iCandybyWangC

Thanks to Smileen for her letter to the editor of this weekly communiqué appreciating the opportunity to reminisce about the previous week’s GGR or lament what she missed: “After a JRC Growlers run, I go home rejuvenated. It’s an awesome group of people with so many backgrounds, but with the common denominator of enjoying running together. Kind of cool.”

No thanks to Cait for her letter with this challenge: Consider goals for 2022. Bah, who needs the pressure? Isn’t running together and drinking beer enough of a goal? OTOH, I have been thinking. What about running with other groups? Maybe, maybe? I even have a couple in mind. Let’s do a little talking and thinking. Stay tuned. Oh, fine; thank you, too, Cait.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶*Thanks to Smileen for the idea for this Cerebrun! ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’07’W]

Cait thinks these have been great to read because she learns something every time. I’m personally always eager to write about stuff that makes me go ‘hmm’. I suppose that’s actually the intent to inform, too.

She made her comment to me in response to the year-end Cerebrun 2 weeks ago in which I commented about a few things: the gals exceeding the guys in number, group traditions, and some of the traditions that I’ve started. I don’t suppose she was talking about learning from the gal/guy ratio. Maybe she liked learning about the tradition of taking a picture and writing a run report Or maybe she learned something about what makes an activity a tradition. If the last, I offered up a definition of a group’s traditions as a practice of significance that a majority of the members embrace. I also opined that one person’s practice can’t be a group tradition. Well, I just wung that definition (conjugations of wing: wing, wung, wung).

Contrary to a practice of the library profession always to point to sources, I didn’t. Well, now I do. Here’s Wikipedia: “A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.” Comparing that to my definition, I see the idea of a practice, of significance, and of number of people embracing it. Great! I’d hate for people to be learning something that isn’t basically true. Disregard my verb conjugating.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶*Thanks to Smileen for the idea for this Cerebrun! ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

There’s something about drinking alone that seems kind of pathetic. At the Growlers Group Run, we drink as a group—a very small group, sometimes, meaning most everyone else is teetotaling—but as a group.

For a few months we’ve been limiting runs to once around the Jenkintown Sunset 5K route. Last week Adelaide, Train Dave, and I did a double. Run, that is. When we got back to the store to join those who headed back first, they had also headed out first leaving only store staff Drew and Keith. Well, the smaller group seemed kind of sad and I was ready to toss back a festbier with Adelaide and TD. And then they left, too. Leaving me to drink alone. And if that seems sad, doing it in front of Drew and Keith, who are on duty, really seems emotionally destitute. (Interpret the reason as you see fit.) Dang it, I’m not doing that. I’m taking my beers and going home. I’m not that pathetic.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶*Thanks to Smileen for the idea for this Cerebrun! ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

Sure, guys have their finery, but tuxedos only have so much distinctiveness. No, prom night is about the gals in all their chiffon, lace, and pleats. Or in the absence of those dress elements, the performance fabric, the color, AAAND the pose. With this next Cerebrun entry on poses (Last mention: 11’16’T email for 11’17’W run), I present to you the Prom. It features confidence, elegance, and—with the benefit of careful camera angle and positioning—prominence. The guys are just another accessory. BTW, you should also be amazed at the number of gals compared to the guys: I was! It’s certainly never happened in my time running with the Growlers since 2012 that the gals have exceeded the guys with a ratio of 3:2! With growth in gal participation just increasing, soon the guys really will just be accessories.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶*Thanks to Smileen for the idea for this Cerebrun! ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

I wasn’t around to know what conditions were like last week in Jenkintown because I was in the Caribbean Ocean on the island of St. Martin. It’s fair to say the conditions were warmer and sunnier there. I was on the Dutch side (south) of the island, but it’s teeny, a mere 38 miles around, and the border to the French side is a mere 4 miles away from where I was staying. It was my goal to use my recovering left ankle (Achilles tendinopathy) to get me up to the border last Wednesday and take a picture straddling it. There’s no border control between the halves, so no problem, there. Sadly, 300’ away, I tripped on a rock hidden in tall grass by the side of the road and experienced what could be best be described as a partial rupture of my weak left Achilles. I’m again on the mend and trying to be wiser. I didn’t make it to the border, but I did experience island compassion in the form of a curious pedestrian who waved down a friend driving by and then that friend taking me back into town. Memorable all around.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

Getting to talking over beers sometimes takes us in really interesting directions. In this case we got to talking about those of us who have done full marathons. That got us to talking about which marathons we’ve done, which got us talking about races in Pennypack Park. That got us to talking about The Naked Bavarian half marathon. And that got Aaron to talking about one particular, underdressed runner he and Candace saw during one race. There may have been more intermediate steps in that conversation which I wasn’t completely engaged in until I heard the emphatic words “very hairy” and something like “tiny tights.” Repeat after me: friction and chafing.

