Newsletter Volume 596 - January 30, 2012
News and Views for the CNY Running & Walking Community
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As January prepares to make an exit, it seems like winter has hardly paid us a visit. The photo you are looking at was taken Sunday at the Chilly-Chili Run in Cazenovia. Runners were seen in shorts, singlets and other spring type clothing, certainly not typical January gear.
I don’t know about you, but the memory of last winter is still with me. Yesterday while out walking our two dogs Queen Maxine and King Elvis I came up our driveway and it hit me, last year on this same walk, I was looking at a mountain of snow at the end of my driveway.
I grabbed my phone from inside the house and took a 2012 photo of the end of my driveway to compare to 2011.
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End of my driveway 2012 |
same spot in 2011 |
Hard to believe it is the same spot. I think my back is still sore from trying to shovel snow over the top of that snow bank that was a good 5-6 foot high.
Because I am so fond of taking photos, yesterday afternoon I took a photo of my backyard, just to prove to my out of town friends that winter here in Central New York is not that bad.
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Backyard at 9 AM Sunday |
But as we all know, things change fast and last night around 10 PM a front moved in and snow started to fall on in our area once again. So in the morning, as I looked out my window, I saw a different view of my backyard.
 Backyard at 9 AM Monday |
In the hills of Pompey, we received a light 2-3 inches of snow, enough to send cities like Washington, DC, Philadelphia or Richmond into a full out panic to buy bread and milk form the grocery store. Here it was greeted with a shrug, not even a delay in school. Our neighbors to the north in Cicero, Baldwinsville and Clay received much more, but Fulton takes the award for most snow this time around with 35 inches in less than 12 hours.
In 2012, the calendar is like money in the bank. We have January under our belt and the countdown to Valentine’s Day has begun. In my mind, Valentine’s Day has always been the unofficial start of winter home stretch.
Still, the recent snow will give all of us a chance to try out the snow shoes, hit the slopes and try out that new shovel or snow blower that have been getting quite lonely in the garage.
It wouldn’t be home without a little bit of snow.
Long time running stand out, teacher and running coach, Brian Dodge of Fulton died unexpectedly at his home on Sunday, he was 58 years old.
Originally from Utica, Brian has been a mainstay in the CNY running community, competing for both the Syracuse Chargers and The Genesee Valley Harriers.
Although he was truly an exceptional runner and fierce competitor, those who knew him are united in saying he was an even better person.
Kevin Hanlon of Manlius sent this account of meeting Brian for the first time:
15 years ago in the late 90’s when I turned 40 and became a Masters runner, I decided to enter my first Cross Country race in over 20 years. I drove up to SUNY Oswego alone and went to sign in. There in line was a guy I did not know signing up behind me. He said “Hi, my name is Brian Dodge, have you run up here before?” I said no and after we finished the sign up/waiver he offered to show me the course as part of a warm up. I thought to myself, what a hell of a guy to reach out to a complete stranger to show them the ropes. We ran part of the course and he showed me what I needed to know. It made for a great day as I wasn’t “alone” there at Oswego.
Actually during the race we were pretty close to each other the whole run. Brian pulled ahead at the end and I congratulated him on a great finishing 800m/burst.
From that day on I would run into Brian all over the upstate NY region and at any race 5K, 10K, at any location Brian would always go out of his way to say hello,,,how are you doing?
Front L-R Mark Rybinski, Dave Bowen, Gary Radford and Brian Dodge
Back L-R Carol Dodge and Phyllis Radford
Brian had an outstanding running year in 2011 and was a big contributor to the GVH Vets winning the USATF National Masters Grand Prix Series Championship title.
Surviving Brian is his wife Carol and their daughter Brianne.
Calling hours will be held this Thursday from 4-7pm at Fosters Funeral Home, 910 Fay St. Fulton.
A Funeral Mass will be held this Friday at 11:30am at Holy Trinity Church, 309 Buffalo St. Fulton NY.
In our last newsletter we continued challenging you, our loyal customers, to help us reach our social media goal. In less than a week, you all came out in droves to help us reach our milestone of 2,500 likes on facebook.
