Pre-Mountain Goat Week

Another rainy Tuesday. This time before our first big group race of the year - the Mountain Goat. The group run will be a game time decision, depending on who is there and what they need to get out of the run. I am injured, so I'll be limping along at a medium pace.

But more importantly, Mark and Katie are hosting a post Mountain Goat Run party at their house. In celebration of the race and Katie's birthday. So, whether or not you are running this Sunday, you are invited to their house.

Details:
3 PM, Sunday afternoon. BYOH. (Bring Your Own Hydration). Mark will have some cook-out type food. If you want anything special beyond that, you can bring it, but no need for anything except for your choice of hydration. Please RSVP to Mark so that he can plan for the amount of people to expect.


Mountain Goat Packet Pick-up:
Noon to 7 PM Friday
9 AM to 4 PM Saturday
At the new Fleet Feet store on Bridge Street.

Good luck in the race on Sunday...hopefully I'll see you there or at Mark and Katie's afterward.

Some Times They Come Back

A potpourri of topics:

Today (Monday) is the last day to register for the Allyson Dunn Tire Mountain Goat at the regular rate.

I have added subscription links to the sidebar so that you can receive the blog via an RSS feed.

Don't forget that TRY has a facebook page. I added some group photos from the past couple years. Please add your own to make the page seem a little more homey for everyone. (Let me know if you want to be added -- I can't remember if it is invite only or not.)

The previous blog post described a fun race that I hope a lot of you can join in on. The "Making Tracks for Celiacs" 5K run/1 mile walk.

It's Patriots Day in Boston. Which means that Katie is running her Boston Marathon. I've signed up for the text messages Katie...looking forward to them interrupting my work day.

For you beginners reading this. We meet here. At mile marker 0.0 at Onondaga Lake Park.

I plan on going out to the Retreat or Tully's this week after the training run to celebrate a dream coming true - You can go your separate ways or you can join in faithfully. Everyone will be welcomed with open arms. Be good to yourself!

The group run: (As if anyone is still reading this scatterbrained list). It's time to lengthen out our intervals. So, it'll be 1/2 milers tonight. Probably 3 1/2 milers in a 4 mile run. (Or 4 in a 5?) We'll see who wants to do it during the pregame chat.

We have some new people interested in joining in TRY in the next couple weeks. Please help me make them feel welcome. I'd like to remind the regulars that when you miss a night because the weather isn't ideal, or because it's inconvenient for you, or because you don't feel like running...that it isn't just you that misses out. It could be that night that someone new checks us out. And doesn't have anyone their pace to run with. Or that there is one less smile to welcome them. One less kindred spirit with the same running goals. So, if you enjoy the group camaraderie, remember that you are a big part of that. And that without you, this group is just a weird guy writing rambling blog entries. And that would make for a lonely luchador.

Email Solicitation For Cross Country Race on May 22nd

Tired of racing on pavement? All those switchbacks at the Race for the Cure making you want some better scenery? Want to get nostalgic and go back to your years running cross-country in high school? Check out this rapidly growing local event.

When: Saturday, May 22nd (9 AM Registration, 10 AM Event)
Where: Jamesville Beach County Park
What: 9th International Run/Walk for Celiac Disease
How Much: $15 for adults until May 1st, $20 after that and day of event. $5 for children 6-12
Why: To run on the USATF sanctioned cross country course where the NY State Section III championship has been held for the last 2 years. (Or more?)
Why: Also a 1 mile walk for those not up for the run.
What else: There are goodie bags available, a large raffle, gluten free food tastings, gluten free vendors, and other distractions to fill your morning.

There is also a fund raising component to this event. Please sign up through the team fund raising site, even if you don't plan to individually raise money. I have set up for the LM Federated Fund to donate and they will provide additional money for each LM employee who participates.

Event web site: http://celiacwalk.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=340373 (Need to click on Syracuse, NY Walk/Run on the left hand side)
Alternate (shorter) web site that you can actually remember: http://www.celiacwalk.org/
Lockheed Martin team fund raising site: http://celiacwalk.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=340373&team=3731527

If you unable to take part but want to contribute, use the Lockheed Martin team page above to make a general donation to the team or to find your favorite co-worker to donate to.

There should also be volunteer positions available for the day of this event. If you or your friends and family would like to help out, please let me know and I can put you in touch with the local organizers who will be glad to hear from you.

That is the minimum amount of information that I wanted to pass along (see below for my further ramblings). Please let me know if you have any questions about this event. I plan to be in contact with those who sign up a time or two before the event itself.
-Terry Widrick
-315.456.3349

P.S. For those with inquisitive minds, feel free to read on for more miscellaneous information:

I helped organize and participated in the running portion of this event two years ago when it was still held at Willow Bay. The race itself that year went down to the Salt Museum and back. I got 4th place! Out of eight participants. (Hey, those kids and that girl that beat me were fast! That race will always be my highest overall finish.) For those that were a part of TRY, this is when I pretended to have won a puppy! :-)

Last year, the event moved and a race director took over and moved the run to the Section III cross-country race course at Jamesville Beach. I was out of town on business travel so I was unable to attend, but the race had 69 finishers (up from 8!). Due to the unique location and the fact that this is one of the few adult cross-country races in the area, I expect this race to gain popularity quickly. My goal is to put a Lockheed Martin stamp on it, starting this year. And I need help with that, since, quite honestly, I am slow. I am working on getting LM t-shirts for those who participate but don't know the details of that just yet.

