Hi Y’all,

It’s Aimee Galley! We are sharing the love, I mean email duties, this season…so you’ll get a little different voice each week.

I hope everyone is surviving this dreadful humidity and getting their runs in! Every workout is no joke and will make November feel like you’re FLYING. Wait for it.

Just remember that we’re still working on our endurance and building up time minutes and the miles, where we’re trying to build your base to get your feet, legs and body used to the increased mileage. Listen to your body and take days off if you need them. We have a lot of training ahead of us, so don’t worry about missing a run (or a week) here or there. YOU WON’T MISS A BEAT.

Also I wanted to re-mention, there is a {relatively} large contingency of folks that are running a fall marathon – Light the End of the Tunnel, Chicago, New York, Marine Corp, Berlin, Australia and beyond. Don’t let their schedule play tricks with your mind and let you think you’re behind in training! They’re probably 12-18 weeks ahead of the majority of us, so cheer them and all their amazingness on and just stay in YOUR game! We’re right where we’re supposed to be.

We’ve officially set a PARR Membership PR. So there are A LOT of new faces out there to meet! If you’re new and still haven’t gotten a chance to connect with anyone at your pace at the Saturday runs, then please, please reach out to us, your group leader and/or other PARR members via the Facebook page. We try to do our best to help you get connected with people with similar paces…and the BEST advice we can give is to SHOW UP! And if that doesn’t work…KEEP SHOWING UP. Do something different. While our official Saturday runs are the largest…there are opportunities nearly every day posted on Facebook for the track, on the hills (both of which you’re never alone, regardless of pace) and on the road there is always a group to jump in! Step outside your normal, even if it’s setting your alarm for an unthinkable hour or running in the evening with the sun still up. Both ridiculous, but also provide an opportunity to meet more people and try new things. Maybe not a permanent change…but just give it a chance to find your people. IT IS WHY YOU JOINED, RIGHT?

#PARRwater
Did you enjoy some nice cold water last week on the bridge or at Turner? Well, you have a PARR Water volunteer to thank for that! We have an awesome group of volunteers that set water out each week and would love YOUR HELP. Travis Shirley coordinates the schedule and you can add yourself by signing up via the SignUpGenius and joining the PARR Water FB Group. Travis has provided the instructions in the SignUpGenius. Let’s fill this up so we don’t have to worry later down the road. And if you’ve done this before, he made it WAY SIMPLER with a little help from our friends at Wild Pear. So be sure to read it and note the change. It’s a set out and pick up on the same day.

#PARRSaturdayRun
Full Marathon: 5:30 AM – Meet at Turner High School for Hills – 8 HILLS and 80 minutes on Bailey Bridge and back for CORE at 7:00 AM. You’ll likely finish the 8 HILLs before 80 minutes so you may want to finish the 80 minutes along Bailey Road toward 1128.

Half Marathon: 6:00 AM – Meet at Turner High School parking lot for 50 minutes of EASY RUN+CORE. You’ll run west on Bailey turn around at 25 minutes and head back to Turner for CORE at 7:00 AM (if you run out of sidewalk at 1128, just run back past Turner to get your minutes!)

Walking group: 6:00 AM – 50 minutes – Meet at Turner High School parking lot for 50 minutes. You’ll walk west on Bailey and turn around at 25 minutes and head back to Turner for CORE at 7:00 AM.

All groups should be back at Turner parking lot at 7:00 AM for CORE work and should be wrapped up by about 7:15 AM. Be sure to bring your mat or towel…that concrete is tough on planking elbows.

Water will be provided on the West side of Bailey Bridge and at Turner parking lot.

#GoingGOLD
Chance for Hope Going Gold Fun Run, is on Saturday, September 7. I’m a bit biased, as I get to see the race from a runner’s view and also on the organization side. It is a fantastic local race and provides you an opportunity to support a great cause and to get a gauge on your training. And PARR is a sponsor! You have the choice of a 5k or 10k. This race is very popular with our members, and the race organizer is one of our very own PARR members! This race is a USTAF Certified course and can be used to earn a coveted spot in Coral A in the January Houston Marathon and Half Marathon (See timing requirements here). AND, this race has a great celebration after the race with pretty awesome raffle items and a ton of free activities for kids. They pour their hearts into this event, and it shows. We hope to see everyone out there, you can register for the race HERE

#PARRPresents
Our first Facebook Live with Lisa Ferrara a couple of weeks ago was a huge success! If you missed it, you can still watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/kaylin.olson/videos/10157354862219481/ or access on the Main PARR FB page, under Announcements.

Coming up we’ve got a few more in the next couple of weeks, listed below:

TONIGHT! Thursday, Aug 8, 7 PM at Wild Pear Running and FB Live, Run Form and Run Apparel, by David Rosenthal – https://www.facebook.com/events/1295830107242422/

Monday, Aug 12, 7 PM at Wild Pear Running and FB Live, Run Safety, by Hal Bohn – https://www.facebook.com/events/501297050677092/

Saturday, Aug 17, 7 AM (after the run) at Turner High School, Camp Gladiator strength and conditioning – https://www.facebook.com/events/2388373091430965/

#PARRDidYouKnow?
Have a question about a type of workout that might be on the schedule or mentioned on a run or the FB page? There are many places to get your questions answered:

1. ASK on the FB page. We have a ton of people dying to give you the answer.
2. Go to the PARR website: https://goparr.com/members-area/workouts/ – just remember you need to be logged in to access the Member Area. I highly recommend using Vdot Calculator to get your training paces to shoot for. Just plug in a known distance/race time and it will spit out your race, training and equivalent paces like a David Copperfield magic show.
3. GTS – Google that %#@$

If you recently joined or joined after our PARR kickoff party a month ago, please be sure to study up on all of the emails that have gone out since our kick off, these get posted when the emails are sent, so if you ever need to reference…they’re there.

Andrea also updates This Week, which is the schedule for the week (save a link to your homescreen on your phone and you always have it at your fingertips).

Happy Runs, y’all.
Aimee