN PRACTICE!!! Don’t practice jogging at night except in well-lit areas! And if you don’t have the opportunity to practice much, no problem, you can carry the flag 100 yards at a slow trot and that’s fine!

• If you wish to participate in other states, please go back to the website www.flagrun2001.org. to sign up for the state(s) you are interested in.

• The Alabama 500 is running at Talladega International Motor Speedway on Sunday, 21 October. I don’t know the exact time of the race, but the flag shouldn’t pass Talledega until around midnight. However, we’ll probably see some serious traffic on US 78 westbound that morning before the race. We’ve worked this issue with the Alabama State Police and they expect no problems. However, if you’re running in Cleburne County and planning on driving east out of Birmingham Sunday morning to get to Cleburne County, expect heavy traffic eastbound on I-20 and US 78. They expect 200,000 people at the Talladega Speedway, so you may want to leave early if you’re going out of Birmingham.

• You can now get an update for the run thru Alabama by clicking on the AL link right under the US Map on the www.flagrun2001.org homepage. Once on the Alabama Home Page, click on "• UPDATE: October XX, 2001" to get an update from me.

COUNTY ASSIGNMENTS

If you have a problem or need to switch to another county, please contact the County Coordinators Directly!

PLEASE BRING A CELL PHONE IF YOU HAVE ONE, AND TELL YOUR COUNTY COORDINATOR YOUR CELL #
THE MEETING PLACES WHICH SAY “EXACT LOCATION TBD –will be available on web Friday night” are subject to change – please check the website the day before you go to the run.
IF YOU ARE IN A GROUP OF ONLY TWO OR THREE PEOPLE AND THINK YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COVER THE ASSIGNED DISTANCE, DON’T PANIC – WE WILL HAVE EXTRA RUNNERS IN THE CARAVAN FOR AREAS WITH FEW RUNNERS

CLEBURNE COUNTY: COORDINATOR: Pat Ryan, bladeryan@aol.com, 850-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – Gas Station, Vicinity of Muscadine Junction, AL – State Road 49 and US 78. Take I-20 exit 199 north; State Hwy 9 (1/2 mile) to Ross Street in Heflin , turn right; go 1 mile, turn left on US 78, continue on US 78 approx 12 miles to Muscadine Junction, corner of County Road 49 and US 78.
1200 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
(Leave Birmingham early due to Alabama 500 NASCAR Race at Talladega Superspeedway!)
RUNNERS: Dan Cordell, David E. Hughes, Mallory Slaughter, Wesley Williams, Rutherford Johnson, George Husted

MEETING PLACE #2 -- Heflin, AL – PIGGLY WIGGLY store, Corner of Ross & Burns Streets, Heflin, AL. - Take I-20 exit 199 north; State Hwy 9 (1/2 mile) to Ross Street in Heflin, turn right, Piggly Wiggly is ½ mile on right.
1500 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
(Leave Birmingham early due to Alabama 500 NASCAR Race at Talladega Superspeedway!)
RUNNERS: Erin Mason, Andy Ortega, Jason Kyle Jackson

CALHOUN COUNTY: COORDINATOR: Pat Ryan, bladeryan@aol.com, 850-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 - Quad City, AL – Split Nickel Gas Station, corner of State Road 9 & US 78, Quad City – take I-20 Exit 191 north, go ¼ mile, turn right on US 78, Split Nickel Gas Station is approx 3 miles on left at corner of State Road 9 & US 78.
1530 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
RUNNERS: Ray Moses, Reta Moses, Chris Wright

MEETING PLACE #2 – Oxford Alabama – JC Penney Store in Quintard Mall on side facing US 78 – Take I-20 exit 185 north, go 1/4 mile, turn right on US 78; go 100 yards, turn left into parking lot of JC Penney store
1800 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
RUNNERS: Evi Jones, Les Jones, Pat Campbell

