TRY Local

Tuesday night - meet at 5:30 at normal place for a group run under Lights on the Lake.  There will also be some people walking.  There is a suggested (that is, optional) donation of $2, but if you are like me and never contribute to the park all summer long, you can use this chance to donate more to a park that we all get a ton of use out of.  I know my running career owes a lot to the convenience and utility of OLP, so I want to make sure that the park continues to be funded.

We will also have a dinner at Bangkok Thai Restaurant, starting around 7.  (This is a milestone outing for the just relieved "new" leader of TRY...so it should be interesting.)  I know the birthday girl from this past weekend has not been there...for her and anyone else curious, here is their menu to check out ahead of time if you want to.

Wednesday night - meet at 5:30 at normal place for a group walk under Lights on the Lake.  (Nothing else planned that night.)  I'm attempting to get Escalade's and my friend from the Tough Mudder who was paralyzed this spring to come out for the walk.  If the plan holds, her husband, son and her will be joining in...so please consider coming out to make her feel a warm TRY welcome as I help push her through.  (The more people that come out, the less she has to deal with me...so do this for her sake, people!)

Did you hear that November is "buy local" month in Syracuse?  It seems like this movement grows every year and the claim is that buying local has positive community and environmental impacts.  So, think about that as you do your shopping this holiday season and in general.

Next Monday night, the 19th, is the Third Annual Buy Local Bash at the regional market.  Tickets are $20 pre-sale and $25 at the door.  I want to go, but need a date.  Who wants to go with me?  Seriously...I want to go.  The previous link has some details, but a fuller list of participating local entities is at this site.  There will be music, drinks of all sorts and supposedly more snacks than you can shake a flabby belly at.  I hope at least of one of you will be my date...even if it ends up being Duerr!  (The Ace and Gary show lives on!)  But I also hope that a few of you decide to go as well.  It seems like a cause worth supporting.   For more reasons why buying local is good, check out Syracuse First and their list of reasons.

Thanks to a "distraction" tonight, that will not be named, this entry is not going to be what I wanted it to be.  (But if you assume that it's name starts with "J" you'd be off to a great start.)  I'm fighting through though to keep you entertained:

And now that I think about it, I won't blame it on the distraction, I'm going to blame it on the rain:



(I gotta blame it on something.)

Did you know that Milli Vanilli was recently used as a comparison to Lance Armstrong's fall from grace?  And you know what?  It is an apt comparison!  They had him out balled four-to-one and they were more than kind of a big deal.

Don't deny it, girl, you know it's true -



Ok, one more, in loving memory of Rob Pilatus who was taken from us way too soon.  (He died at age 32 back in 1998.  Wikipedia details here.)  Rob, we won't forget your number:



You have to admit, these songs are still catchy!  (Bah-bahp-ah-bah, bah-bahp-ah-bah-baby...)

Finally, last weeks teaser and the reason for the posts title: TRY Local.  I know most of you will find it shocking when I say that I think about things a LOT.  As in too much...I tend to over think things to the point of madness.  (Yes, I realize all this thought should lead to less controversial comments coming out of my mouth...but what would be the fun in that?  Thinking doesn't necessarily lead to action.  I can always overrule my good judgement.)  If you want a tactful running group, go run with some Mormon's.  (There I just did it again!)

So, when Fleet Feet started their numerous "learn to run" and "mid level running techniques" programs, I thought about TRY's place in the world.  Is TRY still relevant?  Is there a use for this when better groups are out there?  What can I learn from them?  How do they get such large turnout for a pay program?  I have asked participants and helpers how their programs are administered to compare and contrast what TRY is offering up.  Did you know that the helpers for Fleet Feet programs tend to be just ordinary runners with no more experience than a few of us?  And that they get paid for each program session?  (With sneakers and FF gift certificates?)  [Editor: Wait! What?  I could be putting in less time and thought and getting paid with merchandise multiple times a year?  Really?  I'm out of here.]


