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.

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.