A Doggy Day?

Is this finally a "dog day" of August? It is going to be the hottest day for quite a while and perhaps the last hot day of the summer? We'll see how bad it feels at the park and can reign in the workouts accordingly.

Remember, for those of you who can attend, Jill has offered up her place just a couple minutes away for tonight's post run hangout. She is providing grill-ables but asks that you  provide your own adult beverages if you want them. (There are places right in the village to buy some if need be.)

Some major TRY love was in the air this past weekend. No, I don't mean Sue's love of Transformers movies or Berm's love of all things Disney! (Not that both of those are not still burning brightly.) I mean our own quick-courting Corey Finch tied the knot and made one woman's day (and life) while breaking so many others hearts. (You could be a Tug Boat Captain on all the tears of joy and sadness that were shed that day, but Corey-badger, true to his name, did not give a shit.)



Corey, thanks for inviting so many TRYers and allowing us to share in your special day. The ceremony was lovely and the reception was a truly great time. The conclusion is that TRYers can look half-way decent when they choose to:

Switching gears to some edumacational stuff:

Duerr, in basically the most hawkward way possible, is now going to call Malinda his gazelle. (If he starts rubbing her hair ties on his upper lip and asking about her ovulation cycle, I'm drawing the line!) But, short of that, read this interesting story on why having a female running partner is very good for a guy. (It was obvious you ladies always made us look better, but who knew you actually increased our performance?)

Speaking of ladies and better performance, ladies stop wearing bras! Oops, that is, stop wearing bras two days in a row if you want them to last longer and decrease the chances of prolonged discomfort for you. You're welcome ladies! (Management here at TRY really does care a lot about your perktastic-pink-nosed-puppies!)

Yeah, it's going to be hard to top that piece of alliteration, like ever, so I should probably stop while that is fresh on everyone's minds.

TRY Night at the Fair 2014

The "summer that wasn't" is almost over and it's time for the Great New York State Fair and one of our silly TRY traditions. This blog entry explains that, another upcoming social night, plus even has something related to running in it. I promise!

But first - on what is looking to be a nice, but perhaps too hot for what we are used to, night for TRY, we'll meet up and pick our running plans and get another run night in the books.

Looking ahead - next Tuesday (the 26th) Jill has graciously offered up her deck and backyard to us for a post-run cookout. She is located just a couple turns away from the park in downtown Liverpool and wants any TRYer that would like to, to come on over and hang out for a while after next weeks run. She'll provide the grill-ables but asks for you to provide your own beverages - especially of the adult variety. (This will be held rain or shine and to get some idea of how many to expect, please let me know if you will probably be able to attend.) Thanks in advance, Jill!

TRY Night at the Fair - One of our random, having nothing to do with running, traditions is to get any willing TRYers to meet up at the fair on a night with a good free concert. Last year we all enjoyed (well, almost all enjoyed) listening to "Hey There Delilah" as we ate our ice cream or hot beef sundaes. This year, the night picked out is Thursday (the 21st) to go along with a free concert by the Barenaked Ladies. Get an advanced sale ticket while you still can, show up for the fair whenever you can and then use your cell phone to meet-up starting around 5 or 5:30. We usually get a little food, get a little drink, hope we are people watching people more than they are people watching us and then end up near enough to hear most of the free concert. Let me know if you plan to be there or especially if you need my phone number to help find the group once you arrive. It's random but lends itself to an entertaining evening.

Here is 2/3 of the group last year. The Shukkers cost money:


but the cob nibbling, photo bombing and twerking are free:



Before I give you some more information about "BNL", here is the part about running. Well, recovery. And finally a recovery or training plan that I can fully get behind: "The Single Best Way to Recover..." is by sleeping more! Yes! Finally something I'm good at. Although this should mean that I am the most recovered athlete out there. Read the link for the details and decide for yourself.

Now a little more about Barenaked Ladies that I wanted to find out for myself so figured I should share as well:
Canadian Rock Band known for "One Week", "The Old Apartment", "Pinch Me", "If I Had $1000000", "Brian Wilson"; as well as the theme for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. They are also known for their light-hearted, comedic performance style, and humorous banter between songs and improvised raps/songs are staples at nearly every concert.

They've been around since 1988 and one of the co-founders left in 2009. Sales of over 15 million records. Their name was a fictionalized band name that they came up with joking around but it is what they used from the start.

One week is their only US #1 and the only one that has come even close. Pinch Me is the next highest reaching 15. If I had a $1000000 never charted in the US and only made 13 in Canada. It shows that you can end up with several well known songs without being a chart topping band.

Would they be considered a one hit wonder? Doesn't seem like it but then again, we maybe heard about them a lot more around Syracuse because they were from "nearby" Ontario. (Basically they are from Toronto.)

Anyway, now I know a bit more about Barenaked Ladies and despite never loving their music, do think that it should make for a free concert that is well worth the price of the concert. ;-)

Calling In Sick

A weak constitution and a couple of babies in the household is not a good combination for me. I've thrown up more in the last two years than I did in the last three years before that! I cannot be sure how, but the boys got to me again and I've had a bad day and a half tummy-wise. I do plan on getting soaked tonight at TRY but it will be just a constant paced jog for me. See you weather agnostic folks tonight.

Too Many Races

Today we return to an uncertain weather forecast and may be dodging rain this afternoon. I hope you enjoyed the one week reprieve last week. I'll attempt 1/2 mile intervals tonight for the several of us who did 1/4 miles last week. For others, split up as appropriate.

While voluncheering at the "Mad Cow 5K" on Saturday morning, the organizer lamented the competing race in Manlius that same morning. That other race was the "Manlius Mile and Bryan's 'Grizzly' 5K" which I know was started a few years ago in memory of a young man who had died. I don't think they always overlap, but the way the weekends fell they did this year. It has to be frustrating for small races to do everything they can to build a following only to have other races crop up that draw people away. Perhaps there is still enough to go around but naively it does seem we're close to a saturation point locally? Especially with the the non-local race organizers now targeting Syracuse with their gimmick runs that are so well attended even though they typically cost twice what a local event does. I suppose with all the choices, it's a great time to be a runner? But, I do feel bad for the organizers whose audience keeps getting watered down. (At what point do small race organizers realize it would be wiser to pool their resources and their time and do meta-events that combine their causes and split the proceeds? That is probably a tough step because you lose the uniqueness of your event and your preferred location...so it may be years before the combining starts?)

Personally, the Mad Cow event was a big success. There are several more cow hats and cow bells in the local community and I was able to donate a cool $60 to the cause - which was great for a couple hours of effort. :-)

Here is the little sheriff with the sales table in the background (you have to squint to see it):


And a shot of three-fourths of the sales team with the event mascot again:


This Friday night is the Lockheed Martin Family Night at the Syracuse Chiefs. I haven't heard back from anyone but I assume some of you want to attend like most years? It's free and there are post-game fireworks. Do I have to make a Facebook event to get peoples attention? (I may do that to help organize the very informal gathering we do.) The Chiefs are fighting for first place in their division and have 3 of the Washington Nationals top prospects playing for them. One of which was just called up last night and gives them two future major league outfielders playing for them right now. Both are "only" 23 so are doing very well for themselves to be playing at AAA right now. The good pitching prospect just started last night so we'll miss him by a couple games. As usual, there are a couple of former major leaguers hanging on to their playing years kicking around. Including at least one guy who has a world series ring from several years back now with my cherished Phillies. (From 2008.)

I think that's it for this week - I need more guest writers!