Hot, hot, hot and 2 polls

Ok, so maybe it will not be all that hot (mid to high 80's) but for me, it will definitely be the warmest weather I've ran in this summer. I'm not exactly looking forward to it.

Since a few people are starting to ramp up their efforts for 1/2 marathons and marathons in the fall, our Tuesday intervals will start to incorporate longer speed workouts. (Mile repeats and tempo runs in lieu of 1/4 mile intervals.)

My initial thought was to do a 5 mile run with 3, 1 mile intervals interspersed. But since it might be stinky-hot out, it will probably be plenty to do a 4 mile run with 2, 1 mile intervals. We'll see who shows up and pick a plan that works for the most people, with the others doing whatever run suits their needs tonight.

A request has been made to do an interval session at a local track. Please respond to the poll at the right, to help me gauge the group interest. (May be done in place of a Tuesday at the park, or could be done on another night that interested people could make.)

Also a request has been made to do a field trip like we did a couple times last summer to get rid of some of the monotony of the Liverpool Park. So please respond to that poll at the right as well.

I Don't Have Much To Say

Nothing fun this week.

The group run will be the standard one. 4-5 miles with intervals. Probably 1/4 miles again as we restart the cycle.

Man, I Feel Like a Woman

When is Shania going to put out a new album? She's overdue. I miss her.

The Boilermaker was a good time as always. But a race like that can change a person. I started out as a man, but finished as a woman.


Which, being an innocent mistake (that I probably should blame my parents for) didn't hurt anyone. (My bib said Male and I didn't realize my chip was messed up when they scanned it at the race expo.)

But, then I checked the Corporate Cup results and was surprised to find out that I was a winner.


Even though they have me listed as Male there, I helped my company win the female division of the Corporate Cup! Wooohooooo!

The good news: the next, real, woman was close enough to me that the company will still win after my results are replaced.

The bad news: the Boilermaker committee reviewed the race pictures and has disqualified the entire team. The reason? They accused me of using a high-grade beaver tranquilizer!

The runner-up team, the women from Average Joe's Gymnasium are going to the finals in Las Vegas, instead! Good luck, with your losers, in Las Vegas, LaFleur!
(All that, just to set up a Dodgeball joke! Alliteration aside, I think we've all had enough of that.)

I've done the Boilermaker enough times that I start to take it for granted. So, I really like it when new(er) people run the race and let me know what they think about it. So, it was great to have the Cooper gang hang out at the post race party and to have enjoyed the event so much. For that reason, they win the "I TRY Harder" award -- to Jen, Sue and Tim (and Lindsay?) for improving their race times and their enjoyment of the event this year and to Jacque and Jon for loving their first time. And for all of them drinking, smiling and dancing it up at the post-race party. Well done Cooper-scoopers (and friends)! You win the "I TRY Harder" award for your great attitudes and camraderie!




If you haven't looked at your 5K splits from the Boilermaker, you should. They can be both entertaining and educational. And just for fun, you should check out the finish line cameras and watch yourself finish. Good clean family fun, right there! (They are broken down by gun time, so you'll have to know what your gun time was -- and the race started right at 8 AM...so the math is simple. You also need to remember which side of the road you finished on...if you finished on your left, that is the "right" camera. So, direction is as facing the runners.) Here is my glamour shot. (That's right, I'm a "Real Person". It's true.)


Change of subject:
A couple (and perhaps a few) TRYers are going to do the Philadelphia Marathon (or Half Marathon) this November 22nd. In fact, it is going to be the Official Marathon of TRY this fall. If you are interested in a Marathon or perhaps a big city Half Marathon, think about it and sign up. (You can get $10 off of the registration fee until the end of July by using this coupon code: Enter Coupon Code: PMJU2009) There are bound to be some group long runs on the weekends into the fall as people spin up for the event. If you are in need of a training plan (or have questions on what the runs are like in a marathon/half marathon training plan) look to the links on the right hand side of the blog. There are some training links there for Hal Higdon's site. FYI -- this coming weekend is 18 weeks from November 22nd -- or the exact number of weeks in Hal's novice marathon training plan. (The half marathon training plan is "only" 12 weeks.) So, this is the perfect time to start your training. If people have questions about training for their first marathon, we have some everyday runner expertise in the TRY group...just ask. A few of us have done our first marathon in recent years and will gladly share our thoughts. Several members have done half marathons in the last couple years as well. If you have always thought about doing a longer race...consider this fall the time to do it. You'll have plenty of support.

Tonight's run:
Who cares. My legs hurt from the BM (I ended up having a Sqwincher! :-(...I have a hamstring pull from kickball last week and Jen's softball team slayed the dragon (my softball team) last night. So running is irrelevant. We'll discuss a plan and split up accordingly at the start of the run.

Letdown Week

After the excitement of last weeks blog entry -- with the screen captures and the video links, I don't have anything that can compare. So I won't attempt to match that. There is still time to vote in the online poll for your favorite TRYer in the news moment. Bella is lapping the field, but there is a heated battle for second place between Annette's legs, Malinda's patty-caking, and Dewey Cox's walking hard.

Please let me know if you are running the boilermaker this weekend. I'll come up with a little map on where some of us will be hanging out at the post race party. (Same area as last year, for those that remember). Also, last year was the first year I followed my own directions for getting to the starting line and it saved at least 20 minutes in traffic (and a ton of stressful delays) on race day. So, if anyone wants a great way to get there on Sunday morning, let me know. (It would probably work for the finish line parking as well, since you won't be going with traffic on the mess getting off of the thruway.)

For tonight? We'll just make something up. Some people will be taking it easy, some people won't...so we'll talk before starting off and group up with like-minded runners. As usual this summer, there are going to be thunderstorms in the area (have I ever given myself the nickname "T-storm"? If not, that would be a good one), so the run may get rained out (again).

Thunderfully yours,
T-storm