Distracted

I want to apologize for being distracted lately. I got too busy building my t-shirt and panty empire and forgot what buttered my bread:

Butter. (Unless it would be the knife? I could use some help with what that expression actually means in the comments...for now I'll assume it's butter that butters my bread.)

So, while the t-shirt and panty sales are off the charts (now featuring a MaraThong!), I need to get back to my butter, which is making up random workouts for TRY. Since a lot of us will be doing the Corporate Challenge on June 21st (L team sign up is due soon, so I would think other companies would be as well), let's plan out the next three weeks to help optimize our performances. (Afterall, the last two championship races have featured TRY members!)

Week 1 (this week): 1/4 mile intervals. (Often referred to as "400s" in training plans -- 400 meters) Beginners shoot for 3 to 5. Intermediates, shoot for 6.

Week 2 (June 7th): 1/2 mile intervals. ("800s") Beginners 2-3, Advanced 4.

Week 3 (June 14th): 1 mile intervals. ("1600s") Beginners 1-2, Advanced 2-3.

Week 4 -- Race day -- 3.5 miles of the boringest course you'll ever run! But the "event" itself definitely has its merits.

I think almost everyone knows how we do our intervals for TRY...warmup, on, off, on....cooldown. If you have questions, please ask an experience person (or me) before we start. You can mix and match distances on a night if you want to, but I am lazy and tend to do what involves the least thinking and just do the same interval length on a given night.

That's it. Let's ramp it up for the next 3 weeks.

Extra stuff:

Who wants to donate to Paige's Butterfly Run? (Or feel free to join in for the race.) But, for now I'm soliciting donations to the winning Centipede Division Team (new video!) from last year. The donation page is very plain, but that's what they provided. If you have some change to spare...it's for a great cause.

I hope you all are using "hawkward" in your daily conversations. I know it got used and abused during out Habitat for Humanity build event last week. Good times!

Hot + Awkward = Hawkward

Let's see. I suppose I should mention that last week set a record for TRY attendance. Impressive! Thanks for everyone who was able to attend. :-)

Tomorrow a few TRYers are taking time off from their normal lives and helping out for a day with Habitat for Humanity. I appreciate your generosity with your time! Just watch out for Brian. He's been known to fall off of roofs. Seriously.

At TRY, the main group will do some form of speedwork again. Keep putting in the work! For those of you just getting into speedwork - it's not always going to go smoothly. It's definitely not going to be fun. But if you aren't getting tired out and aren't running out of energy, then you aren't trying hard enough. You don't know your limit until you reach it. So, keep digging down. Keep pushing your limits. It will pay dividends in all manner of your running later this summer.

The fun stuff this week:

1) For those of you clamoring for TRY apparel. There is now a link on the right hand side of the blog, and provided here. TRY has it's own t-shirt (and panty) shop! (You're welcome ladies!) trytees.spreadshirt.com Now, admittedly I had little to no idea what I was doing, so I just threw some designs together quickly. I picked a few different shirt types and a few different colors (which you can customize further). For those of you who seriously want shirts (or panties) with TRY or the TRY logo on them, take a look at what is there and give me feedback on what type of shirt, what type of text, and whatnot that you'd like. I can quickly make the design and put it out there for you to order from. I think you can also do self-customization. So, you can do that without me helping...but if you do, please let me know and I'll go back in and add that design to our shop. I am going to order a couple choices soon, just to see how they turn out. So, if you want to see something before you trust it, let me know and I can show them off once I get them.

2) I want to invent a word. Well, it's already invented but has an incorrect meaning on urban-dictionary. So, I want to rebrand a word. And that word? Hawkward.

It's new meaning:

Something that is simultaneously hot and awkward. Why spend the time saying "I find this situation is both hot and awkward?" When you could just say "This is hawkward." Or better yet, just pause and say "Hawkward!"

Examples from my own (and I'm sure everyone else's life) where the word could have been used if it had been invented:

When you are physically hot and awkward -

[At the Mountain Goat post race party]

Person 1: "That race kicked my butt again this year. I don't feel well. I can barely walk straight."

Me: "Yeah, I'm feeling hawkard too!"

When something is hot (in a sexual way) while being awkward too

[Me and my sister are making out with each other]

Sister: "OMG. You are a really good kisser!"

Me: "You are too, sis! Wow! This is hawkward!!!! LOL!"

Sister: "Def. What time is mom coming home?"

Me: "Not for another half hour."

[We resume making out.]

More generally, when something is "hot" (as in very good) but undoubtedly awkward.