I mentioned Borat which triggered Cait who obviously was thinking of the same thing I was. In a scene in Borat, Sasha Baron Cohen is prancing down the beach looking very hairy and wearing a unitard jockstrap. Thankfully I never actually saw the movie or the scene. But I did see the get up. Apparently someone tried to patent that style of jockstrap. I know this because I teach a course on intellectual property. The patent examiner fielding the application had seen Borat and rejected the invention as non-novel, one of several prerequisites for receiving a patent. (Two others are that the invention must be non-obvious and useful.) Some things cannot be unseen. So be forewarned about the illustration for this rejected application and the pictured, ummm, supporting evidence.* A bit of preparatory alcohol might be in order.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶*Madrigal, Alexis C. “The Best Patent Rejection You’ll Ever See (Featuring Borat).” The Atlantic, 28 March 2012. ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

Five pairs of people showed up to run last week with 4 married or engaged couples. What?! Growlers Group Run has become the place for partners to run their stuff. The last pair was Smileen and Brigid who are aunt and niece; so they’re already family. Well the photo arrangement had to be by pairs, right? My idea was to assume a marching formation from front to back. When Jon showed, it was obvious for him and me to be up front as the leading pair. It was the perfect pose! Was. Then Adam showed up. We love you, man, but there went The Intention out the window. So I present to you The Execution. Not pretty or organized, but it’s still an awesome group.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

There was a time that Rockfeller Center was known for the Rockettes and The Kick. That might have been the prompt for last week’s pose; for those who were clear on the concept, at least. For others it was a chance to rest their feet on a bench in a pale facsimile. If nothing else, the gestalt of the photo was good: The presentation of feet is appropriate for a running club, no matter how it takes place.

I stayed back in order to rest my left Achilles for one more week. That allowed me to blab with JRC Keith and then order and fetch the pizza from Upper Crust. The word from him is that the Growlers now rival the size of the group from his earliest days in the early 20-aughts. But back then the group was all guys. These days, girls run the Run. Last week was a new high: 7 to the guys’ 5! Go, Gals! Wait. Don’t go. Come on, Gals!

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

With plenty of people attending, ordering pizza to go with our beers always seems like a no brainer. I’m clearly wrong about that. With 11 people in attendance, no one except newbie Aravind was interested. I don’t know all the reasons except for Cait and Jas-Yaz who had to scram to get the dog from the sitter‘s. Good reason. I didn’t actually hear anyone say, but maybe the others just had other dinner plans. Or maybe people just can’t eat pizza every week. Strange, cuz I sure can. If the former is true, Adelaide has a solution: Pizza once a month. Okay, that could work. Every week is still better.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

Right in sync with the store’s new “‘boots’ + bras = beatific-ness” decoration, we presented the latest group pose: The Aaron.

Poses are quintessential to individuals. Sometimes they’re obvious and sometimes they’re not, but they’re a reflection of the individual. Just look at Aaron’s pose last week. And I include another one from November’s Philadelphia Marathon for your viewing pleasure. You see? You see, Aaron doesn’t like to dominate pictures, so he gets his head close to the height of the ones around him. But then he doesn’t want to get lost either among all the heads, so he sticks his neck out a little. And he always does that. Cuz we’re all shorter. And he does it naturally because it’s who he is. Me? Not so much. Everyone else? Unnatural. Stiff, awkward, pretension, preposterous. Gotta love him! And we do. But no more than anyone else! That would make him stand out awkwardly.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

You know how every training cycle you get a curve ball thrown at you? For me, earlier on it was Achilles tendinopathy. (I’m on the mend.) Others experience other injuries. Or sometimes you just get sick and have to rejigger the plans to allow for recovery. The only predictable is that something unpredictable is sure to happen. So why are we so surprised when it actually happens?

Life has a way of doing that too. The invasion of Ukraine is only the latest. We’ve been dealing with COVID-19 for 2 full years now. Weather extremes and political extremism have also fit in there. Black and other ethnic injustice anyone? We got that. Then you lose your job.

I won’t rank these phenomena. They affect us all in different ways and to differing degrees. Running has provided a great emotional outlet and so has the group itself. We vent, we laugh, we support. From me, personally, thanks for all of it, Growlers, especially as I now have to deal with the last on that list.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’06’T]

We did all of our beer consumption at a place actually licensed to serve it: Human Robot (next to the Hiway Theater just down the street from the store). There was a lot of hubbub around fire trucks all going to handle a fire further down the street. We saw the trucks go by but the detail about where came from Jenkintown’s Facebook group. It’s a handy source of local information, but apparently it’s the arena for much venting of spleens.

The Growlers Group Run is also a place to vent, but I’d say (with bias) that it’s more the place for happy than grumpy. (Btw, the Growlers, last week, bestowed me with a condolence card over my recent job termination: Happy!) Since it also has as its geographical base Jenkintown, the fact that it’s happier than grumpy suggests the absence of a common denominator, namely running. So run and be happy. Especially if you’re on Jenkintown’s Facebook page.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’05’M]

The great part of the Growlers Group Run lately has been the group. There are definitely faster folks. They lead everyone throughout the run and finish up first at the corner of Leedom St. and West Ave. right by the park benches. And then they wait! Because we’re a group. The bulk of the rest run together. There are folks who are fully capable of turning on the speed, but most match paces, run together, and talk! It’s a beautiful thing. We haven’t done 2x around in a while because the talking and hanging out has been so appealing. But even when we did do 2x, people would still run together. Okay some would go back to the store for the growlers (Actually, cans. We don’t drink that much.), but they’d hang around to keep doing group. Note that there’s no “I” in “group.” But there is one in “Calvin.” Which explains why I ran 2x around by myself last week. It happens. Thanks to the others who hung around the store until I returned, keeping the great part the great part.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’05’M]

There’s no “I” in team. That spelling and philosophical prompt from last week’s run report was the basis of much ribbing, mostly from me. It seems there’s a lot of selflessness among the Growlers, but those gals: Adelaide, Cait, Smileen, and Brigid! It may not have been true in reality, but the greatest acts of selfishness last week seemed to come from any one of the four in that bunch. Candace was above reproach; no “I” to be heard or seen from her. And Caitlin and Brigid were a degree too gleeful about having double helpings of “I” to their names. As for me Calvin and Train David, I guess we have to own up to being I-sores, too. Since I’m the author of this piece, I can insist that the amount of “I” is really very small. I’m not sure anyone else would agree; for either David or myself. We cleverly disguise it by using versions of our names without the “I”: Dave and CtCloser. As for the rest of the group, including Candace, I’ve noticed a different but also dominant spelling theme that, sadly, doesn’t say anything terribly provocative about them; at least that I can determine. What do you say, ‘ey?

