Thursday, June 24, 2010

Somebody is having a BIRTHDAY today!!!!!


Wish her the bestest of the best birthdays. And bring CAKE!!!!

Dom-N-8-RZ Instruction Manual (read carefully!)

When: Saturday, June 26, 2010 6:45 AM-8:30 AM (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
Where: Veteran's Park (21st & Boulder)

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Hey Dom-N-8-RZ, I hope that all you 'Noes and 'Nettes have had a great week, and that everyone has successfully rinsed the last salt streaked crusty remnants from last weeks inaugural 2010 Summer/Fall Runners World Marathon Training Run. It's a little too early to start counting down the weeks until our "Fall porton" of the training, but it wouldn't be out of order to wish for periodic breaks in our current inferno - anytime on Friday night or early Saturday morning would be just fine, thank you very much. Here's hoping that Week 2 doesn't literally leave us "weak too".

Before going any further, it's time to answer a question from an especially alert, shockingly upright, and newly minted fellow 'Noe:
Larry asks: So, Larry, we all really appreciate receiving the weakly arguably informative-ish emails alerting us on when and where we are running, but is it necessary that we receive the notice 15 or so times within a matter of a couple of days, and further that there has to be so much confusion and misinformation on where we're supposed to meet?
Larry answers: Thanks for the great question, and we further appreciate you maintaining your cool and not going all heat stroke on us, particularly recognizing your rather steamy past. Being direct, honest, and irresponsive to your question, I must disclose that one of our nameless, soccer lovin', potatoe cravin', pub trawlin' co-run leaders came to the obviously flawed conclusion that the Dom-N-8-RZ were a little on the "slow side", and that we would need to spit out the same info multiple times in order to get it to sink in. I may have slightly mixed up some of the minor and insignificant details, but you can be assured that the gist of the answer is pretty much as I choose to remember and recreate the story.

So, speaking of Irish Ken, he, Patty, and I hereby vow to do our best to provide you with reasonably believable answers to any running related questions that you come up with as we continue our Marathon training adventure. We take our inspiration from RW's zenmaster, AKA "Pretty Boy" Brian, who has never allowed his obvious lack of knowledge on a subject hinder his ability to provide a misguided response. Our one condition to providing such pseudo valuable and absolutely free advice, which I'm sure everyone can readily appreciate, is that you must reciprocally vow to never check the accuracy nor the applicability of our responses. Getting alignment over these basic and reasonable rules early on will go a long ways towards ensuring that we can collectively agree that run leaders advice and helpful comments enjoy the extensive legal protection and full indemnification that they so clearly deserve.

Which brings us to this Saturday's 8 mile training run. Our route will generally follow most of last week's route, which will be beneficial unless you somehow underachieved in navigating last Saturday. To get the extra mile, we will follow the MidLand Valley Trail to 15th Street (versus 18th) before looping back to Veteran's Park. We are scheduled to report again at 6:45 AM 'ish, so plan on getting there a few minutes early to secure those prime parking spaces and to get front row seats to fully inhale Brian's words of wisdom.

Also, the running trail still has plenty of open space that we need to fill, so encourage your current friends and future adversaries to join us, test run us, and kick the soles (basically anything that doesn't involve checking the oil level) for a no obligation, minimally harassing experience. This is the "Run now, Join Later" plan. Once again, rumors of prizes to whoever brings the most guests were vividly imagined. For those who have signed up but missed last week, come on out on Saturday, and rest assured that there were very few bite marks reported from last week's run (technically, there were very few reports from before the run).

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

RW drivelings

Wow!! Last Saturday. 11.5% of the population of Tulsa was at Veteran's Park to run with RW. Ok, maybe that is a bit of an overestimate, but there were a bunch out for the first Saturday long run in the session for the fall marathons. Fall weather.....sigh....

One of the coolest things about a new session is seeing all the new groups and the clever names and creative signs. Hope I did not miss anyone. If I did, look me up next time and I'll do a photo-shoot.

Dr. Z lead the morning stretching. He volunteers his time to do this, and even works with sweaty smelly runners after the run. What a guy!
Saturday's run, was nice and warm. Sweat glands were in fine form, and water was a precious commodity. Twas a bit of a line at the drinking fountain near 11th Street. But by the time the "Herd of Turtles reached the pedestrian bridge, the crowd had thinned out.Ahh....the refreshing waters of the mighty Arkansas!

Another thing of note: the bunny slippers were passed this last week from Larry (who we thought had lost, pawned, or possible eaten them) to Derek. It will be interesting to see what adventures Derek has with our beloved house shoes this week.Notice how Larry seems to be praying--possibly asking the Lord for forgiveness for the sins committed against the blue fuzzy flip flops.

