Last Week of the Year

Even though the weather is still cooperating for a while, this will be the last TRY weekly "yog" of the year. (Cars and Lights on the Lake will take over the park for the next month.) The plan for tonight is to meet at 5:30 at the Liverpool park to walk (or run if you want to) under the lights on the lake on the "Dog Walk" night. Refreshments for humans and dogs are available for sale. At least a couple TRYers will be bringing their dogs. Come join in for a festive finale and bring along a four legged friend. (Or if you don't have any four legged friends -- bring your dog instead!) We'll coordinate the walkers/runners once we see who makes it tonight. Call my cell phone if its hard to find people in the dark.

Don't forget about the Topricin Worst Race Photo Contest! Entries are submittable for another week. As of this weekend there were only 12 entries and a couple of the examples I posted last week, here, would be in the top five "worst". Also, there are still very few people registered to vote, so if one of us can find a really awful looking photo, there would be a decent chance of winning the prize. ($100 - $200? value for winning, so its worth digging for that lousy race photo that you hate of yourself.)

This past weekend was a great race weekend for TRY. Two first time marathon finishes, one first time half-marathon finish, one marathon PR, and one 5K PR! Good job everyone! (Well, everyone, except for me.) Congratulations on going farther and faster than you ever have before. :-) All your hard work this summer and fall paid off. I am very proud of all of you!

Enjoy the rest of the year everyone! Posting/emails will be sparse through the winter...see you all (with perhaps some new recruits) come spring time.

Christmas Lights and a Contest

Next week there are two chances to walk/run through the Liverpool Lights on the Lake before it is opened up to vehicles.

Monday, the 23rd, is the Verizon Lights on the Lake Stroll.
Tuesday, the 24th, is the Verizon Lights on the Lake Dog Walk.

Both nights are open from 5-9 and you can buy refreshments, meet "holiday characters", and walk the 2 miles of the lights on the lake.

I am planning on TRYing to get a group to jog/walk on Tuesday night, starting at 5:30. Please let me know if you plan to make it and we can coordinate a holiday ending to the TRY running season. For those of you with dogs, it seems like that would be a fun night out with the pooch.

A great opportunity for you all was sent to me last week by Malinda -- the Topricin Race Photo Contest. They are asking for your worst race photos. Entries will receive a free sample of Topricin and the winner will receive a free 6 month supply of Topricin and the entry fee to their next race of choice. (Up to $150!) It is not completely set up yet, but to vote, you need to become a fan of Topricin on facebook (or use twitter). I just checked out their facebook site and became a fan and they only have 9 fans right now! So, it seems to me like this contest is prime for the picking. If one of us can come up with a really lousy race photo, I think we could easily overwhelm the voting and get a great prize for one of our members! (For those that don't know, Topricin is a homeopathic pain reliever that has helped a few of us through some injuries the last couple years. Malinda's father is a distributor/marketer and he and Malinda have both been very generous at giving Topricin to TRY members. So, please support this contest and check out the product some time if you need some pain relief -- it's basically the official pain reliever of TRY! And trust me, its much better than the sports creams that you are used to.) It's available online or in Wegmans (and I assume other local stores).

Don't forget about the Jingle Bell Run this Sunday (weather forecast looks warmish but with chance of rain) or the opportunity to donate to the cause.

Tonight: The last official TRY meeting of the year. Liverpool park at 4:30. 5 mile run with a 4 mile tempo for those looking for a harder workout.

Some inspiration - here are a few of my favorite TRY related race photos from the last couple years. Some are "bad", some look good. I need to go back and dig up some of my bad ones for the contest (normally I only save off the ones that were halfway decent). Please join in...it'll be fun if a few of us are competing and I hope that one of us has one lousy enough to end up the winner.

November Races

For those of you that want to end your running year with a race or two:

1) On Sunday, the 22nd, the Jingle Bell Run/Walk is being held at Long Branch Park. It used to be a 5k/10k at Onondaga Lake Park but they changed it this year. So, it's not the same exact event that I'm familiar with, but I assume it won't change the atmosphere much. If you didn't get enough use out of your striped tights at Halloween, now is your chance! Or if you have a dog and want to run a race with it, this is your chance! Put antlers on the pooch and bring it along. This is the only local race that I've ever had to dodge a dog in! It's a fun little event that a lot of people dress up festively for and we had a large TRY contingency at it last year. (I even traveled over 2000 miles to participate myself.) At least 6 people from TRY that supported it will be out of town this year for the Philadelphia marathon/half marathon, so I'm hoping for some replacements. If anyone else feels guilty about bailing out on a fun, local race, join me in pledging one of our own. Malinda is taking up the torch (or would that be antlers?) and raising money this year. Please join her. Or support her if you can't end up running the race yourself. Donate to her here.

2) On Thanksgiving day, the Baldwinsville Turkey Trot takes place at Baker High School. I've never done this one and this year I'll be running in Watertown instead since I'll be home for the holiday. For anyone around Syracuse on Thanksgiving you may want to join in so that you can pig out guilt free the rest of the day. 5K and 10K options are available.

For tonight's group run -- we are meeting at 4:30 at the Liverpool park. The speed work will be full mile intervals.

Lastly --
My theory for why they don't have a Jingle Bell Run 10K anymore? I think Katie smoked the competition so badly last year that the competition committee canceled the event. (Now that is what I call bona-fide! Getting a whole race canceled! Nice work Katie.)

Not The Same Thing

We are running out of daylight! This whole earth-tilt-thing is really starting to be a problem.

So, we are moving the start time to 4:30 until Thanksgiving, at which time we go on hiatus for a while due to lights on the lake.