The Plan For November

The plan for this weeks group run is to attack Faith Hill again.  That means a mile warm-up, a slightly faster pace back to the bottom of Faith Hill and then a personalized set of hill repeats based on your fitness level.

This is the last week meeting at our normal time of 5:30.  With Daylight Saving time ending on Sunday, we'll shift the start time for the following two weeks to 5:00 (with an actual run start time of 5:05).  This always means some people cannot join in, but the park does not officially support after dark usage, so we do our best to comply.

Tuesday, November 19th, we'll meet up at 5:30 again (allowing regulars to join back in) for the Lights on the Lake Stroll and our last Tuesday night of the 2013 TRY season at Onondaga Lake Park. At that point we'll discuss continuing at another location.

A popular race among TRYers has changed a couple things this year.  Typically, the Jingle Bell Run has been on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but this year it is a week earlier - on Sunday the 17th.  An even bigger change is that it is now being held at OCC.  It had outgrown its most recent home at Longbranch park but it is still sad to see it moved along.  I guess growth comes at a price.  Perhaps having a building to use and a bigger course will make the event even more fun than it usually is?  I guess we'll see this year.

Lastly, Thanksgiving is a popular day for 5k and 10k races.  For you beginners in the group, think about getting in a "Turkey Trot", either around here, or look up one in the area you are travelling to for the holiday. It's a fun way to start off your day and leads to less guilt while stuffing in the stuffing later.

All the above date and time information has been updated in the TRY Google calendar.  (Which you can add to your calendars or always access at the top of the blog.)

Some personal updates: I've told many of you, somewhat randomly, about both of these things...but at this point I have no idea who I have not told yet...so I might as well get the news out to everyone:
My wife is expecting our second child.  The due date is right around the spring equinox.  So far everything is going well.

Also, something else that has been in the works for a while: We are moving.  It took an extra several weeks but "closing" finally happened last week on a house in the Westvale area...near but not quite in the Fairmount area.  It'll be a few weeks before we officially move in.

Now that we're all caught up on that...it's time to start looking back on our latest year of TRY.  The following are thoughts/quotes/remembrances on the 2013 TRY season passed on by TRYers:

"[I was] glad to find out Berman still has her overalls."

"I'm not sure I'm cut out for a normal running group.  So it has worked out well for me that TRY is anything but normal."

"Big turnouts and lots of new faces....and rarely skipping post-TRY festivities :-)"

"Live long and prosper."

"After not taking part for a long time, it was nice to be welcomed back like I had never left."

"I'm not sure how many other groups would debate the merits of and take a vote on the usage of the word 'moist'?"

"I honestly wondered at first what I had got myself into, but within a few weeks I could tell all the interval work was making a difference.  Thanks for making me a better runner."

"Camaraderie, friendships, fun, laughs, inspiration, and the ability to say . . . I did Faith Hill . . . on multiple occasions!"

"I came out for a running group, but found so much more than that.  I don't always take part in the activities, but having an opportunity to do everything from a polar plunge to an obstacle course race to a birthday celebration for anyone who has ever had a birthday, is great.  Thanks for everything that TRY is!"

Thanks for your inputs so far, let's keep them coming send me some more for next week.  (Message me to keep them anonymous.)

It is what I do, but it's not who I am.

Full disclosure:

I was out of town this weekend but back in time to post last night until I got distracted by..."Magic Mike".

But enough about that for now.  Tonight - looks like we will avoid the rain, but either way, fall weather is upon us.  For new people, there is always someone at TRY.  I think we've never had less than 2 people show up, no matter the weather for the past five years.  It's up to you if you want to keep joining in as the weather gets colder and wetter, but know that there will be someone there to run with if you do.

We are due for 1/4 mile intervals again.  (Probably pay Faith Hill a visit again next week).  For those of you who just did your hyman's this weekend, take it easy tonight.  Otherwise join on in for how ever many quarter miles you can stand.