TALLADEGA COUNTY: COORDINATOR: Pat Ryan, bladeryan@aol.com, 850-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – Exit 173 off I-20 Stuckey’s gas station and store (located on US 78 right after you exit)
2000 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
RUNNERS: Benje Estes, Bill Estes, Hal Burton, Michael Robinson, Kristen Sobczyk, Tonya Lynn Bird, BJ Yosten (BJ will continue into St Clair County)

ST CLAIR & SHELBY COUNTY: COORDINATOR: Pat Ryan, bladeryan@aol.com, 850-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – East of Pell City - Exit 162 off I-20 Chevron gas station (left side road) Best Western across street (located on US 78 right after you exit)
2200 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
RUNNERS: Randy Neff, Robert Minor

MEETING PLACE #2 – Pell City - Exit 156 off I-20 Exxon gas station (located on US 78 right after you exit)
2300 CDT, Sunday, 21 October
RUNNERS: James Hill, Bill Hereford, Gary Smithey, Christopher Green, Carl Holladay

MEETING PLACE #3 – Cook Springs - I-20 Exit 152 south - J&S Retail Store (located on Cook Springs Road immediately after one-way tunnel about ¼ mile after you exit)
0100 CDT (1:00 AM), Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Michael O’Connor, Glen Jacobson, Keith and Kevin McLaughlin

JEFFERSON COUNTY: COORDINATOR: HOLLIE PAILTHORP, jwpail@aol.com, 205-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 - Leeds, Exit 140 off I-20 – Food World Shopping center with Dollar General & CVS(Located on US 78 about 3 miles south of I-20)
0300 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Mitch Hanson, Joseph Schartung, Martha Faye Baker, Chris Miller, Tamara Utne, John Elrod

MEETING PLACE #2 -– Irondale – Century Plaza Sears Parking lot (Intersection of Oropto & Madrid Blvd’s) on US 78. Exit 132 B off I-20 East towards Montevallo RD(US-78), Merge onto I-20 East, Turn right onto Montevallo RD S., Turn onto US-78 W/AL-4
0500 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Duane Ridenhour, Vickie Meader , Roger White, Curt Jarvis, Gina Nobinger, Sue O’Hara, Jack Tucker

MEETING PLACE #3 – Midfield – Western Hills Mall – Across the street from McDonald’s & Hardee’s On Bessemer Superhighway in the suburb of Midfield on US 11 - Exit 118 (Fairfield) off I-59 make a right, at the stop sign make a left, at 3rd traffic light make another left, about 1/4 mile down on your left. Meet in parking lot right on Bessemer Super Highway in front of Parisians.
0745 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Pam Strickland, George Peters & wife, Billy Sanford, Ed Scheirer

MEETING PLACE #4 – Bessemer – YMCA – 1501 4th Ave Southwest, Bessemer. Exit 108 off I-59 (landmark Wal-Mart) Left on 4th Ave, right into YMCA parking lot. YMCA phone# 205-555-5555
0800 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Gill Ausman, Carmen Bewley, Darlene Negrotto, Arthur Hankey, Deanna Cagley

TUSCALOOSA & BIBB COUNTY: COORDINATOR: RYAN MARKS, ryanmarks@iname.com, 205-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – Woodstock Junction – AMOCO STATION - Intersection of US Hwy 11 and Alabama Hwy 5 in the town of Woodstock. Use exit 97 of Interstate 59/20 and travel south for 3 miles on US Hwy 11. There is a traffic signal and the Amoco gas station is on the right as you travel the route .
1130 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Robert King & group of runners form 117th ARW, AL Air National Guard

MEETING PLACE #2 – Cedar Cove - Enterprise Baptist Church on US Hwy 11 near the town of Cedar Cove. Use exit 86 of Interstate 59/20 and turn South onto Covered Bridge Road which intersects Hwy 11. Turn right and travel 1.2 miles to the church on the right. The address is 15075 Hwy 11 N.
1300 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Scott Darnell, Jeffrey Johnson

