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."