Speaking of hymans (as a reminder, that is what we in TRY call a "half marathon", since we do not believe that 13.1 miles is a half anything, and hyman is short for "hybrid marathon" which is much less than insulting than "half".  Plus, just like a hybrid car, it gets you exactly where you want to go, satisfaction wise, but with better mileage.) Congrats to the TRYers who managed to not freeze their butts off in the Empire State Hyman on Sunday morning.  Duerr, Steve 1, Berms and her roommate Leo!  Also, I  believe Janna took part in the marathon portion of the race as part of a 4 person relay team.  Nice job representing and getting good times while having a good time!

Back to my distraction:
Due to a ill-fated non-disclosure agreement this is not widely known at all, but I was actually the inspiration for "Magic Mike".  It is basically a biopic of my life around college age, but due to creative differences, I got taken off the project...at which point even more lee-way was taken with the screenplay which is why I refused to even see it until last night and was disgusted to find out that -
"Terrific Terry" became "Magic Mike", Potsdam, NY and Clarkson became Tampa, FL and USF, Timmy "The French-Canadian Kid" LaRocque became just "The Kid", the holy grail location went from being Massena, NY to being Miami, FL, and an unhealthy addiction among the dancers to maple syrup became dipping into ecstasy and "G".

Whatever.  Movies always take some liberties.

Also, the dance moves got dumbed down and the abs got toned up - we did not need to be quite that ripped to impress the girls from "DZ", if you know what I am saying.  Even so, I've let myself go since that time in my life.  But as the money line (that they kept, thankfully) said - It's what I did, but it was not who I was.  So, I gladly left my days as a Cock-Rocker of Clarkson behind me and went into the field of computer programming (not one-of-a-kind, custom furniture).

I could go on, but you get the point.  I do get my royalty payments regardless of how crappily they adapted the story...so I'm not complaining too much.  The only downside to the payments is that they are made with $5 bills.  They told me I would not want to know what they had to do to pay me in twenties.

History Lies

Happy Columbus Day!

As you've noticed while running, Lights on the Lake is coming.  Counting tomorrow night, we have 5 more nights of regular TRY evenings.  (Plus, we'll have November 19th where we can stroll and dodge through the lights on the lake.)  Last year we extended TRY for a few more weeks taking advantage of the lit up Creek-walk and using that on Tuesday nights into mid-December once the automobile portion of Lights on the Lake make the park unusable.

For now, all you need to worry about is a few more weeks of TRY, same place, same time.  We'll deal with darkness by making sure we stay together as a group...at least in small numbers.

This week, we are due for 1/2 mile intervals.  Plan accordingly.

Don't forget, Wednesday night you can learn about the needs of the Syracuse community and get free snacks!  Just register and then come on down to the Community Foundation.

How did you spend your Columbus Day?  As most of us now realize, history was written by white guys.  And as Berms and Sue can tell you, white guys are primarily douche-nozzles.  So, it is no surprise that history books contain more exaggerations and partial truths than an online dating profile.  (Am I right, ladies?)  With the advent of the internet age, it's more and more common to come across "what really happened" and since we know that everything on the internet is true ("Bonjour!"), I can only assume that the following stories are more true than what we were forced to memorize in school.

I'm sure some of you have had similar stories filter through your Facebook news feed or Twitter timeline, but since I'm sure not ALL of you have seen this, I want to do my attempt to pass along some internet enlightenment.

This first story goes into great detail of how bad of a person Christopher Columbus was and what horrors he brought to the new world.  If even a quarter of it is true, we should all be ashamed to even consider this guy for anything but a noose.  Which is why the author prefers to think of today as Bartolome Day.  It's an interesting, and quick read.  And Columbus day has only been a holiday for 80 years and was started by the "Knights of Columbus?"  Yeah, like that isn't suspicious...we must have been awfully desperate for an October holiday.

