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Running and
Walking Friends
Syrathon running series announced
Get the lowest prices for the Goat until this Saturday
Registration Fees go way up for big races
High School Column by Lauren MacDonald |
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Newsletter Volume 443 - February 23, 2009
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Running and Walking Friends
Communication has come a long way through the years.
 I know I am dating myself here, but I can recall the party line telephone my grandparents had in rural Pennsylvania. I was fascinated by the fact that whenever my grandmother wanted to call someone, she would pick up the single telephone in the house and check and see if anyone else was on the line. Usually, my grandparents’ neighbors, Mrs. Hickey and Mrs. Stanley, were on the line, gossiping about “this one or that one,” as my grandmother put it.
Today, it seems like there is a new way to communicate every day. E-mail, voice-mail, instant messaging and pagers seem to be as old as my grandparents’ old party line telephone. The number of social networking websites is exploding by the day. Spend some time with any teenager and you will see what I am talking about.
At Fleet Feet Sports we have been keeping an eye on these communications phenomenons and the ways we can continue to stay current. You will notice some new additions to our website.
 To start with, we have established our own Facebook Page. Facebook has been around for some time now. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. Businesses like our have also started using Facebook as a new way to communicate with customers and community.
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Lance Armstrong’s photo from Twitter |
Fleet Feet Sports is now also using the social site Twitter. If you were ever wondering about what people you know are doing, Twitter might be your answer.
Users of Twitter can post short messages about what they are currently doing or follow what friends, co-workers, celebrities or businesses are up to. We have been following many of the professional cyclists, like Lance Armstrong, who we have dubbed the “King of Twitter.” Armstrong posts as many as 10 times per day on what music he is listening to, racing and training information, restaurants, the fight against cancer and random things happening in his life.
All of these communications sites bring up a question: how much is too much? The beauty of the answer is that it is all up to you.
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Syrathon running series announced
For several years, we have been discussing a race series for Syracuse with the folks at the Syracuse Parks and Recreation Department. The addition of new races in Syracuse, all utilizing many of the beautiful Parks in Syracuse, made the idea of a series a no-brainer.
Together with Brooks Sports, The Syracuse New Times and The Syracuse Parks and Recreation Department, we are happy to introduce Syrathon.
Here is how it works: just register and participate in any of the five series races. At each race, stop by the Fleet Feet Sports/Syrathon Race Tent and register to win great prizes that will be given away at each race. All that register will also become eligible for a High Definition LCD Television to be given away at the end of the series.
100 Special Edition Syrathon Technical race shirts will be awarded, at the conclusion of the 2009 Race Series, to participants who comple 3 of the 5 races. Shirts will be available on a first-come first serve basis at Fleet Feet Sports, Syracuse.
 Syrathon kicks off in two weeks at the Tipp Hill Run. Register at the race to win a free pair of Brooks Running or Walking Shoes, a Fleet Feet Gift Card, $25 Gift Certificate from the Syracuse Suds Factory, $50 Gift Certificate from The Syracuse Food Co-Op or 2 Tickets to the Syracuse versus Johns Hopkins Lacrosse Game.
The other race in the series include: The Mountain Goat Run (either 10-Mile or 3k) on May 3rd, Paige’s Butterfly Run (5k) on June 6th, Strathmore Parks Run (4 miles) on September 27th and the Eastwood Park to Park Run (5 miles) on October 18th.
Combined with the 10 Mile Mountain Goat Run, if you ran the rest of the series it would total would be 26.1 miles, just a tenth shorter than a marathon!
View series information and coverage from last week’s NewTimes article.
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Get the lowest prices for the Goat until this Saturday
The Dunn Tire Early Registration period for the Mountain Goat ends this Saturday. Take advantage of this offer to register at the lowest rates available. Sign up online, download or pick up and application and mail it by Saturday to receive this special offer from Dunn Tire.
The 2009 Dunn Tire Mountain Goat Run Race application is now available. The 12 page booklet contains complete information on this year’s race, which will be held on May 3rd at Clinton Square in Syracuse.
Applications are at Fleet Feet Sports now, and are currently being distributed to local YMCA locations, Health and Fitness clubs and other area businesses.
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Registration Fees go way up for big races
If you have looked into running a big-city marathon or similar event, you no doubt know that entry fees are way up.
For this year’s NYC Marathon, the cost will be $171 for non-New York City Road Runners Club Members; members pay $138. This year’s Chicago Marathon is $125. The 2010 Disney Marathon is $110. In comparison, it is $80 to run the Vermont City Marathon to be held in Burlington this May.
The biggest reason cited for the increases is the loss of sponsorship revenues to help subsidize the costs of a race. “As much as we’d like not to raise the prices, it was necessary at this time,” said Mary Wittenberg, the president and chief executive of the New York City Road Runners, which conducts the NYC Marathon.
Wittenberg estimated that the organization’s cost per runner “is easily more than $250.” The entry fee was increased even though organizers realized the economy could worsen, Wittenberg said, and the marathon’s costs — such as cancellation insurance, liability insurance and special promotions for the race’s 40th anniversary — could rise.
“We’re sitting in a marketplace where we have to anticipate that costs will be up and revenue will be down,” Wittenberg said.
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High School Running Scene by Lauren MacDonald
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Lauren MacDonald |
My mother’s adverseness to cold, snowy weather (I’m still wondering why she settled in upstate New York) lands me in a tropical locale each school break; this last week we drove down to Florida. Temperatures in the mid 60s to low 70s may have felt nippy for the cold-blooded Floridians, but for a bunch of upstate New Yorkers running away from icy, snowy mid-winter blues, it felt heavenly.
 On my family vacation seeking the sunny skies seen so infrequently here in central New York, I was looking for something to read, when my dad suggested that I read the inspiring running narrative that every runner should read once in his/her lifetime, Once a Runner. My dad is a running addict just like me and had recently bought and finished it on vacation. Once a Runner’s fictional characters capture the essence of what running is really about; demons and the Trials of Miles.
The Trials of Miles that haunts Quenton Cassidy, Bruce Denton and the other characters is the same that we as runners face today. The Miles that Cassidy ran and the blank calendar spaces are what we battle through, this inspiring classic talks about the enduring struggles of runners. Once a Runnermade me want to go out and run a marathon, or at least a 6 miler, but since I am currently between seasons, I didn’t.
I suppose this makes me one of those Cassidy talks of that won’t ever understand it all, but it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the book one bit. |
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Open 10-7 M-F,
10-6 Saturday and
12-5 on Sunday
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