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’05’M]

Because everyone needs a change of pace, I’m running Alexandria VA this week. But it’s not the same without the Growlers. Aaron, Alex, Cait, and I did a little more than the usual 5K on 04’09’S (April 9th, Saturday in Calvin-speak) in prep for the Jim Thorpe Marathon (05’15’U: i.e., Sunday). Alex did 10 miles in prep for Broad Street (05’01’U) and Alex, Cait, and I did 22.4. (Thanks to the most awesome Candace for providing run support!) Of course the Growlers Group Run isn’t about distance or speed, it’s about community. And our conversation revealed how important that community is. People are celebrating hump day because of the group. They’re even planning home buying around it! That’s serious community! If one of you readers who hasn’t yet come to join us, know that a whole load of Growler regulars consider it worth their while to do so. Long distance and fast speeds are not a requirement! But if you aspire to work on both, the community is happy to help work on both.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’05’M]

Every newbie who comes to the Growlers Group Run presents questions both from their end and from ours. From our end, what’s their running like? What are they seeking in a running group? How did they connect with us? Are they interested in coming again?

When a person comes once, they are officially a newbie. If they don’t come again, ever, they’re a one-hit wonder. If they come a second time, they aren’t a newbie, but they’re also not a one-hit wonder. From their end the questions include, what am I seeking in a running group? Does this group have what I’m seeking? More questions from our end as a community include, what do we do to make a newbie want to invest in us as a community? What can we do better?

A runner’s second showing is the beginning of regular-ness: One does not a pattern make, but two definitely does. So, YAY to Devon who’s come 2 weeks in a row. And YAY to Leah who’s well on her way to regularness. And YAY to everyone else who has well established a pattern of regularity (including me, CtCloser, who was themself a newbie once.). Btw, no matter how many times a runner attends GGR, we regulars will do our best to make them feel a part of our community, whether one-time or more. How the group continues to grow will be a testimony to our success at doing that.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’12’05’M]

Not only am I prone to flights of conversational fancy when we’re hanging out together, but I’m also prone to flights of aesthetic fancy. Take last week when the Growlers held court in the front of the store (partaking of our alcoholic libations as we are wont) and I could look out at the skyline of scenic Jenkintown. I spied with my little eye a shape formed by the confluence of two buildings’ roof lines. The stylized “P” that I saw prompted me to see if anyone had ever used something like it as a trademark. My simple search effort didn’t return any trademarked images but did point me to some similar font designs (see picture). Candace and Smileen thought my late mother’s artistic influence probably made me take note. Of course?! It might also have been sheer coincidence that she passed 4 years ago within just a couple of weeks. The serendipities of the Growlers Group Run…

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶This isn’t academic or professional writing, so I’m not going whole hog, but (still) here are the sources of those images: Letter P logo icon design stock illustration, iStock by Getty Images; Design Lab, Peak Performance _ Stockholm Design Lab; P Icon #95688, Free ICONS Library. ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’11’25’F]

As we socialized over beer last week talking about alcohol content, riffing onto kombucha, and caroming into healthfulness, Candace tossed out the word “adaptogens.” I went into information scientist mode: What were they? Who was talking about them? Anybody we could trust? Where did the word come from? In doing some source-checking, I discovered that they are a real thing (Sorry for the doubt, Candace!). My source was Time magazine (Candace endorsed!) and the article had balance (Calvin endorsed!) in discussing substances that are known from tradition to have healthful affects. I wasn’t keen about the word, which sounded like clickbait, but Western medicine has been evaluating Traditional medicines for decades and the evidence is accumulating (Sorry for the doubt, Chinese Heritage!). Someone needs to find a ginseng kombucha for us to use to cap off our weekly runs and I might have willing test subjects to do our own adaptogenic research.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’11’23’W]

I’m so appreciative of both the Growlers and the Jenkintown vicinity where we have no choice but to run hills. (Hills are just good training.) And frankly, it’s amazing how little complaining goes on, simply because hill running is what we do. Recently I’ve heard how one less experienced runner and one less experienced hiller have both seen their running improve because they’ve been showing up and delivering pretty much every single week.

I’m also appreciative of 2 more Growlers who are such extreme hillers and runners that we decided to run the Jim Thorpe Marathon together on Sunday, 5/15. In 4 days. We’ve motivated each other. We’ve done a couple of long runs together (16 miles and 22). And we’ve strategized together. We probably won’t finish together, but we’ll celebrate together like it’s a Wednesday GGR. Go us and go Growlers!

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’11’23’W]

Sure, some of you want to know how the 3 stooges (Aaron, Cait, and CtCloser) did for the Jim Thorpe Marathon, but you’ll have to wait, because some things are just more important. And by that I mean from last week: The Picture and the Pose.