There were many active users within the past couple of weeks, but none more than Mary Ann Pierce! Mary Ann has won a free pair of Nike running shoes for being our most recently active user.
Our next goal is 2,750 likes on facebook, which at this pace, we can reach in just a couple of weeks. We are currently up to 1,023 twitter followers and are only about 200 away from our next goal of 1,250!
Continue being active on our social media sites because the more active you are the better the chance you have at winning a prize. Keep share our page with your friends, family, coworkers, and everyone you know to help us reach our next goal.
February is American Heart Month. Check our website and facebook page throughout February for ways to keep your heart healthy, including weekly heart healthy recipes, provided by our own personal nutrition expert Kathryn Szklany.
Also, be sure to visit our Facebook page this Friday, Feb. 3rd--NATIONAL WEAR RED DAY!--to find out about a special promotion!
Continue supporting heart awareness month all February long, check back with us next week for great savings for your heart!
Share Your Love Clothing Drive Whether you enjoyed this mild winter running outdoors or moved your winter work outs to the gym, spring is just around the corner and it’s time to weed through the active wear you no longer use.
Throughout the month of February, Fleet Feet Sports will be collecting gently used active wear to donate to the Elmcrest Children’s Center during our Share Your Love Clothing Drive.
Recently, the Elmcrest Children’s Center began a running program for their female residents. Help us support the “Mighty Milers” by getting them in the right gear to make their runs more enjoyable. We are looking for gently used running gear for both girls and boys ages 13-18, including shorts, tights, pants, tech-shirts, long-sleeves, hats and gloves. All donations can be dropped off to the store during regular business hours.
Receive a $5 off coupon for any purchase of $50 or more when dropping off your donations and Share Your Love throughout February.
By Ben Rabin
Preparation–Ha!
I was pretty care-free when I was young. But, compared to my friends, I always seemed to be a little more prepared, or brought a few more things, or planned a little bit better than they did.
As I grew older, this trait continued until I had kids, when it blossomed into ridiculousness. Now, I am like a neurotic Boy Scout – always over-prepared. I seem to, at all times, have at least one backpack full of stuff, and when the question “dad can I have?” inevitably comes up, the answer is always “yeah, I got that.” Bottled water, band-aids, fruit snacks, electronic devices, extra clothes, porcupine, Windex, somehow I manage to always have it all.
Strangely, I am utterly unprepared for my races. I cannot figure out why. Maybe because the race is not quite real life, maybe all of my preparation and planning time gets replaced by work and family requirements, maybe it is a subconscious plot to give me an excuse for my poor times? Who knows? But boy am I a mess on race day.
Why am I telling you this? Because you should not make the same mistakes as I have. My lack of preparation is pathetic. And, the results, some of which I will share with you, may encourage you to do a little better job than I have.
My first triathlon was somewhat unexpected. Well, that is not entirely true. I signed up for it months ahead of time. But, I did not expect to actually be doing it. And when it got close, I was just going to do it on my mountain bike. Everyone said I would be frustrated as people whizzed by me, so I ended up borrowing a road bike from a neighbor (thanks ED!). Since my pervious road bike was a Schwinn 10 speed from 1978, the two whole rides I took before the race probably weren’t quite enough to completely get used to the bike. And boy they were right! Everyone said I needed a wet suit, so I borrowed one of those too. The whole recommendation about figuring out where it might rub and using Body Glide, yeah, that’s legitimate. I don’t know how many layers of skin you can go through before actually exposing your skeleton, but I am pretty sure I was close by the end of the swim.
Bottom line: Get something other than a scuba suit, and figure out where it rubs BEFORE the race!
The tri transition is not as easy as those videos make them out to be. For my first race, I actually intended to practice. I got my bike out in the front lawn, got a bucket full of transition stuff, was ready for the kids to spray me down with the hose so that I could simulate being in a wet-wet suit, but then there was a motorcycle ride and it sounded like a lot of fun. So, I went on the “Friday Fun Run” with my motorcycle buddies and got home way too late to practice the transition. So, what happened? Out of approximately 600 people in the triathlon, my T1 and T2 times were approximately 600th.
Bottom line: Do a practice transition BEFORE the race!