Have a great week everyone and stay cool.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

FROM THE MIND OF LARRYSome of you have already enrolled for the 2010 Runners World Summer/Fall Marathon Training Session, but many have not. Just to make sure that life isn’t speeding by too quickly, I wanted to let the old gang know that we formally start the next training session this Saturday, June 19th, 6:45 AM, at Veteran’s Park (21st and Boulder).

Ideally, the great folks at Runners World, as well as Brian Hoover, would love to have you enroll (link below) to make sure that they send you all the newsletters, emails, and other friendly running related stuff. Slightly below that ideal, the next best option is to come on out and do some bandit running with us, preserving your incognito witness protection profile. A little further down, is that if you can’t or won’t join us, then please help spread the word to friends and foes about the FREE Marathon (or other distances of your choosing) training and encourage them to give us a no obligation tryout. Worst case would be if you don’t come out at all nor tell anyone else about this wonderful opportunity to be hazed, harassed, and periodically encouraged to join with others in pushing back on the aging process through increased cardio and strength fitness.

Remember, all levels, all speeds, and all distances are welcome to join us. We have runners who range from just getting started (walk a lot) to experienced marathoners who are pushing for new personal records.

If you can’t make it this Saturday, then join us next week or the one after that, as it shouldn’t be too tough to catch up in mileage during the first few weeks. On Saturday, our pace groups will be ranging from 3 to 7 mile distances, with paces ranging from under 8 to over 15 minutes per mile. Basically, something for everyone.

So, since you’re going to get up anyway on Saturday, go ahead and schedule an hour or so and join us for our Kick Off training run at 6:45 AM. You bring the shoes, and some semblance of running attire, and hook up with us for some high kickin’ times. When you get there, ask for anyone other than Brian, and they’ll be glad to help you get with the right group. We’ll be the ones in running shorts, just so you’ll know who to look for.

RW Enrollment Form:

http://tatur.org/TrainingGroupFall-2010-v2.pdf


Larry

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Hot times, summer in the city....

Spring is in the air. YEAH RIGHT!! It's friggin summertime hanging heavy in the hazy horizon. (Hows that for alliteration?) Muggy temps make for tedious runs. Why not just stay home and bag it? Maybe it will be cooler tomorrow. In fact, maybe July will be lows in the 50s and highs in the low 70s with a slight north breeze....GET REAL!!
Tuesday night, in the shade of Helmerich Park, our gang met for a nice evening run. Nobody overheated, everybody perspired, and we got a session of running done proving that what does not kill us only makes us stronger (smelling?) Most ran 3-4 miles. In the heat, it's perfectly ok to run much easier. Not that there is a law against doing intervals or fartleks. Tatur Dave took off his shoes and did sprints in the sand down by the volleyball pits for 20 minutes. Barefoot. (Brainless?) He got a good workout in, and took care of that nasty callous on his big toe in the process.Sorry, no toe-hamburger pix.

Brian and Roman cool down after their run.

RockStar Eddie and Tom take a different approach to the cool-down.

Coach Kathy looks like she hasn't even broke a sweat. WOW!

Derek strikes a "ham" pose for the paparazzi while Laurie fights off a sneeze.

Susan shows off her bling captured from the Boomtown half. Nice medal, nice tech shirt, nice hat. I need to put this race on my calender for next year!

Laurie logged another run in the warm temps. Laurie has a blog, linked to the RW blog, that is insightful and though provoking. Running in the heat has been a challenge for her--but it is for everyone. Running when it's in the 90s or hotter puts you miles ahead of the folks who never venture out the door to push themselves. I am impressed with her tenacity and her honesty in her blogposts.

After the run, the group leaders made their way to Mazzios for a meeting to discuss the fall marathon training session. Coach Kathy lays it all on the line. This session looks like it will be better than ever, with our groups becoming more specialized, and with more newcomers than ever.

It was a great day with friends. We hung out, we ate together. Good times. No one seemed to suffer any ill effects....except maybe for Larry?

Monday, June 14, 2010

We will miss you, Ronit!

Just a quick note to share a new blog that one of our runners has created. Ronit will soon be leaving us to go into the mission field, helping translate the bible into other languages in parts of the world where the bible is not even available. She has started a blog that will chronicle her journey. The link will also be in the list of blogs to the left. We will miss her smiling face and cheerful personality, and wish her the absolute best in all she does. At the time of this writing, Ronit is not quite halfway through Free Wheel, in Heavener Oklahoma hopefully dodging the severe storms pelting the state. Since joining our group a couple of years ago, she has done well at everything she has set her mind to do, including reeling off theree marathons in a span of about six weeks, earning her Marathon Maniac status. Be sure to congratulate her, wish her well and hug her neck the next time you see her.