There’s all the usual cheer and the random closed eyes (Adelaide). And then there’s The [Army] Drew. With the psychotic eyes and the tongue. DREW! JUST. NO. We’re not all standing around Erika pretending to lick her! That’s wrong! But I love what it says about your relationship with each other. Erika, I know I don’t have to urge you to forgive that freak or doubt that you will, even as I know you will never stand next to him again for a group pic. And despite the The Picture and the Pose, I love that you two are Growlers. Next week: The Three Marathon Stooges.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption, image, and title: 2022’11’23’W]

The Jim Thorpe Area Running Festival (JTARF) Marathon was a small affair as races go (500 strong), but that made it easier to enjoy the course and the other runners. For my part, I didn’t get to enjoy Growlers Aaron and Cait so much because they were ahead most of the time. But I did get to hang out for a few miles with Harley who was running his first marathon with his wife-to-be (in 2 weeks as of the race). We were pacing for a 3:40 race at the half. She was with the 4:00 pacer.

Cait is the Growler who killed her goal by coming in under 3:45 at 3:42:47. Aaron and I did Not make our goals:p (4:00:18 and 3:57:08). Because of the small race, we sat 30’ away from the finish line just past the chute and traded war stories as we watched other runners finish.

Aaron got the donut that his mum bought specially for him. I congratulated a gal who pulled past me at mile 25 and finished strong at 3:54:09. That gal turned out to be Harley’s wife-to-be who went back to get him when he finished in 4:04:57.

Sadly, the small race also meant you couldn’t always enjoy the other runners like when Aaron ran for a while with nary a soul in sight in either direction. The individual race results and the race field density were not so very different: You lose some, but you also win some. Go gals!

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), #negativesplitorpositivesplat #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption and title: 2022’11’23’W]

There was a period of time a few years ago when the future of the Growlers Group Run was hazy at best. That was then and this is now because the group doesn’t need one person to anchor the way it used to. Or to instill and preserve its conventions: That is becoming the responsibility of all the folks who regularly come. And we have conventions.

There are routes that the Growlers like (Sunset 5K route or Alverthorpe Park), so they go out and do one or the other. A picture is pretty obligatory, so someone takes one (Thanks, Devon!). We like a beer or 2 post run, so people remember to bring some. When a newbie comes, people exchange names, so we can remember and use them… Okay, so the other regulars are working on that.

The Growlers Group Run is about moving together, but it’s also about being in community together. Names are important because the word that people love hearing the most is the one that is their name. So then names are kind of important for building community. I’ll do my share to help make learning and remembering a part of the group convention.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

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¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run/GGR email list

[Original version in Facebook. Republished Cerebruns with caption: 2022’11’23’W]

Last week’s picture features loads of serious runners who did the [Jenkintown] Sunset 5K race last night (06’07’T). And the word from JRC Keith is that we had the second largest registered team!

Coincidentally, I’ve been going back and reading from the beginning (2018) all of these Cerebrun and proto-Cerebruns (before I started using that brainy designation). Assuming I’ve counted correctly, this is #155! And I’m slowly starting to republish these in a space where you can read them all under one web umbrella without having a Facebook profile or being on the email list. If you go and read the earliest, there are many unfamiliar names, but the more significant fact is that there are so many fewer of them per run.

With 15 runners last week, all regular or recently aspiring, we’ve come a long way. And all the lasses! Eight alone in last week’s picture (including Reg the canine! The last time we had a dog, he was a lad: Ollie the Border Collie). All of those who came to the Sunset 5K finished (including Reg!); several were in the top 3 of their competitive categories (including Reg! First dog!): Christian (20:21, 3rd place, M20-29), Tom (22:23, 3rd place, M50-59), Mary (22:46, 2nd place, F40-49). Everyone rocked: Aaron (22:14, 5/33, M30-39), CtCloser (24:34, 10/43, M50-59), Jason (24:49, 13/43, M50-59), Alex (28:26, 16/33, M30-39), Smileen (29:37, 4/24, F50-59), Brigid (33:27, 27/56, F30-39, 7 months pregnant and pushing son Rory in a stroller!), Eric (33:30, 4/11, M60-69), Candace (33:53, 29/ 56, F30-39), Heather (35:45, 34/56, F30-39, pushing her son Bridger in a stroller?!), etc. (Sorry for the misses!).

The race finishes were amazing, but the more important detail has been the feeling of community that we’ve been feeding and enjoying: It’s not about the competition. It’s about the community! (First place!)

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’06’08’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: image and Cerebrun only

[INVITATION] TONIGHT

Forecast says 82° with 100% chance of CtC being at Jenkintown Running Company to join the masses yearning to run free tonight (see Cerebrun for more).*

6/8/2022, W, 6:30 p.m., RUN REPORT

Having just run our usual Sunset 5K route for the actual Jenkintown Sunset 5K race the day before (06’07’T), we turned our aspirations in the other direction, toward Alverthorpe Park whence a few of us also ran the loop inside for what might be among the last couple of times, for variations of 3.2 and 4.8-mile efforts (again, see Cerebrun for more).

[THOUGHT] CEREBRUN

One of the running routes of the legacy Growlers Group Run (before its most-recent renaissance) has been the one that includes Alverthorpe Park. One appeal of said route is the ability to include the interior loop to extend the approximately 3-mile over-to-and-back with multiples of approximately 1.6 miles. That appeal has allowed group members at different levels of conditioning to add on at will, even if at the expense of post-run store (and beer!? Why?!) time.

Another appeal of said run has been that pedestrians have been able to use it without showing proof of residency: residency in Abington township, that is. Alverthorpe Park is an exclusive recreational space that otherwise requires proof of residency (historically, specifically by drivers of motor vehicles). Last week, as we loitered at the front gate awaiting everyone across our inclusive spectrum of running paces, we learned from the township’s version of border control that it will soon be requiring ID’s even of pedestrians, unless they are guests of a resident: max 5, per. Guess what we don’t have enough of in the running group?