[A red-tailed hawk is perched in a tree along the thru-way. An opposum get's absolutely t-boned while attempting to cross the highway.]

Hawk [to itself]: "Welcome to ouchtown bro! Wait a minute! That is Orestes Opposum! He was a good friend of mine. We played cards every Tuesday night. :-("

Hawk [continues thinking]: "But, my hawklets are eating me out of nest and tree right now. They could really use some fresh meat or they are going to be malnourished."

Hawk [realizing what has to be done]: "This is hawkward!"

[Swoops up Orestes (the parts of him anyway) for some take-home dinner.]

I think we can all relate to a couple of those scenarios. So, please help me make "hawkward" an everyday word. Thank you!

Wait? You've never made out with a sibling? None of you have? ... HAWKWARD!!!!

Now that's more like it

Cool. Rain. Cool rain. Either way, I'm glad that yellow thingie is gone for the week again. It burns!

The important things this week:

1) We may have some new people in attendance. Let's keep doing a great job helping and encouraging new TRYers.

2) There is an official post TRY dinner outing tonight. So plan for that if you are able to.

Why is there an official outing? Because a TRYer is moving away and we want a chance to socialize with her a little more while she is still here. Kerri is following her heart to Albany soon, so come out and enjoy her company while you still can! She wasn't in TRY very long, but her quick smile and fast, orange-clad feet made an instant impression. It's sad to see her go, but TRY's loss is her gain...so it's a happy occasion seeing her move on to enrich her life. :-)

3) Lockheed Martin's Federated Fund is supporting a "Habitat for Humanity" project next Tuesday. So if anyone wants to join Kerri and me in helping to build a house for a local veteran, let me know and I can provide information. (LM people can look on our local website.)

Ok, now onto the fun. It's audio-visual day! Enjoy the following video's and pictures:

These videos were on facebook over the weekend, but for those who missed them -

I was able to get a creepy, rapping, bear of some sort to record our summer anthem - "Singapore Some Water on Me".

And in preparation for this years Paige's Butterfly Run, I put together a montage of last years winning Centipede Division team - The Centipediatricians.

Pictures from the Mountain Goat Run - (not as many TRYers this year :-(

Malinda:

Bob:

Terry:

Jessica doesn't ever make it TRY, but I do invite her, so she counts!

Not quite a TRYer but she's at the park almost every Tuesday...and it was very neat that they reserved bib number 44 for her 44th birthday on race day. Tina clearly enjoyed her first every Goat:

Catherine:

Our Poster Girl (a Mountain Goat tradition, but not as "out there" as in years past.)

And a special treat from anyone who read to the end. Aubrey went and got married. Here's a cute picture from her destination wedding in Aruba. Congratulations Aubbers!

Classy

Since these topics are so important, I'm going to keep it really simple this week:

The Relay For Life sign up time is upon us. We need to sign up by May 15th in order to guarantee shirts (and to make it easier on the organizers). So, please sign up in the next day or two if you plan to participate. (The event is Friday June 17th and Saturday June 18th.) For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, let me know.

If you want to do the Boilermaker 15k this year, sign up soon! Since last week, about 1500 people have signed up, leaving only about 1800 spots left. The Boilermaker is Sunday, July 10th.

That's it. Come out and enjoy some overdue lovely weather on a Tuesday night. :-)

My Spirits Are Dampened

I suppose I should be happy because the weather cooperated really well for the Celiac Event on Saturday and the Mountain Goat on Sunday. But, would it be so hard to have a decent Tuesday weather forecast? I can't get excited about putting an informational blog entry together when I know that most people are going to be frightened off by the rain. Oh well.

Some important notes:

1) The Boilermaker is going to limit entries this year and a lot of people are going to be left out. As of last check, a little over 3000 spots remain. So, if you want to do the Boilermaker 15k, sign up soon!

2) The Relay For Life sign up time is upon us. We need to sign up by May 15th in order to guarantee shirts (and to make it easier on the organizers). So, please sign up in the next two weeks.

3) It seems like TRYers and friends (and four legged friends) had a good time at the events this weekend. Money was raised, medals were won, and Adam even took the monkey off my back. All good.

4) Due to a serendipitous set of events, the "Bermuda TRY-angle" is henceforth to be known as "Angela's TRY-angle". That way, we can remember something that should not have been lost, every time we do our cool-down walk. :-(

For tonight, the sore-legged from this weekend should just do a shake out run. while others can do a speed workout if they are ready and able.