I May Not Be Helping You, But You're Still Helping Me

Guest post by Terry:

Just wanted to say hi to my TRY peeps...and to let you know that you are still on my mind, even though I abandoned you all and moved a couple thousand miles away. Today was the worst weather day I've seen in San Diego...it was only in the low 60's and was actually what I would call overcast and it even rained! (Well, rain is a strong word, more like a heavy mist.) Anyway, I totally didn't feel like running, but then I thought of TRY and all the hard work that a lot of you have done:

Katie ripping through her marathon after training so hard throughout the summer.
Aubrey and Christine building up to and finishing their first 10-k's.
Mark doing his hardcore speed workouts and improving his pace significantly.
Brian doing whatever it is that he does.
Catherine showing up for TRY the last two weeks in the middle of wind and snow storms and currently running at her fastest pace ever.
Amy pushing the length and pace of her runs to new limits.
Allyson doing the longest runs of her life in preparation for her first marathon.
Sue reaching her goal in her half marathon (including a potty break!).
Kris doing whatever it is that she does.
Annette doing crazy trail run half marathons and doing the longest runs of her life in preparation for her first marathon.
I'm sure there are others that I'm missing...

The point is that I thought to myself - "Self. How can you be lazy and sit on your bum just because the weather isn't ideal when the TRYers are back in Syracuse in sometimes miserable weather and pushing themselves to new limits. How can you look them in the eye next spring if you let yourself get soft on the west coast?"

So, I got of my buttocks and went out and suffered through a hilly run that turned out to be 11 miles. It wasn't quite mountain goat worthy, but it did have a Colvin equivalent hill 7+ miles in. And I don't think I could have done it without you guys. With thoughts of you in my head, a drenched shirt, chafed nipples (Annette -- I still get THO's out here!), and tough hills cannot deter me.

Thanks for inspiring me from afar! Now, bundle up and keep training! (Or else I'm going to whoop your butts at the Jingle Bell Run.)

-WCT