Time to Split

This week is our traditional Lights on the Lake Stroll night.  Meet at the normal place and time (5:30 next to the rental building under the trees with the "dropcicle" lights) and then we'll split into a jogging group that will go to the far end and back and a walking group that will go to "The Rainbow Love Tunnel" and back.  The place gets really crowded, so we are starting at 5:35, with whoever has made it by then.  Run us down if you have a problem with traffic.  Once we are done with the 4.5 mile jog or less than 3 mile walk, we are meeting at Bangkok Thai Restaurant for the "Ivy Memorial Dinner" at 7 PM.  If you cannot do the park but want to do the dinner, you are welcome to do that. I've heard back from a few of you, but want to have an idea from most of you about dinner so I can warn them if our group is going to be large.

If you read up on the Lights on the Lake you can see Wednesday night you can do it again (with dogs this time) and that they are doing the special late night run through the lights on Saturday, January 4th.  The price for car usage is $10 per vehicle during the week and $15 on the weekends.  So, get your pre-sale tickets, or better yet, take advantage of these nights and see the lights by foot!

These were posted on Facebook, but here is a glimpse of the fun by TRYers from after the Jingle Bell Run.  There were a lot of festive costumes including a set of 9 reindeer and Santa all linked up in what would have been an epic (although too short as constructed) Paige's Butterfly Run centipede team.

 

 

 

 
I had not run the OCC loop course before and it was better than I expected.  There were enough twists and turns and ups and downs that it never felt repetitive even though you have to do two loops.  It was definitely a course where you want to run the tangents though.  I saw a lot of people wasting steps be following the lane they were in instead of picking the shortest path through the twists and turns.

Thanks to Mrs. Fitzpatrick for putting this link out there this week: Better Runners Are ... Inflexible?  Then a link within that story talks about improving your running economy by not stretching.  I knew I was doing something right!  OK, if you read the fine print, you should still stretch some as a runner, and none of us are good enough runners to sacrifice our health in other areas of our life but it is a fascinating couple articles that go into the fact that muscle fiber elasticity associated with inflexibility can be a virtue.

Finally, a fun look at flexibility - this showed up on my Facebook newsfeed and I looked into a bit and it was done for real and only needed one take for the JCVD part.  He picked a heck of a time to split:


You can read more about it here, which led me to this video with an even crazier (that is - more likely to end up dead) stunt which they called the Ballerina Stunt (which seems poorly named - it's a high wire stunt).



Some pretty amazing stuff between those two "commercials".  I think I'll go out and buy a Volvo truck now.

There Are Few Who Are Well-Informed About the Beavers and the Damages They Cause

It looks like we avoided rainy, late season runs this year!  Instead, we will get to sample some light snow tonight.  This is the last week meeting at 5:00 at the Liverpool Park.  Please bring a headlight (a few of you) as the overcast day is going to have us starting in the dark.

We are due for 1/4 mile intervals, but we shall see what people feel like doing and split into a couple like-minded groups.  I'll have a stroller again so will probably do something like a steady three like last week.  (If conditions allow.)

Next week we are doing a group run (probably will have to be two groups) under the Lights on the Lake.  It will be very crowded with walkers, so please do your best to be respectful and fun as we bob and weave through.  The plan is to meet at 5:30 (and start the group run at 5:35).  It is VERY crowded, so give yourself some extra time to park and meet us.  Or plan to use phones to coordinate with me...it's not fun to wait in the cold, so we have to start (roughly) as planned.  If you choose not to come out, you can still join in for a now yearly tradition of dinner at Bangkok Thai Restaurant after the lights on the lake.  We will be meeting there for a meal at 7.  (Let me know if you plan to join in for dinner, whether you do the lights or not, so I can warn them to be ready for the size of our group.)

The following week, we will attempt to do our "overtime" sessions, starting at the mall parking lot and doing the creekwalk for the first session at least.  We can get creative from there.

Don't forget the Jingle Bell Run is this weekend.  We typically have a decent TRY turnout, but the change in timing and location may hurt that.  It's a "fun" atmosphere as people get into the holiday spirit...so it's worth a shot if you are looking for a 5k in the near term.

I saved this "TRY thought" for this week as it was long enough to stand on its own:
"I know that I have not been to TRY very much this year due to a
variety of different things, but every time I go, it is always a great
time.
The thing that stands out for me the most from this year is the amount
of new people that have joined. It's neat when current members tell
others about the group and they end up coming. I love meeting new
people and interacting with others in the community. It's also fun to
talk to different people about where they grew up, where they work,
their running style, why they run, what keeps them going, about their
families or personal life etc.
After TRY each week, I always look forward to next Tuesday!"

And now a couple thoughts for the road:
1) About a month ago, my family was in town and insisted in renting one of the round, red, "bikes" at Onondaga Lake Park.  It is expensive, but since we had extra people we got it for an hour and took turns doing shifts on it, more or less using Angela's TRYangle to do laps...spreading out the cost and the fun.  It goes quite easily if everyone is pedaling (some of the kids were too short to help) and steers OK when you are moving.  It is a strange sensation to be going backwards, but even stranger to be going sideways.  Basically, only one seat gets to go forward and that person gets to worry about the steering and the braking.  (Since it has a limited top speed, there isn't much braking involved.)