This residency policy might seem unnecessarily exclusive, but exclusiveness exists for various reasons. Some of those reasons might be financial, logistical, political, or social. Financially, who pays taxes to maintain a “public” space? Logistically, how do authorities control the large number of people who could otherwise be using said space? Politically, how did the leadership of Abington respond to the concerns of its residents? Socially, how much obligation do the taxpayers have to those outside its doors? And do they even like them?

It might appear insincere, and ingratiatingly political, to compare GGR’s running mass to the huddled masses of the world outside America’s doors, but there are practical concerns in both cases that constantly have to bend to the winds of political change.

As far as GGR is concerned, we either have to find another attractive alternate running destination or recruit more members from Abington township. Sigh, for better or for worse, membership has its privilege.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶*Inspired by Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus. ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’06’15’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser

If you want to appreciate the Growlers, just look above the wall by the stockroom. There, flanking both sides of the door you’ll find the beer glass shelf (left) and the trophy shelf (right). The beer glasses represent one aspect of our purpose ‘cuz we’re a drinking group with a running problem. The awards represent another aspect ‘cuz sometimes the running part yields something more meaningful than the drinking. The most recent award in crystal comes from 2017 when our senior team won 1st place at Broad Street Run under the newly minted Growlers name.

About that drinking: The goal is not to get carried away. After all, if we started scaring away the customers, someone might have to get carried away. But it’s a fun and relaxing way to wrap up the evening. Lately, we’ve also had a few Hoplark Hop Teas to refresh those who don’t need the alcohol. We partake, clean up, replace the glasses, and take our leave. We’re pretty sure the store staff is none the wiser.

About that drinking: The goal is not to get carried away. After all, if we started scaring away the customers, someone might have to get carried away. But it’s a fun and relaxing way to wrap up the evening. Lately, we’ve also had a few Hoplark Hop Teas to refresh those who don’t need the alcohol. We partake, clean up, replace the glasses, and take our leave. We’re pretty sure the store staff is none the wiser.

We still do a decent job in competition (consider the 06’08’T Jenkintown Sunset 5K), but the group has always been at least as much about the community as about the competition.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’06’22’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

The run club has been around nearly from the establishment of the Jenkintown Running Company when it was still Fleet Feet on Jenkintown’s Fairway. The Growlers name has been around since 2017.

The history of a group can get lost over time, but in the best socializing (my opinion) details issue forth to provide context, as they did when orienting newbie Terp Adam to the group: the legacy names (lots of Daves), the run efforts (Broad Street Run, in particular), the connections among people (lots of couples now). Then there was the question about where the name Growlers came from.

In 2017, the legacy group decided to put together 2 teams for Broad Street. We needed a name and Fast Dave typed in the name Growlers on a whim, partly in honor of the container used to carry out beer on draft and partly in honor of the sound of creatures in competition. The name of the other team that had fewer speedy people was the Pints. So there you go.

Looking back at that the run reminders from just after that period when the legacy group started wandering off and the Growlers were more just growler, I came across my favorite homage to the name (from the 2/6/2019 post). Here it is:

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’06’29’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Photos and Cerebrun only

[Published with name correction to Terp Adam from Eric.]

I’ve just returned from 11 days in south central Alaska. Running is different there.

Glennallen has only 450 residents and it’s pretty isolated. There’s basically only the 2 main roads to run on, the Glenn (Rte 1) and Richardson (Rte 4) Highways. There are a lot of trees to see, primarily spruce. If you’re looking, the spectators will be bear and moose. If you’re not looking, the spectators could be recreational tourists who, you hope, Are looking as they drive by. There is one race that I know of called the Glennallen Fun Run. It always takes place on the 4th of July and covers 5K or 10K (2x around). Sixty locals run in it and one Philadelphian (yours truly).

I know one long distance runner who also runs it. We compare notes at the community picnic every race day afternoon. Like me, she is traditionally a 2 marathon a year competitor.

Running in Alaska has its differences, but there’s one major commonality: Runners sure do like to talk about running.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’07’06’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Photo and Cerebrun only

(Cerebrun #159)

The passage of time has a way of making a body look at past relationships differently. I’m looking at some right now from when I was in medical art school, oh, a few decades ago; long before I became an academic librarian or started running.

There were only 15 of us in my cohort and over the years I’ve searched various members. This time I decided to hit up some. (Actually in response to one of them hitting me up. That fact isn’t so strange because we’ve connected a couple of times over the years.)

One of the two that I hit up requested some refreshing of details of our connection and couldn’t believe I remembered all of the names. The other was more than ready to reconnect and corrected me on one mis-recalled name.

Relationships are important. They shape us, even in the littlest of ways. In another few decades, I’m sure I’ll be looking back at the Growlers Group Run (running, period?) with similar feelings of nostalgia. Perhaps some of you will return the favor. (No pressure. Well, maybe a little pressure.)

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’07’20’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

Thanks to Moe, the Growlers have been a generationally diverse group of late. He represents the grandparents of young kids. Peter, Smileen, and I have been representing the parents of adolescents and young adults. Mary covers parents with young kids. Terp Adam is an actual young adult. And Tristan is an actual young kid. Every one of us loves to run with the Growlers. In fact, we all love to run, period.

For his part, Tristan ran the APC Summer Soaker 5K 07’16’S with his pop-pop. Moe shares that Tristan was particularly motivated by the water spraying from spectators and a township fire truck. Imagine, running AND water!

That spoiled him, though, for last week’s GGR and he wasn’t feeling as much enthusiasm; until we passed a gardener watering his plants. Gardener was skeptical when we asked to get some hydration too, but he delivered and then so did Tristan as we finished doing a mile together.

