Not Fooling Around

In past years I've attempted to pull an "April Fools" joke, but rest easy, that is not the case this year.  While it is fun to fool people momentarily, you cannot fool yourself.  So, the message in this post is that while TRY uses positive peer pressure to encourage you to push yourself to grow as a runner, you only have yourself to answer to.  If you ever feel that TRY is asking to much of you, please reign it in and follow your heart and the rest of your body.

Due to the late arrival of spring this year, most regulars are behind schedule, and based on feedback from the group, we will be delaying our suggestion of interval workouts for a few weeks.  For those of you who are ready for them, feel free to leave the group in the dust.  But for most of us, we will continue to ease ourselves into the running season with some steady paced runs.

If you are just getting  back out running because of good weather finally arriving, give yourself 2-3 judgment free weeks.  Go easy on your distance and your pacing and don't expect more from yourself than your legs and body are ready to give.  Most importantly, do not beat yourself up for being behind.  You have a full running season ahead of you, there is plenty of time to be hard on yourself later.

I have some interesting things in the work (hopefully) for the next couple of weeks.  For this week, remember that opening day for the Syracuse Chiefs is Thursday at 2.  The weather forecast is promising, so if you can get out of work or have the day off and want to come out, let me know as I should be attending.

Lastly, TRY changes with the times and there are a lot of mothers on the fringe of the group.  So, think about parents with young children that may be interested in coming out and running (or walking?) with some like minded individuals. I think TRY is ready to have a sub-group of women with babies or toddlers in strollers.  I could use some help with the name though.  At this point, I've come up with:
Mothers In Line For Fitness (MILFFs)
or
Baby Recreational Exercising And Strolling Toddlers (BREASTs)

Can we do better?

New Arrivals

This week is the final "tune up" or "preseason" week as the first week of April typically marks the week we get more serious.  So, it's one last steady paced run, at the distance you feel is appropriate, which has been 3 or so miles for most people.  Next week it is back to the typical interval night.

The start of the regular season also marks the time when I emphasize reaching out to your friends who have expressed an interest in TRY (or running in general) and remind them that you are part of fun, politically incorrect, and FREE running group that doesn't even call itself a running group.  You could pay for a better group, but what is the point of that?

There is an "intro to TRY" post that I made a couple years ago that is available at the top right of the TRY blog page and the top right of the TRY Facebook page, so share that link with people that want to learn more about us.  (I am too lazy to check the links right now, so there is a good chance that 1 or 2 of them have been taken off of YouTube again...but they'll get the point.)  Here it is again, for those two lazy to look to the right.

The Syracuse Hyman (that is "half-marathon" for those of you insisting on insulting the distance) was this past weekend and I know that Berms, her roomate, Janna, and Katie Fitz all participated.  Anyone else brave the below average temperatures and take that unique route through the city?  Any of you that did it want to add your thoughts (on the TRY FB page) on what you thought of the course, since it is a unique one compared to the other area races.  (Thanks in advance.)

That's it for business.  Read on for "fun" stuff:

I got this news out individually to a lot of you, but since it's a big group with some people I don't know that well (yet), my news of the week is that child number two arrived on Thursday morning.  "David Arlon Widrick" was born at 8:04 (not a bad mile time for this time of year?!) and weighed in at 7-14, measuring 21.5 inches.  He's doing well so far and is definitely cut out for TRYing with his long skinny legs.  I knew he was a future TRYer when he did this...the same exact face that all of your make each Tuesday night.

Quarter Mile Intervals AGAIN?!!!  NOOOOOO!!!


So, he will definitely fit right in.

This article has almost nothing to do with running, but a few of you have ran there and most of you have or will go there, and at least one of you is a "believer".  Anyway, I found this intentionally humorous story about "6 Things Nobody Tells You About Working at Disney World" to be fascinating.  It is a quick read and I challenge any of you to read it not walk away having learning something, and without getting a bit surprised at the couple heartfelt moments along the way.  It will be hard to look at the character actors the same way.

Longtime TRYers know that I attempt to push local baseball on you a couple times a summer.  Well it's that time.  The Syracuse Chiefs opening day is next week - Thursday, April 3rd at 2:00 PM.  IF, it is spring like by then I plan to make an attempt to swing by and check it out.  The little ones may limit the amount of time I can stay, but let me know if you are interested in knowing about the plan and attending.

The Chiefs have turned over their management team and are attempting to rejuvenate the fan base.  So, they've reduced ticket prices, come up with crazy promotions throughout the summer and fun theme nights for every day of the week.  Here is their page with "10 Things To Know About the 2014 Chiefs".

The daily themes include "Two For Tuesdays" (after some TRY night this year?), "$1 Thursday" which features $1 hoffman hot dogs, sodas, and certain beers (opening day is a $1 day!), and "Fireworks Fridays" where EVERY Friday game is followed by fireworks.

Promotions include a "guaranteed win" on opening day or you get to come back to another game for free, "Deport Justin Bieber Night" (what?!) on April 4th, Star Wars Day (on Star Wars Day! I wonder if Joseph's Darth Vader costume will work for David?), and one that is getting all sorts of national attention - "Tattoo Night" on July 1st.  Read the details about about how you can get free GA tickets for the rest of your life, just by getting a free Chiefs tattoo.  Who's with me?!  Left cheek or right?  Probably the right so that when mooning someone it will read "OC"?  (For Onondaga County...)

