For Tuesday's night group run, we are going to...oh, who am I kidding? We have too many different running needs right now to plan ahead. We'll discuss what your individual needs are and find some common groupings during the pre-run talk. Just know that there will be speed-work involved for most of us.
The pre-run gathering is going to be different this week. As I teased on the Facebook group, a request has been made to add some exercises other than just running/walking. So, we are starting off with some dynamic warm-up exercises. We will meet off the side of the parking lot towards the volleyball court and skate-park and will hopefully be visible enough that people looking for our normal spot will still see us. At 5:30 sharp we will start a lesson on this routine from runners world, for a dynamic warm up routine for runners. I liked this one because most of them are done while standing which will keep us from worrying about goose poop. We'll give this a shot for 2 or 3 weeks and then remove and add other exercises as popular opinion warrants. The intention is to do something from 5:30-5:40, allowing people who are slightly late to join in at any point, and then to hit the park on the run at 5:40 sharp. Since we'll have warmed up our muscles, I think we can shorten the running warm-up to half a mile and get into our intervals at that point. Nothing is set in stone and I'll be want to hear what you think of all this as we do it. It's an attempt to get smarter with our routine. If people want to do core stuff, we can add some of that too, probably after the cool-down walk.
It's great that our group is growing again and it's always a treat for me to have some new people around that are eager to expand their running horizons and having fun while doing it. But, with growth, comes growing pains. And we need to be more cognizant of the other people around us. Last week, during our cooldown walk of Angela's TRYangle, we totally cut off a biker as the group was making the sharp left-hand turn. He chose not to say anything, but his glare as he veered off onto the grass to avoid us when we cut off his right-of-way spoke volumes. He was not happy. Nor was I. The park is very good to us and, in return, we need to be very good to it. Please pay attention to your surroundings! We need to stay to our right better than we have been. And as we finish our intervals and stop or turn back, always yield to other people who may not be expecting such "erratic" behavior from runners in the midst of the park. If we can't play nicer with others, I'll have to make some changes. (We could split up a little more at the start and end, and if we keep acting like animals, I may have to go all Noah's ark on us, and enforce a two-by-two rule so we can't flood the lanes.)
For people who aren't on Facebook, I recommend for you to see the picture/video video summary of the Iron Girl event on Sunday morning that Syracuse.com put together. Some TRYers make an appearance but just as importantly to me, TRYers cowbells can be heard throughout most of it. Those who know the story of the original inspiration behind TRY, know how perfect this is. Cowbells. A blind participant. And spectators making themselves heard...and then some. The cowbell alley we had set up and the smiles we put on so many random peoples faces really nailed the essence of TRY. We left our mark on the triathlon. Well done, everyone! There can be no doubt that the circle of TRY has now been completed. (I may retire now.)
Be sure to check out the post "below" that has some information about the current state of Onondaga Lake and it's clean up efforts.
And now for something completely different, who wants to attempt the "Empire State Carrying Championship"? In places where you can still call things what they should be called, it would be called "wife carrying" or "woman carrying", but who cares what it's called, it's all the same. You carry a woman though an obstacle course. And the winning time, wins the woman's weight in wine! It's come from Finland to CNY, and on, Friday, August 31st, there is this crazy event in Geneva.
Back when I worked on the family farm and had to carry heavy stuff all the time, I think I could have been good at this! Who wants in? Any women ready to practice to see if any TRYers would have a knack for the "Estonian Carry"? (I'll leave the details of that for a homework assignment.) We can practice a little before warming up this week. I'm serious.
And lastly, my attempts to stay incowgnito have failed and now that the cow is out of the bag, I have no choice but to admit, that I, on occasion, do dress in a stretchy cow outfit. I didn't want my photo taken by a reporter. It's not about recognition. It's about giving back to the race participants. And giving them a smile or two and a random memory that they can't get every day. My RACK (random acts of cow kindness) moments had been anonymous the last couple years...but I did it at too big of an event this time and I didn't have the heart (I had plenty of stomachs!) to not give the reporter permission to use the photos (and apparently video?!) that she spent about 5 minutes taking before talking to us. Now that the world knows, I can share a cowple photos from that other event that I helped out at this weekend.
The sales table:
This woman (Penny) has been a big fan of mine (and me of her) for the 3 years I've helped out and donated cowbells and cow hats at the Mad Cow 5k in Nelson. We finally consummated our love of all things milk with a photo:
But that was nothing compared to this next one. Because this cow took the leap and openly fell for me this year:
What? You weren't expecting a good joke, were you? Keep in mind that I would not be doing all this and I certainly would not be making all these bad cow puns, if the steaks weren't so high! ;-)
MOOving For A Cure, lives on.
[The end.]
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