So much to love, all rolled into one Growlers Group run.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Image of young kid used with permission. Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’07’27’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Photos and Cerebrun only

We have been talking about experimenting with different running routes for many months. Aside from our traditional Jenkintown Sunset 5K route (See first map.), Alverthorpe Park was appealing until we received notice that the township would be tightening entrance requirements. We do love our S5K run, both forward and backward, but change is good, too. So, I got to work mapping out a route on the east side of Old York Road, instead of the west where the S5K runs every June. Revolutionary!

Growlers seem to like 5K distances, so a comparable distance was appropriate. Plenty of sidewalks was another important consideration. And then not too much elevation gain. (See second map.)

Trying this route for the first time last week required us all to hover close together, given that I was the only person who knew it. Then there was the issue of the unexpected disappearance of sidewalk on a potentially busy stretch of Rydal Rd. Also challenging was the valley descent with equally ominous ascent that turned out to be not nearly as bad as it first appeared. All in all, not terrible. A tweak of the route has smoothed out the elevation chart even more and made the gain virtually identical to the S5K. (See third map.)

If it works well enough to become a part of the rotation, I move to call it The Submarine. Srsly. That’s what it looks like.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’08’10’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun and images only

There’s a lot of news lately about the challenges of making friends later in life. If you haven’t noticed, here’s an Atlantic article to read for perspective: Why Making Friends in Midlife Is So Hard. The author mentions that it takes more than 200 hours, ideally over six weeks, for a stranger to grow into a close friend. The difficulty of making friends comes because few people around midlife have that kind of time to invest.

A GGR lasts about an hour and a half (6:30-8:00p) including the time it takes to assemble, do a 5K distance, and hang out afterward, preferably over beer. With that figure, two hundred hours amounts to 133 runs. Of course, no one is spending the entire time talking to one person. And no one is coming every single week of the year. But everyone has a common interest tying us together. Yes, of course I mean running. That means it’ll only take 5 years, running 26x a year, to make deep friendships.

The current gang is making excellent progress getting there. I’ve been loving the process. The post-run beer as social lubricant doesn’t hurt.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’08’10’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

I might have expressed enthusiasm for GGR last week in my weekly message, but I did NOT feel it when I headed over to the store. JRC Keith noticed immediately: “Tired?”

I wasn’t just tired, I had, like, zero in my emotional bank account. Naturally, the Growlers in attendance expressed concern as I laid down on one of the benches. There might have been one particular contributing factor that’s not a major, long-term concern, but, hey, I’m a sensitive guy and it probably had me in the moment. I had no doubt that running with the group would cheer me up. That was the primary stimulus for attending. What I didn’t expect was that it wasn’t the run conversation that would do the trick.

Growler Jim walked in the door and announced, “Hey, my vegetable garden overfloweth [paraphrase] so I brought in tomatoes and cucumbers!” Holy cow, it was like a weight rose off my chest. I instantly cheered.

When emotions get the better of me (admittedly, they’re usually annoyance and anger), I’ve found that changing my focus is the best coping strategy. In so many ways, I find myself just an infant. ‘Wow, I’m angry that you won’t let me stick my finger in one of those 2 little vertical slots in the wall that are at exactly the right height for me. What? Sure, I’d love to play with that bunch of shiny keys. Can I put them in my mouth?’ Jim’s generosity with something so appealing was perfect. And I can put them in my mouth.

I still let the run picture reflect my original mood, but my eyes were smiling.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT

¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’08’17’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Image and Cerebrun only

The CtC-dubbed Submarine route (east of Jenkintown) got positive reviews on its second outing, this time, forward (direction arbitrarily determined by yours truly). Though there’s a significant rise a ½ mile in, complaints were negligible and the overall verdict was that the route’s elevation change was better than for the Jenkintown 5K Route. Having gotten reasonable reviews last week when we did it in reverse, the feeling was that this one could become a good ongoing option in conjunction with J5K.

Up next in the experimental queue are 2 recommendations by Jenk Adam and Jason. All these routes have the benefit of looped add ons to sweeten the pot. Come to think of it, we can really do the same for J5K. Funny it never came to me before now…

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’08’24’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

The leader that’s a consensus builder can have a tough job when people don’t express their opinions. Case in point is the process of creating new running routes. There’s the process of soliciting everyone’s opinions and ranking priorities, then there’s the process of soliciting feedback. With the Jenkintown Sunset 5K route, some people were just getting tired of it. In considering a new route, do you want hills? How long do you want the route to be? Want sidewalks? How much traffic are you willing to put up with?

When everyone’s pretty agreeable, how about just creating something like the new Submarine Route and trying it on for size? If people are pretty noncommittal about it, no problem, you have a new route. If people don’t like it, they will definitely say something. Tweak it and just keep trying.

But what about naming the route? That’s easy. That’s my job: “Because it looks like a submarine.”

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’08’31’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

[Title added: 2022’09’16’F]

I’m part of a family business (fine watercolor) that takes me to LA occasionally where one of my 4 brothers lives. We 4 sons started it after our artist mother passed on in 2018. During the time when she was still living in the LA area, I started running with another running club: Village Runner RC. Much like ORC, there are 2 stores with 2 running groups. Less like JRC and RRC, there’s overlap between the groups; the stores are only a couple of miles apart. There’s also overlap with a Saturday group rather like Pennypack Trail Runners to us: PV Runners. So I’ve gotten to know a few people (one in particular) from across a few runs over the last few years.