I am very curious to see if all this effort will pay off?  Of course, all this effort and a late arrival of spring weather could lead to a loud thud in an empty stadium...at least in April.  I hope I am able to check out some of their fun days, perhaps Star Wars Day (after the Mountain Goat) will be a perfect day for a TRY field trip?  (Yoda is our mascot after all.)

Express your interest in all things Chiefs after the beep...

Changing Times and Dates and Spring Cleaning

The TRY pre-season continues tonight as scheduled.  Please do your best to arrive by 5:30 and we will start our run close to 5:35.  It is supposed to be a sunny day, which should make it feel warm enough for an enjoyable outing.

If you receive the Mountain Goat newsletter, than you should have read this already, but big changes have taken place in the training program.  I have updated the TRY google calendar accordingly.  (There are only 4 weeks, the start time has changed, and you have to pay $15 to participate.)  These changes make me sad as the training run program was the best thing about the Moutain Goat.  But, the update has been a long time coming, and quite honestly, we, as runners brought this upon ourselves.  The running etiquette displayed on a weekly basis was terrible.  I spoke up a few times and attempted to model good behavior, but I could have done more.  And if everyone who knew better had spoken up more, there is a very good chance that we could have kept a good thing going.  So, remember that the next time you see fellow runners running on the wrong side of the street or making poor choices when crossing streets.  Speak up!  You will be doing the running community a favor.

A place this directly applies to TRY - lets make a point to be extra diligent when running our "Faith Hill's" this year.  Up on the left.  Straight across at the top.  Then down on the left.  Thank you.

Another date change his year is the Liverpool Relay For Life.  After being on Fathers Day weekend for all the years I've paid attention, they have shifted it to the 30th of May this year.  Supposedly they wanted to change things up and I believe they also wanted to spread out the local events so not as many happen on the same night as other local ones.  (There was also a chance of a location change to a school track, but from what I can tell, that did not happen as everything I see has it at Longbranch Park again.)  From the LM team page, you can already see that Ron is off to a great start to his fundraising again.  That's just one of the reasons, we call him "Ron-again"

Lastly - a chance for some spring cleaning for the ladies of TRY:  Jill is helping out "40 Below" with a clothing drive for used women's professional clothing.  Have anything to donate?  Let Jill (or me) know and we can help to make sure it gets collected from you.  I'll end with Jill's email on the topic:

"Hi All, 

40 below is co-sponsoring a professional women's clothing drive in April. In addition to donating clothes, they also need people to volunteer at the WISE Symposium on April 8th between the hours of 8 and 5pm to organize the clothes. It looks like a pretty awesome event, so if you have never been, this might be a good opportunity. 

Let me know if you are interested in volunteering (see details below)! 

If I will see you before this time I am also willing to take some of your donations, but I probably won't be able to come around get them from everyone. 

Thanks! Jill 

Here is some additional details 40 Below put out:

Tuesday, April 8, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. –Clothing Drive at the WISE Symposium, Oncenter

CETF and CPS and Professionals Incorporated are teaming up with WISE to collect new and gently used women’s professional clothing for the Women’s Opportunity Center. Donations will be collected at the WISE Symposium on April 8th at the OnCenter. Volunteers are needed to staff the clothing collection from 8 am to 5 pm the day of the Symposium. Clothing will be sorted, hung, and organized by size right at the Symposium so that the clothing may be delivered after the event. 

If you are interested in donating an hour or more during the event or to include your company’s participation in this clothing drive please contact Jill Tibbett at jill.a.tibbett@gmail.com  to volunteer. 

The clothing drive is accepting skirt and pant suits, blazers, slacks, blouses, purses, scarves, belts, shoes and jewelry. Small and plus sizes are urgently needed, yet all sizes are welcome! Please, no open toed shoes. Neutral colors preferred. To coordinate pickups or deliveries from April 1-15thplease contact Suzanne Benderski from CPS and Professionals, Inc. @ sbenderski@cpsprofessionals.com or 315.457.2500315.457.2500."

TRY Pre-season 2014

With the time change, there is now plenty of light to start meeting up for TRY at 5:30 on Tuesdays.  For this week, and the next two weeks after, we will be in "pre-season" mode which means no speed work is recommended.  People who have maintained their running through the winter are welcome to do a harder run.  For me and other slackers, the three weeks will allow us to ramp up for tougher workouts starting on April 1st.  (And that is no joke!)

It's the pre-season, so I'll keep my ramblings short:
The TRY calendar is partially updated.  The key date in March is the 22nd, as that is the day that registration starts for the Boilermaker (at noon) and also is the first Mountain Goat training run (run starts at 8, but you should be there earlier to register the first time).

Here is a short article about "How to Train With a Running Group".  It's worth the read for everyone.  (Experienced TRYers should read it so that they can help newbies out and keep them from making the mistakes mentioned.)  It mentions being accountable, wise, flexible, and finishes with this golden nugget: "Running with a group is a wonderful way to meet other runners, give yourself extra accountability, and boost your performances. Just make sure you're running within your ability level and aren't pushed too fast (or too slow)"

For those looking for strengthening exercises, here are nine you can do with your body weight.  (A couple need a pull-up bar and one a jump rope.)

See (some of) you tomorrow night.