This next story (really six intertwined sections) gives a more general treatment into how different the real story of the settling of North America was compared to what we have learned.  It covers Columbus, Vikings, Squanto, and others, and gives a lot of credit to the Iroquois Confederacy in shaping our government.  It is longer, and tends to get a little bit sarcastic (it's done by a "humor" site), but had some points I'd never come across before.  What would have happened to those pilgrims if they had landed on a healthy continent?

Speaking of history, I was all upset when I found this in the last week and realized that I came across it two years two late.  But instead of looking back with regret, I've decided to stay positive.  Instead of saying "too late" I'm going to say "maybe, someday".  Because, heaven help me, if anything should ever happen to my first wife, once I mourn for a very long time, I'm totally using this:



[Read with Yoda's voice: ] Ladies, warned you have been.  Hmmm?  Say yes, you must.

(I'm already regretting Tuesday morning's family breakfast.  The things I do for the enjoyment of the group.  *sigh*)

Stink-free Guarantee

Sorry for the delay. I've been studying running (and walking) forms of random people in Cazenovia this past week...driving slowly behind people for a while grading them...but suddenly things got a little weird and decided I better lay low for a while.  Maybe I should borrow someone elses car and pick another town to finish off my findings?

The plan for tonight is back to 1/4 mile intervals.  Less new people have been coming, so no surprises here - you know the drill.  BUT, one difference from most weeks is that I will not be there.  I've been called in as an emergency swim facilitator and need to take Joseph through his swim exposure lesson at the YMCA.  An experienced professional will make sure that things are started and ended with as much chaos and lack of planning as you've come to expect when I'm around.

If Matt and Lisa make it, be sure to wish them well as they head off to their nuptials!  And if they are able to go out afterwards be sure to raise a toast to their last happy week.  (As single people, that is.  Tim and Lindsay have proven already this year how much happier people can be once they get married.)

I'm going out on an uninformed limb here and "guessing" that Janna had something pretty major go wrong during her Wineglass marathon this past weekend in Corning.  Thankfully, I don't know that she has ever read a TRY post, so I can most likely get away with a misstep here if I guessed wrong.  Based on her finish time and the sweet posts between Corey and her on Facebook (sweet for them, hawkward for us others who happened to see them), I feel rather safe thinking the race didn't go well, or was even a failure.  But, I wanted to make the point that nothing is easier than having a race go as you planned and you finish as expected.  When you really prove how tough you are, is when a race goes off the rails, you do no where near your goal, but you find a way to finish anyway.  (I know some others have written or commented about this...your "bad" races tend to be some of the most memorable.)  So, Janna, congrats on finding something else inside of you and showing that a bad day was not going to come between you and that finish line!

Now for something different:
Next Wednesday (the 16th) at 5, there is an event going on where you can learn about how various charitable groups use data to determine how to best match up their programs with the needs in the Syracuse area.  Jill has been the driving force behind this speaker series and has put in a ton of her own time in hopefully making this an event that everyone can learn something from in how to "Maximize the Community Impact" of your charitable actions.  It is also serving as the kickoff event for The Future Fund's 2013-2014 grant cycle year, so besides getting educated by speakers from the United Way, the Community Foundation, and SU, you can learn more about The Future Fund itself which is in its 10th year of giving back locally.  The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested so that we know the number of people.  Come on out and bring a friend!  (Most of you have your causes where you give your time and money, but if any of you are looking for a way to get more involved in helping out in your central New York community, or if you want to learn more about the needs of the community so that you are smarter when you are helping out your causes, come on out next Wednesday and have a listen!)  The Facebook event page with all the details and how to register is here.  If you have questions, you can ask Jill or Terry.

Finally, this video was suggested as fodder for a blog post, but while I was sitting on the pot, Ron happened to link to this on his Facebook newsfeed.  So, several of you may have seen it there.  If not, you owe it to yourself to learn about "PooPourri".  (If for nothing else, for all the euphemisms the lady drops during the commercial.)



I think they are saving the "took the browns to the Superbowl" for the inevitable Super Bowl spot they buy this February.