Here is the proof:




You do get a lot of interesting looks as you go by walkers and people off to the side...and it looks silly in the distance with all the legs churning.  I recommend it sometime when you have a group together (or family or friends in town) for 30 or 60 minutes worth of entertainment.


2) Argentina has a beaver problem!  This story from NPR details the problem with the imported beavers.  The final quote: "There are few who are well-informed about the beavers," Kunzle says, "and the damages they cause."

My Once a Week Heartbreak

In honor of Kelly's birthday, I am going to post early this week.  You're welcome (and you're worth it) Kelly!

This week is the first of two that we will be meeting at 5 PM and starting the run at 5:05 sharp.  Since we lost an hour but are only changing our start time by half an hour, it'll be pushing darkness as we finish.  I expect a somewhat smaller crowd, so we'll do a simple poll to see if people want to continue intervals and what length to do.  The forecast for Tuesday looks nice actually, so no worries about a cold November rain for this week.  For some of you who don't usually go out, plan a little time to help celebrate Malinda's new job.

Check out last week's post if you haven't or look at the TRY calendar to see the plan for the rest of the month.

Here are some more takeaways and thoughts of the almost completed TRY season.  Thanks again for your inputs!  They've entertained me, at least.  I added a few comments in the square brackets.

"It may sound cliche, but I enjoyed running with a group as I am always more likely to run with someone than on my own.  Also, there was always someone running at my pace."

"That time that Jake rescued the little girl from the big tree and then Malinda helped her find her family at the playground."  [Maybe he really is 'Jake, from State Farm'?]

"Terry twerking at the the NY state fair and being photo bombed when taking a picture to send to Sue."  [I've seen no photographic proof, so I'm not sure it happened.]

"The fair night had some funny moments and ended up with the group at a picnic table and some people eating hot beef sundaes while others were eating pints of ice cream.  It was very random.  Then everyone enjoyed that epic live version of 'Hey There Delilah'."  [Except Berman, what is wrong with her not enjoying a nice song about stalking and not taking no for an answer?]

"Yay to going out after TRY becoming the norm!"

"Half shells and bunnie tails! :)"


"The centipede division costumes at Paige's Butterfly Run!"  [Anything that gives me an excuse to post this photo is a win in my book:


Happy Birthday Energizer Bunny!]

[And this one fits in here, so I'll add - all the press that TRYers got this year.  Escalade hit the papers multiple times like she always does, plus a random one like Kelly and Malinda being the photo of the day during Paige's weekend.]



"What does the fox say...need I say more?"

"Not anonymous but thanks to the TRY group i not only found the interest to participate in my first 1/2 marathon but loved it and now I'm hooked!"  [Hooked like a sea bass.]

[A couple key regulars were missing, but the post Boilermaker party meet-up was special, as always.]

"It would be helpful if the weekly posts were put up on a more consistent schedule."  [As a reminder, this is not a professional organization.]

"I know I wouldn't have been out there if it weren't for you peeps and homeys.  Thanks for the inspiration . . . and also the occasional twisted, yet thought provoking, topics of discussion."

[Team Beef!]


"I love how everyone makes the point to do Angela's Triangle after the workout." [It's officially spelled "Angela's TRYangle"]


"I'm glad my biggest takeaway from TRY this year is not the same as Catherine's (a baby)."

[And a final one from me - a yearly takeaway almost every year is the more random happenings around the TRY group - the solid turnout for the baseball game and fireworks night in August, and the support the group shows for other peoples races.  Like the cowbell crew that showed up to cheer on the Chase Corporate Challenge and the smaller turnouts that cheered on other events like the Iron Girl.  It would seem that TRY has a good heart.]

Change of topics:
As a reward for continuing to read this, here is an informative article on how to plan around fatigue while doing your running plans or running while fatigued so that you can gain from it.  Certainly some useful points in there and once again the point about running your slow runs slowly enough is brought up.  (Which really is a way to say that speed differentiation in your training is key.)

And some randomness to end on to partially help everyone (but mostly new people) understand my obsession with beaver stuff.  Since I've been spending a lot of time "up north" in the Croghan and Beaver Falls area lately, I've been hearing stuff about the school and interacting directly with the school more.  While watching a cross-country meet I was sightseeing on the trails and came across this lovely rock.  My nephew who is currently on the school team was busy doing his thing so he was not available to represent the "present" part of the layout.  So here was my attempt at showing the "past" and the "future":



(The rock says "Beaver River Cross Country" "A commitment to excellence" "Past Present Future".)  This also explains why my personal motto is Terry "Commitment to Excellence" Widrick.

Related - the "Lady Beavers" of Beaver River Central School have just completed a first by winning the overall, Section III, Class C championship this past Saturday in Cortland with a 1-0 defeat of Little Falls.  Read this article if you are bored, but here are some of the highlights:
""I was really surprised when it went in. I thought I was going to cry. I was really excited.""
"The Lady Beavers haven't surrendered a goal in three games."
""We got hot at the right time," said Tracy Adams, the other Beaver River coach."  [She just happens to have graduated the same year I did.  There will be no living with her after this famous turn.]

It works out really well for me that Beaver River and SU both have orange as their main color:


Speaking of orange, time for this post to ride off into the sunset.