Knowing I was going to have to miss GGR on the right coast, I brought my gear to attend VRRC on the left coast. And then I promptly didn’t use it. At all. For 7 days.

You know, when you’re visiting family and conducting important business (vs ‘mere’ socializing), sometimes you have to prioritize. The brothers appreciate my running, but they also appreciated my not running; that allowed us to inventory our salable assets.

Progress gets assessed in different ways. The business made progress because of this trip and I rested. We’re both that much more ready to move forward.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’09’14’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

Aly isn’t a newbie because she ran 20 years ago, before life started interfering with her group running. Life is 100% in order now, so she’s back again. And she’s able to report that Jenkintown Running Company’s running group is a great group. That’s a great testimonial, but I am a little skeptical. It couldn’t have been that great, could it? Aly thinks it might have been an exclusively guy group, except for her. Her memory is a little dim on that. Look at the representation, now, though, by All the gals and the rest of us amazing people. Well, I won’t diss the old days, because there’s no presenting evidence either way. I can say that 20 years from now, these Cerebruns will testify to how great the Growlers Group Run was, uh, now. We’ll compare the notes with our recollection when we all get there.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’09’21’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Image and Cerebrun only

While I was away from the Growlers last week, I was in New Orleans leading runs down there. Wife was attending an annual national conference in NOLA and I was able to be her plus one. I paid my way by anchoring morning runs for the attendees.

The morning of last week’s Growlers run, I did a solo 4 miles from NOLA’s business district to the garden district and back through the warehouse district. There’s one thing Jenkintown needs in particular that the garden district boasts: A grass-paved trolley track for recreational activity. The transit authority actually permits it! No fencing. No prohibition signage. That trolley ain’t fast and people walk and run at will.

Friday morning I did a 2 2/3 mile walk with a public health professor. We talked academic shop and cased a bank job out. We literally hoisted ourselves up on a 6’ window ledge and checked out the art deco interior. We did not get arrested: It went out of business years ago.

That’s my report; just so you know that I didn’t fritter away my running time.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’09’28’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

The 2 runners were shopping together in the store when the Growlers returned from the 09’14’W run. They took notice. “How nice. The store has a group running out of it. Maybe we should check it out,” they thought aloud. Unfortunately, then the group started cracking open the beers. “Drinking?! In public?! Not the group for us,” they whispered as they devoted themselves to shopping again.

Actually, Amy and Tara said, “We definitely need to check out this running group.” Amy brought Dublin Dave the next week and came back with J.Drew and Tara last week. Unfortunately, they stayed for our postponed Wildly Wet Wednesday and took it off the deep end. It’s not often Human Robot has to throw an entire group out: yep, us.

Actually, we kept making the Growlers Group Run as much about community as competition Without being public nuisances.

I did what I could to sustain the positive vibes, but, unfortunately, I’m not very social. Yeah, you figured it out. Actually…

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’10’05’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

It’s become pretty obvious that the first name initials of us Growlers disproportionately favors A-D with A being the favorite. So I decided to do a little analyzing of participants in 2022.

I pulled numbers from one particular website* (which unfortunately doesn’t say a lot about its source, but it’s good enough for our purposes) and came up with some numbers. Our percentage of A’s (Aaron, 2 Adams, Adelaide, Alex, Aly, Amy, 2 Andrews, and Aravind) is 23.8. The typical percentage is 8.5!

The normal percentage of name initials for all A-D, is 23.0. For us, it’s 59.5! (B’s include Bridger, Brigid, and Bryan. C’s are Caitlin, CtCloser, Candace, and Christian. D’s are 2 David’s, Dean, and Devon.)

Could it be pure coincidence? Are people choosing to attend because of their first name initial? If the latter, how is that even possible? If yes, though, stop it! We neither favor nor discriminate!

I do find a fascinating resonance with me and my 3 brothers. Mom Wang named us Andrew, Bertram, Calvin, and Daniel. Cue the eerie Twilight Zone music.^

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶*Names’ First Letter Distribution ^The Twilight Zone ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’10’12’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun and image only

Maybe as peculiar as the phenomenon itself was the Growlers’ interest in what I wrote last week about A-D first-name initials and the 2022 GGR cohort relative to the general population. Those with other initials are really not second class, so here’s more about them, even if they collectively represent only 40.5% (instead of the expected 77.0%).

The next most commonly represented Growlers initials were J’s and T’s, at 4 apiece (Jasmin, Jason, Jim, and Jonathan; Tania, Tara, Tim, and Tristan). In both cases, the relative representation among the Growlers (9.5%) was about double the general population. Tallying pretty close to right in line with the general population was M’s and P’s (7.1%). The Growlers had 3 each in 2022 (Maria, Mary, and Maurice; Jenkintown Pete, Phil, and Phin).

Though E is the most common letter used in English words, it’s not the most common initial. The Growlers also track close to the general population with 2 (4.8%; Eileen [Smileen] and Erica). Rounding out the list as Growlers singletons were G, H, K, L, and S (Gio, Heather, Kai, Leah, and Stephen). The first 2 approximately track the general population and the next 2 are about half.

This leaves the question of which first-name initials are conspicuously absent from the 2022 Growlers roster. Aside from what I’ve already mentioned, we need 3 more S’s. We also need 2 N’s and R’s, each. Finally, we need an F, I (Isaiah?), O (Olivia?), and a V, W, Y, Z. Don’t look too hard at the math: rough numbers.