[Footsteps fading away...]


[Door opens and shuts...]


...


[Door opens and shuts...]


[Foosteps getting louder...]


[Kidding.  I was only KIDDING!]

OK, that was weird.  But let's just carry on.  I love you guys, I don't care that I'm flushing money down the toilet.

Another local group that has made me think too much is "Team Red, White, and Blue" or "Team RWB" as their shirts tend to say.  Why are they growing so fast?  Why does it seem like they are everywhere?  What are they doing that TRY isn't?  What can I learn from them?  Would TRY notice if I named a new leader and then I jumped ship?  (That's why the attempted new leader being such a baby has really saddened me and foiled my plans.)

At the Wounded Warrior Run two weekends ago I have to admit I was a bit jealous.  Team RWB had a big turn-out, did awesome things for their group members (I witnessed a first time racer get handed an American flag to carry the last 30 seconds), and seems really well funded.  Seriously, how cool is that to carry a flag across the finish line?  And at least one person had Team RWB compression sleeves on his calves.  I assumed they had them printed up, so I asked and his response was that they "had been sent up from West Point".  Huh?  Exactly how much funding to they have behind them?

As I thought about my jealousy and how long before TRY would be extinct I realized that Team RWB and Fleet Feet's team, while doing a great job, have nothing on us.  I thought about all that TRY has done for individuals who have taken part and for various local events.  We may not have the numbers or the funding of these professional organizations but we've had a big impact just the same.  Think of Paige's Butterfly Run and what we've done there.  Think of the Liverpool Relay For Life and what we've done there.  Think of our members who have done their first 5ks, 10ks, Boilermakers, Hymans, Marathons, and various lengths of triathlons with at least some tip of the cap to TRY.  Team RWB can hand a US flag to a new racer, but Team TRY can show up with dozen cow bells and perhaps even a cow, and let their bells be heard throughout the race course.  Think of all the races that TRYers have come out to cheer for other TRYers at...and the bells that every participant got to hear.  Think about the "cow bell alley" that got set up at the Iron Girl this summer that had to be impressively loud as the people on their running leg came through that small area being filled with the clangs from all those darn bells.  And think that TRYers have ran races on at least 3 continents with thoughts about TRY in their minds.  TRY has literally gone around the world.

I could go on, but you get the point.  And all of this was done for free.  No taxpayer or corporate funding.  No ulterior motives of training people to run with the obvious implication that they'll turn around and buy more products from the store training them.  Just a love of running and the willingness to help other people out, with no strings attached.  I hope you are as impressed by this as I am.  You've done great things!  Truly you have.  :-)

To put a bow on this, remember the photo I posted last week of "our" Escalade talking to "their" Shawn.  Very different paths led the individuals to that point in time and space.  And very different running groups had helped those individuals get to that point in time and space.  I believe I was sensing the weight of that meeting (even though I hadn't formulated a lot of the thoughts in this entry yet) as I got a little misty-eyed watching them smile at each other with smiles that the other couldn't see.  And overhearing, partially, the stories they were exchanging as they were catching up with each other.  Team RWB pimps out Shawn quite heavily (as they should), but once again, they've got nothing on TRY and our Escalade.  I tend to hold off on Escalade-love as I don't want her to get too full of herself, but there are other times that I feel I don't make a big enough deal about her and what she's done the last two years.  She could have done it with some other group, theoretically, but she did not.  She did it through TRY.   And the entire TRY membership has played a role.  All the help, either directly or indirectly, and all the camaraderie and enjoyment that you've provided is something that you should be proud of.  Shawn has received training at some prestigious places this year, I believe even at an Olympic training center.  But, for at least one race, her elite training had nothing on TRY's training...as Escalade crossed the finish line before she did.  Think about that.  A running group, with a joke for a name, started on a whim, does have a place in the world.  Perhaps even a bigger place than  I realized.  Thank you for that.

Here is the photo again...TRY meets World: