Look Ahead... Look Back...

Look Ahead...
Should be another great week for Team R.E.D. ! Tuesday night's track workout will start a little earlier. 5pm at the RCTC indoor track (located at the Field House). Whether or not you can join this workout, I encourage you to head to Beetles at 6pm for a Runner's Social (no running required! Friends and family are welcome to join as well). Those participating at the track will likely join just a tad late.

Thursday's Team R.E.D. will gather at the Bears Den in Byron. As is the norm, routes will be posted on Wednesday and range in the areas of 2, 4 and 5-6 miles.

Saturday is Off Season Striders last run for this off-season. They'll take off from Panera south at 7:30am. The full and half marathon training group will take this time slot (acutally 7:15am) on Feb 20th from the RAC.

Sunday provides a great race opportunity for a great cause. It's the 3rd running of the Lace Up Against Breast Cancer Half Marathon and 5K. You can find the details at http://luabc.org/

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Look Back...
Team R.E.D. members spotted at Saturdays the Optimist Club's Frozen Goose 10K & 5K include, Tom Woo, Renee Kottschade, Tod Bellrichard and myself. They all had nice races! Good work!

If you ever get a chance, I encourage you to participate in this event. The race is well organized and has lots of post race food! I lost track of how many hot dogs Woo devoured after the race. Also, capturing the spirit of the event was a bus load of high schoolers who came down from Hopkins to support a classmate diagnosed with cancer. What a great way to show support, while raising money for the Childhood Cancer Campaign and Brighter Tomorrows (If I recall correctly, that group of kids raised about 1700 bucks!)

Saturday night was the Rochester Track Club banquet. There was a very good turnout and we enjoyed dinner, a speaker and an awards ceremony. Team R.E.D. members scored nicely with the awards! I'll add some pics to this post later today, but in the meantime, you can see pictures at Tom Woo's link... http://family.webshots.com/album/576648719xWUmuK?start=0

A huge round of applause for Renee Saxman who received the Runner of the Year award! It was well deserved as she set PR's at 8 different distances in 2009! Additionally she's such a great asset to the running community, through volunteering, supporting others, baking cookies and keeping us all in the the know at the areas favorite blog http://ramblinrenee.blogspot.com/

Congratulations also goes to Jim Mason as he took home the Outstanding Service Award. Also well deserved as Mason is fantastically active, supporting races throughout the area. He not only serves as a race director, but you'll spot him at many other events, working with a smile. One word of advice if Jim helps at your event: Don't let him get his hands on a starter pistol!

I was also honored with an Outstanding Service Award. I appreciate the recognition, but would have to say, this community is loaded with deserving people.

Tom Woo, Renee Saxman and myself all brought home Running Room Gift cards for our finishes in the Rochester Track Club's Grand Prix events. The Running Room is very generous with the gift cards. If you want to learn about the Grand Prix Series you can visit http://rochestertrackclub.com/RACES--ACTIVITIES/Grand-Prix-Series.aspx There is also a Youth Grand Prix series with a goal to get our youth involved in this healthy activity!


I think that's enough for now.. whew...