MEETING PLACE #3 – First Assembly of God Church at the intersection of Hargrove Rd. E and Skyland Blvd E in Tuscaloosa, AL. Use exit 76 of Interstate 59/20 and then travel South on Hwy 11 for .8 miles. Just past the second traffic light, take an immediate left onto 36th Ave E and then another immediate left into the church parking lot. The address is 3801 Skyland Blvd E.
1500 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: Vincent Shakir, Kris Jones and group of 6 to 10 EMT’s & Firefighters from Orange Beach, AL

MEETING PLACE #4 – Amoco Gas Station at Tuscaloosa Hwy 10 on US Hwy 11 in Fosters, AL. Use exit 62 of Interstate 59/20 and travel .6 miles to Hwy 11. The gas station will be on the opposite side of Hwy 11.
2000 CDT, Monday, 22 October RUNNERS:– Alexander Steel. He will continue into Greene County with Orange Beach Firefighters from Meeting Place #3

GREENE COUNTY: COORDINATOR: Pat Ryan, bladeryan@aol.com, 850-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – Exxon Gas Station at Interstate 59/20 on US Hwy 11 in Knoxville, AL. Use exit 52 of Interstate 59/20 and travel north on Hwy 11 .2 miles. The gas station is on the right. 2200 CDT, Monday, 22 October
RUNNERS: No runners scheduled to meet at this location for now. (Deanna Cagley, Alexander Steel, and Kris Jones and group of 6 to 10 EMT’s & Firefighters from Orange Beach, AL – will continue into Greene County from Tuscaloosa County. (See Meeting Place # 5 for Tuscaloosa County.) No runners scheduled to meet at this location for now.

MEETING PLACE #2 – Piggly Wiggly on US Hwy 11 in Eutaw, AL. Use exit 40 of Interstate 59/20 and turn south on Alabama Hwy 14. Follow Hwy 14 2.6 miles, and when Alabama Hwy 14 turns right, continue straight ujhntil the end of the street. You come to a “T” intersection (Wilson Avenue). Turn Right. Go two blocks to Boligee Street, turn left (there’s a traffic signal).Continue on Boligee Street .4 miles, Piggly Wiggly is on Left. US Hwy 11 is on the other side of the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.
0100 CDT, Tuesday, 23 October
RUNNERS: Bruce Forman, James Herod, Kenneth Osborn, Chad Hill, Blane Schilling

SUMTER COUNTY: COORDINATOR: LYN ELLIS, jbuddy03@cs.com, 662-555-5555

MEETING PLACE #1 – Ark Grocery on US Hwy 11 in Epes, AL – Use I-59/20 exit 23 southbound – go 1 mile, turn Right on Sumter County Road 20, go ¼ mile until you see orange highway construction signs (this is US 11 but it is not marked as US 11 – there is, however, a green “Mile 26” sign across the intersection), tun Left, Ark Grocery is ¼ mile on right. Note: alternate routing – as of Friday night, you could only go southbound at exit 23 from the West (Mississippi) due to construction. If coming from the east (Tuscaloosa), either go to next exit (17) and make U-turn and then exit at exit 23 and follow above route; or exit at I-59/20 exit 32 (Alabama Hwy 19) southbound, go approx 2 miles to US 11 in Boligee, turn right, proceed about 8 miles to Epes and look for Ark Grocery on your left.
0400 CDT, Tuesday, 23 October
RUNNERS: Rob Crabtree, Vance McCrory, Lance Bryant

MEETING PLACE #2 – Wal-Mart on US Hwy 11, Livingston, AL – Use I-59/20 Exit 17 southbound – go 1.7 miles on Alabama State Hwy 28 to US 11 (Citgo Station on corner), turn right. Wal-Mart is ½ mile on right.
0600 CDT, Tuesday, 23 October
RUNNERS: Dr Bruce Gentry,