May is Celiac Awareness Month (which is why the event is held in May):
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that is triggered by the protein gluten, found in wheat, barley, rye and other grains. It can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms include anemia, weight loss, chronic fatigue, osteoporosis, infertility, and a variety of gastrointestinal problems. Untreated celiac disease can be life threatening. One out of every 133 Americans has celiac disease and most don’t know it.

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease
Google search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=celiac+disease&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS233US233&ie=UTF-8

Or a more personal perspective - I do not have celiac disease but a couple good friends of mine do. It is sad and depressing to witness what they are unable to eat: Pizza, bread, donuts, pancakes, potato chips, cakes, beer, candy bars, snack bars, cookies, breading on anything fried, etc... Basically all of my favorite foods! (There are starting to be more and more gluten free options (marked with a GF on the packaging), but they tend to be more expensive, less tasty, harder to prepare, and higher calorie. So for those of you still reading this, that are thinking "what is the big deal, giving up wheat can't be that much of a sacrifice"? Well, it is a huge deal for people who suffer from it. It completely changes the way you grocery shop, cook, eat, and order food when dining out.

Please support the cause if you are so moved to do so.

A Decent Forecast!

For the first time in a month we have a decent forecast to look forward to. Since I continue to not post a series of "What TRY is About" informational links for potential new members, let me just throw it into this update.

But first, since I get sick of reading my own writing, here is a touching story from one of our own and the road she took that is taking her to the Boston Marathon on Monday morning. Congratulations Katie. You've done what no other TRYer can lay claim to -- you are Boston bona-fide!

This weeks run: 4 mile run with 1/4 mile intervals. (Since not many people were able to take part last week. We'll restart with 1/4 miles again.)

For those looking for some background --

What TRY is about:
TRY is not email based. It is web/blog based...I am not actually supposed to send emails from work, you are probably not supposed to actually receive emails at work. So, for those who can, please start using the blog as your source of the updates.

TRY meets every Tuesday night at 5:30 at Liverpool's Onondaga Lake Park, near the Wegman's playground and right next to the bike rental area. The "group" run is typically 4-5 miles, but is optional. People are always encouraged to run shorter/longer/faster/slower as their training and body dictates. Every once in a while there is an exception to the meeting location and this summer there may be additional nights added (possible track nights on Thursdays a few times?). See the blog and the calendar app for reference. Follow along on twitter. Follow along on your smart phone. Whatever suits you.

TRY welcomes all speeds and running experiences...but it skews for newer runners or for runners attempting to improve their running times/techniques. TRY encourages running for the enjoyment of it. If you aren't enjoying yourself, then why bother? TRY wants to see a smile on your face. Often.

TRY believes that speed work is the most efficient use of your running time and the most useful training technique. We mix in different length intervals (kept very simple on group night) and tempo runs. For those of you that have never attempted speed work or have never TRULY given it a fair chance -- what are you waiting for? For anyone other than an absolute beginner, you are doing yourself a disservice to not mix in speed work into your training. It makes you faster, it gets you in better cardiovascular shape, and it helps you lose weight. Train smarter! Trust me. And trust every Runner's World that you'll ever flip through...they always mention the benefits of it.

TRY likes to help people improve. Let me know what your goals are for the year and I can either give you real advice, make something up to give you fake advice (sometimes I can be a real prick -- and honestly, I'm not as nice as you think I am), or can make sure you talk to the TRY member that has the experience and knowledge you are looking for.

TRY wants to make TRY more interesting and more fun. TRY has noticed that first time "users" tend to really enjoy the group experience. But each year, that persons interest seems to decrease a little. TRY takes this personally and blames TRY for this failure. So, TRY is looking for ideas on how to keep returning members captivated. Some ideas being tossed around:
Add some core exercises at the end of the runs.
Add some speed tracking nights -- clock a 1/4 mile or a mile run, say, in mid May, mid July, and mid October...just to see progress throughout the summer. (And give a fun goal outside of the confines of formal races.)
Play some shuffleboard, bocce, or volleyball after the runs...to take advantage of the fun park that we sometimes take for granted. All those options are available right next to where we meet every week.
Suggestions?

TRY encourages you to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes you need to ignore your watch. Here are some photos I stopped to take while running this Sunday morning. Sure, may pace suffered. But my spirit was buoyed. :-)

Why, why, does it always rain on TRY?

Sometimes, weather just isn't fair. Sure, we weather it, whether we like it or not, but this is getting just plain silly. How is it that in the midst of near record nice weather in late March and early April that the third straight lousy weather Tuesday is hitting us? Oh well, it gives me an excuse for not getting my TRY roll-out in place for this week, since I doubt any non-hardcore members will make it out. (For my laziness with my updates, I blame Easters, crazy forlorn cousins, and having a cold...let's just say it's been a long few days.) I did make some more tweaks to the blog site and the biggest addition is that TRY is now a Tweeter! If anyone actually uses twitter (and cares) you can add "thereisatry" to the list of "people" you are following. I'm new to it myself, so I don't know quite what I'm doing, but I'll figure something out. I've also added a recent comments panel so we can more easily see what Ally is saying to herself in the comment sections of the posts.

Assuming it's not dangerous out (lightning or large dogs raining down) this week is the first official encouragement to do speed work. Plan for 4-5 1/4 mile intervals embedded inside of a 4 mile run. It's time to crank it up...speed work benefits all running abilities, so there is no [good] reason for anyone not to do it.

And since this is the "kick-off" week for TRY, I'm hoping some people will be able to head to The Retreat afterward for a little socialization. Assuming no one was hit by lightning, that is. (If someone has been hit by lightning we'll have to move our socialization to the local emergency room.)

Also, don't forget about the Syracuse Chiefs opening day celebration on Thursday. Weather looks iffy at this point, but maybe we'll get lucky?