Hi Y’all!
It’s here, it’s here, it’s here…the start of the season. Not sure how we managed to sneak this in a week earlier this year, but we did it. So what a bargain you’re getting – 27 WEEKS OF FUN! WELCOME and WELCOME BACK! I said this last year, but I gotta say it again….it’s crazy how many new folks are joining us this year! I keep thinking all of the runners on the planet have already joined, then I open my inbox. So, so, so exciting.
We are still having some deliverability issues with the email…and still have some work to do on that. So I apologize in advance for you having to endure the troubleshooting part if you aren’t having any problems. I will be sending this out from my personal email as well, so again…sorry for the duplication. No need to reply that you received, I know we will hear from those that are NOT receiving wondering what in the heck is going on. If you know someone that is having a problem, please be a dear and forward this to them. I don’t want anyone to miss out on info for Saturday.
What’s gonna happen on Saturday?
This Saturday, July 8, is our Official Season Kick-off. We will meet at Turner High School track ( 4717 Bailey Road Pearland, TX 77584 ) at 6:00AM. O’dark thirty will come often, but that sun is way too hot if we meet later. We will do a brief introduction to PARR and what to expect {and not expect} this season. And by brief, I don’t mean brief at all.
We will then break the group into three groups depending on what you THINK your Magic Mile Pace will be (12:00+, 9:30 – 12:00 and under 9:30), so be thinking about that. It’s totally okay if your prediction is off, we just need to get three somewhat even groups and always better to be close to your pace! (Not sure what a Magic Mile is?…read below). Then we’ll have three rounds with a group either running, cheering or warming up. Your time will be the time it takes you to complete your 4 laps around the track (not your pace on your watch…don’t get me started on GPS inaccuracy this early in the season 🙂 ) Once you complete your mile, you will find someone with a clipboard and they will capture your time. I’ll go over all of this on again Saturday, but wanted you to have an idea of how this will go down! Will be a little chaotic…but gives us all a chance to meet all the people we will be spending the next TWENTY SEVEN weeks with!
There will not be any “Official” additional running Saturday, but I know y’all and I know some of you will run the second I stop talking.
What is the Magic Mile and why do we need to run it?
The Magic Mile is a mile at YOUR fastest pace. Whether it’s 50:00 or 5:00…IT’S YOUR PACE. It isn’t the most fun thing you will do in your life, or even this season. Some might even say it’s is one of their least favorite things. I might be one of them.
I asked my new favorite runner to give some of his own words on the Magic Mile, and this is what Laurence Tien said: For those who have not run the Magic Mile, we would encourage for you to run it so you have a training benchmark for the rest of the season. I realize some of you have fear/anxiety over this MM for certain reasons or you’ve never run one. The Magic Mile is important for several reasons. The magic mile is primarily used to allow us to put you in proper pace group so you can train with others who run similar pace. The magic mile is also used as a guide for you to know your proper pace that may be reference on the training schedule. Finally and probably the most important reason for the magic mile is for injury prevention. All of this training is wasted if you get injured and have to miss your “A” race. If you train throughout the season using your proper pace, you’re more likely to achieve your goal and avoid injury. If you train at the wrong pace or maybe training at a pace that is too fast, you are more likely to get injured.
(HINT: See all those words he wrote…we’re in for a treat this season, y’all!)
Can’t be there Saturday?
No problem. Don’t sweat it. IT IS SUMMER. We’ll be meeting at the track for the next few weeks, so you can come do on any of those Saturdays. If you need to do on your own, that’s fine too. The track is the best place to do this because the GPS watches are always a little off. So if you do on your own, time your FOUR laps around the track, not when your mile notification goes off. Once you do that, you’ll let us know your time.
Groups
We have people training for both the Full and Half Marathon…and FOUR different pace groups within those groups. So we will be compiling everyone’s Magic Mile times and getting everyone placed in a group over the next several weeks. You are certainly not required to stay in your group…we all like to run with our friends, so if you want to change groups, that’s okay too. We just like to know who is in which group so we don’t lose track of you. We will have group leaders and they like to know who is in their groups too! If you’re a solo runner, that’s fine too…we won’t bother you (too much).
Schedules
The schedules will be posted by Sunday. Just know that for the next 6 weeks or more, we will be meeting at Turner track for some fun. The schedule is always overwhelming, so just focus on this week. We will be explaining as we go, so don’t let all the jargon get in the way of your training.
Attendance
Do not worry, we do not take attendance. We don’t even require you to come to one single run. That is up to you. We just create the opportunities for you TO RUN. We will encourage the heck out of you to do so…but in the end, you need to make that decision each Saturday.
Facebook Group
If you’re on Facebook, please request to join our group for current members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/246625075376797/ If you’ve requested and didn’t get added, please reply to me and I’ll get you added. We get people that aren’t members every day requesting to join…and sometimes we miss an actual member! There’s lots of good discussion and even better coordination of weekday runs, or off-day long runs! If you are not on Facebook and want to get connected to a training group that meets during the week, let me know and I’ll get you in touch with those folks.
Got Shirts?
WE LOVE OUR SHIRTS. Something about that orange on race day gets us all fired up. We will be taking shirt orders soon…and I’ll let you know as soon as that is ready for you to place your orders. But until then, hold tight.
Now what?
You can expect to hear from us by Friday morning each week with a plan for Saturday’s runs (start time, routes, any special instructions and any other little good stuff we think you might think you need. So if you haven’t heard from anything by Friday afternoon, please bug. Just know that we will be running early on Saturdays, that won’t change! We always try to be finished by 7:30 or 8:00AM…but as the distance gets longer that’s more difficult to do. AND…we will be meeting at Turner through the end of August for HILL WORK, so if that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will 🙂
Didn’t Renew? Last email, I promise…and then you’re free to go
We will be clearing out the memberships and Faceboook Group this week – if you are unable to access this page: https://goparr.com/welcome-to-parr/ – that means you’re access will be removed and you need to register: https://goparr.com/register/parr-membership-2017-2018/
That’s all for now. We’ll be updating the website as we go and I’ll send emails with additional information as it comes up. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions – my email and my cell are below for you.
See all your smiling, running faces on Saturday at 6:00AM at Turner!
Aimee Galley
Pearland Area Road Runners
aimee.galley2@gmail.com
cell 281-728-4848