Simply assuming you will remember where you your put bike will not cut it. My first triathlon, I had a plan: I parked the bike and assumed that I would be so much slower than everyone else that when I got out of the water, there would be one bike left: mine. Unfortunately I hadn’t yet learned anything about conserving energy, (now I understand but ignore that idea) and I swam my butt off, and came out of the water in front of some people. Elated to have beaten someone I dashed over to the sea of bicycles only to realize that I had absolutely no idea where mine was.
Bottom line: figure out where your bike is BEFORE coming out of the water!
I found out in my first triathlon that I get a little dizzy after swimming. So, to my second triathlon I brought a bucket to sit on while I put on my biking shoes. Did I practice or prepare? No. What was the result? I used a bucket that was not nearly strong enough to hold me so when I sat down to put on my shoes, the bucket slowly collapsed under my weight, sending me tumbling to the concrete transition area. Embarrassed, I jumped up and immediately began to put on my shoe while hopping around on one foot, which does not work when you are dizzy, and fell over the other way.
Bottom line: if you use ANY kind of equipment, test is BEFORE the race!
My philosophy on learning the course, I figure I am not going to be first, so there always be people ahead of me that must know the course and I can simply follow them. But, I learned that is not enough. The CAZ Olympic Triathlon starts with a swim from shore back to shore. That much I knew. So, I simply went out with my wave, followed some, lead some, but was very comfortable that I knew exactly where I was going. I mean, you can see the shore the entire time. So, when we rounded the last buoy and headed back towards our bikes, I kicked it, and hard. I was passing people left and right. As we got closer to the shore, I popped up and looked around and realized that I was alone. Why? The CAZ Olympic Triathlon swim portion is TWO loops. Everyone else took a right turn for the second loop, and I was going straight to the shore, at full speed, now really, really tired.
Bottom line: actually learn the course BEFORE the race!
High tech racing clothes, they work!! And, I’ve always had them right or so I thought, until my wife told me how stupid I looked at the Skinny Man last year wearing orange, red, black, green, and blue.
Bottom line: make sure your clothes don’t clash!
I could go on and on, but then I would just be confirming that I did not prepare enough to say what I needed to say on one page or less. So I’ll just stop here!
PS: The answer, as always, is DUCT TAPE!!!
Ben Rabin is a Lawyer who represents those who have been involved in motorcycle, bicycle, running, ATV, Jet Ski, Auto or other accidents. Contact him at 315-448-2453 or http://www.rabinlawfirm.com/.
Saturday February 4
Free Fleet Feet Snowshoe Running Program- Sunnycrest Park Syracuse-8:30 AM
STC Super Couch Potato 5k Packet Pick Up- 10 AM to 1 PM Fleet Feet Sports
Lab Fest 5k and Relay Snow Shoe Race- App - Labrador Mountain
Sunday January 29
Cold Feet Run, Presented by Mizuno- 8:30 AM Fleet Feet Sports-Various Distances
STC Super Couch Potato 5k –Onondaga Lake Park
Mid-Winter Blues Run 5k- Beaver Lake Nature Center
High School Running SceneBy Adam Luban
Sickness can derail a lot of athletes during the winter months. Between the occasional cough or full-blown flu, runners’ bodies can get beat up by illness.
This forces you to take time off from running to rest or recover. It’s important not to forget about the mental aspects of being sick. Being stuck in bed or on the couch can give anyone cabin fever pretty quickly. I actually think that being just sick enough to have to rest from running can be worse than being really sick. Why is this? If I’m only kind of sick, I still want to be running. Despite the fact that I know I need to rest to allow my body to recover, I would rather be out running than wasting time on the couch.
This past week, I was off from school and was looking forward to a big week of training. Out of nowhere, I started coughing and ended up feeling pretty sick. I was still hoping I could run, but ended up resting instead. I felt bad about missing my runs and knowing there would be gaps in my training log where my runs normally would be.
Every so often, I would feel like I could run, get up to change, and then feel even sicker. By the weekend, I was healthy again and back to training. I had pushed through the problems of winter sickness- both physical and mental.
To stay connected to the running world, I like to watch a running movie or two. Chariots of Fire or Prefontaine can always make me feel better about running when I can’t actually run.
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