After all is said and done, as I regular assert, the Growlers is a special group; whether it tracks initially or not.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’10’19’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only

Last week’s Wildly Wet Wednesday was a toast to the Growlers who would be running Sunday’s End of the Road Run (half marathon and 4-miler) in Waterfall, central PA. The well wishes worked wonders! Willing themselves beyond any wacky team’s wildest expectations, 6 of the 8 members worked the podium with 4 of those winning age groups!

Aaron: Half marathon (HM), 1:48:08.81 (4th: M 30-34)

Adelaide: HM, 1:51:26.66 (1st: F 30-34)

Alex: HM, 2:20:40.24 (PR in his first half marathon!D)

Caitlin: HM, 1:48:09.52 (1st: F 35-39)

Candace: 4-miler, 41:17.38(1st: F 30-34)

CtCloser: HM, 2:01:45.71 (2nd: M 55-59)

Train Dave: HM, 1:41:30.72 (2nd: M 20-29)

Jas-Yaz: HM, 1:28:26.17 (1st: Male 45-49)

Thanks to Train Dave who turned around a Growlers’ shirt order in 6 days! Note: Jas-Yaz also had the 3rd fastest race time! I had my slowest HM (out of 6)! But who cares, because I, along with every other of the 7 half marathoners, ran negative splits.

In closing, I am and I hashtag,
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), #negativesplitorpositivesplat #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’10’26’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Select image and Cerebrun only

A few Growlers knew of a couple of houses close enough to the Sunset 5K route to warrant investigation. Jason knew one local set-designer homeowner whose set up on Jenkintown’s Cheltena Ave merited a pause to take the whole thing in. Conveniently, it was a mere few houses off from the 5K route. That prompted the mention of another home “just around the corner” and down Baeder and Wanamaker Roads on the Abington side of the SEPTA tracks. When all was said and done, the detour didn’t even add a half mile to the run after we circled back.

As for the decorations, the punny Jenkintown-themed tombstone epitaphs at the Jenkintown house generated more than one snicker of approval. The 8’-tall floating witch on the Abington side also made us stop. At both houses, it was the moving elements that really caught our eyes. Seemed appropriate for a running group.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’11’02’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with added caption

In life, various people manage to generate the lion’s share of attention. Think of various prominent politicians, entertainment celebrities, or notable athletes. Take that closer to home and the year-end holiday season brings immediate and extended family members to mind. Nearer and dearer to Jenkintown Running Company’s Growlers Group Run are the characters that show up so many Wednesdays.

Some Growlers manage to generate a good bit of attention because of how they behave or what they say and how much. >cough<  The degree to which they get mentioned across these Cerebruns or referenced in group photos is not necessarily an effective way of determining who said Growlers are. Not necessarily.

A few Growlers prefer not to draw attention to themselves in much of any way. And, oddly, manage to generate attention by doing exactly that. One in particular is not necessarily featured in last week’s group photo featuring their own version of a cheesy grin, saying, before getting included anyway, “I guess my plan failed.”
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’11’09’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption, minor edits, and image.

As the self-appointed anchor of the Growlers Group Run, I get to be in pretty much every photo we take of the group. Selfies work well for that, but standing back and taking a shot of the group without me works also. In fact, there’s an extra benefit to doing the latter.

It seems that the camera on my smart device tends to focus on the face that’s most prominent in the framing which, with a selfie, means me as the selfer. That then means everyone else is relatively out of focus. Now I might think I’m about the most important person in my little universe, but in a group, everyone’s kind of important. So the focus on me feels wrong.

One solution revolves around Jenk Adam. Last week he self-selected to sit out the group photo, so I had to shoot him separately and digitally add him. (No Photoshop, here. Paint is plenty good for our purposes.) A variation of Jason and Jim decided that maybe I should digitally add him to every run photo. As a witty experiment (if I say so myself), that’s what I did for the featured shot today. It nicely places him in focus also, even if it not-so-nicely deCapitates Jenk Eric’s cap.

Avoiding that problem takes me to at least one other easy and fast solution: Turn the camera around and take the picture without me. And now I have a justification when someone says, “But then you’re not in the picture.” My little universe is large enough to make everyone else focally important at least once in a while.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’11’16’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and image.

Cerebruns go through cycles. The ones of late have placed lots of emphasis on the picture that we take before every effort. So why not one more?

The prompt this time was Aaron not being able to get his tuchus over before we got going. It seems MBA homework was to blame. He did manage to make it directly from his house about 2/3’s of our way through the run. But the observation was that he wouldn’t be in the weekly photo. A variation of Jason and Jim decided that maybe I should digitally add him. As another witty experiment, that’s what I did.* With sophisticated image-editing software like Microsoft Paint, how could I not?

You be the judge of the effectiveness of the shot. And if you think we need to stick solely to the literary wit at the expense of the visual, it might be time to override that variation of Jason and Jim.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’11’23’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption, minor edits, and image.

Getting ready to run with GGR last week was not a joyful prospect. When I looked out there was still light, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Apple Weather said that with certainty.

Standing at the store at 6:30 last week was not a joyful prospect. When usually I would find a few Growlers ready to go, I found none. A look around the store said that with certainty.

Running around the Sunset 5K last week was not a joyful prospect. But the 4 other Growlers that arrived finally made it less joyless. I said that with certainty.

The winter solstice, when the sun will be at its lowest, the day will be at its shortest, and the dark will be at its longest is still weeks away. But spring’s arrival will make these days less joyless. And come it will: The celestial cycle said that with certainty.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’11’30’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption, minor edits, and image.

Like other winning Philadelphia teams, the Growlers comprises not just us runners. There is a long-standing team of people that makes the Jenkintown Running Company store the perfect place to launch and land: Drew, