Hi Y’all,
The high turnout for our Saturday scheduled runs, track days and other events makes me happy. There’s no better sight than seeing all the smiles on people’s face and being surrounded by so much positive energy. Our group continues to grow and we’re pushing almost 320 members. To be honest, our goal is not to be the biggest group because we do minimal advertising to find new members. Our main mission is to provide support, encouragement and positive energy to members who are trying to reach their goal, whether it’s to walk or run their first 5k, 10k, half marathon or full marathon. If you’re a new member and have still haven’t attended one of the Saturday runs, then please try to come out and meet some of our fabulous members.
We’re saying bye to August (we hardly knew you) and September brings in some of our first races of this season. School started again for our teacher-members and folks with kids, the heat index is still in the 100s and we’re all waiting for the first real cold front to push through. I hope your training is going well and you’re staying injury free.
Now on to some running related business….
Chance for Hope Go Gold Fun Run – September 8, 2018
I promise I’ll stop repeating myself and bothering you after the race, but if you want the guaranteed, free shirt, you need to register before tomorrow, Friday, August 24th. Yes, register by or before tomorrow to get a guaranteed shirt.
Again, this is a FANTASTIC event. And it’s not your run of the mill 5k/10K race. FREE FOOD for the runners. A FREE RAFFLE for the runners. And it’s a raffle with GOOD STUFF, y’all. Stuff we love. And I’m not talking about a free t-shirt, people. Pearland came through to support Pearland…so you don’t want to miss out on that! PARR members usually win a good number of these raffle items. Then on top of all of that…fun kids’ activities and entertainment. Bring your family too…5k Walk or 5k/10k run. I know PARR will show up big, because that’s what we do! Here is the link to register => https://thedriven.net/
The Chance for Hope Foundation is PARR Member, Andrea Davidson’s foundation that she and her husband created after their son Chance, lost his battle with brain cancer in 2013. Learn more of her story and all the amazing things the Chance for Hope Foundation does to support the families of pediatric cancer patients => http://
And we like to match and it’s nice to see almost every participant in their GO GOLD race shirt in support of September’s Go Gold Pediatric Awareness Month.
Saturday Group Run– 8/25/2018
We are at Turner for a few more weeks until the hills wrap up and then we’ll move to Wild Pear. The run duration is getting longer so we’re going to start a bit earlier every week so please take notice of the earlier start times this week.
Full Marathon: 5:15 AM – Meet at Turner High School Track – 100 minutes, at least 10 hills this week. Run back and forth across the Bailey bridge at an easy or marathon pace.
Since most of you will finish 10 hills before 100 minutes, you can add some time/miles before you get to the bridge. Let’s start by running West along Bailey Rd. until you to Harkey Rd. Turnaround at Harkey and head back toward Bailey Bridge to do your 10 hills. Once you finish the 10 hills, head back to Turner and continue running until you get 100 minutes.
Water will be provided at west side of Bailey Bridge.
Half Marathon: 5:45 AM – Meet at Turner High School parking lot. Easy Run – 60-70 Minutes: Conversational easy pace (1-2 minutes slower than marathon pace)
Route will be DIFFERENT THAN PREVIOUS WEEK. ROUTE – run east on Bailey Rd. toward Bailey Bridge, continue past HWY 35 and south/right on Pearland Parkway and then east/left on Dixie Farm (if necessary) until you get to 30-35 minutes and turnaround and return to Turner.
Water will be provided at intersection of Pearland Parkway and Bailey Rd.
Walking group: 5:45 AM – 60-70 minutes – Same route as the Half Marathon group and different than previous week. Meet at Turner High School parking lot for 60-70 minutes.
ROUTE – walk east on Bailey Rd. toward Bailey Bridge, continue past HWY 35 and south/right on Pearland Parkway until you get to 30-35 minutes and turnaround and return to Turner.
All groups should be back at Turner parking lot at 7:00 AM for YOGA and some core. Be sure to bring your mat and a or towel.
Fourth Guest Speaker –Airrosti – Dr. Kulcak (pronounced cool-check) of Pearland
Dr. Kulcak and maybe some other Airrosti folks will be at Wild Pear on Saturday, August 25th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. This is another popular speaker with our members because we will be taught the importance of foam rolling and how we should do it properly to help our recovery. This is a valuable presentation for runners and walkers so I encourage you to attend.
Kaylin did invite all PARR members using Facebook, but some of you may not have gotten the invite. Please be aware all PARR members are invited to attend. You can see the event at this FB link. https://www.facebook.
Yoga and some core
I will hold a yoga class from 7:00-7:45 after Saturday’s run if you would like to join. I’ll focus on runner-specific yoga poses and will incorporate some core-related poses as well.
PARR Shirts and Wild Pear Gift Certificates
There are still many unclaimed $25 gift certificates from Wild Pear. Again, if you signed up with PARR this season, you automatically received a $25 GC from Wild Pear to be used however you wish in the store. So, please go to Wild Pear and claim and use your Gift Certificate – they have a record of who has picked up!
If you don’t have a PARR shirt, you should consider using your GC on a shirt. No peer pressure but you’ll look good in Orange. Reminder that shirts can be (tried on) ordered at Wild Pear. Also, there may be some tri-blend tanks and t-shirts with our PARR logo coming in the near future….
Supporting Houston Food Bank
Amy Catching is gathering non-perishable food items for the Houston Food Bank. If you would like to support the HFB, please see her note below and please bring the item(s) to the Saturday run. I think she’ll have a box next to the water jug for you to drop off the item(s).
Amy’s note:
The Houston Food Bank estimates that in the Pearland-Alvin-Manvel area alone, over 18,000 families experience hunger or are food insecure, meaning they do not have reliable access to a sufficient amount of affordable, nutritious food.
One of the things that PARR does best is help the communities in which we live!
Please consider donating a non-perishable food item at our August 25th long run. I will be collecting and taking the food to Christian Helping Hands the following Monday.
Be sure the item has a nutrition label and hasn’t expired. If you’re not sure what to bring, here’s the current “Top 10 List.”
• Dry Beans (1-pound or 2-pound bags; pinto, etc.)
• Canned Tomatoes
• Peanut Butter
• Canned Vegetables (low sodium preferred)
• Rice (1-pound or 2-pound bags)
• Dry Pasta (any type)
• Canned Fruit (light syrup preferred)
• Hot & Cold Cereals (low sugar preferred)
• Hearty Canned Soups & Stews
• Shelf-Stable and/or Powdered Milk
If you have any questions, you can contact Amy Catching (Amy Jo) through FB, by text at 713.899.5232, or by email at amcatching@yahoo.com.
Happy Running!
Laurence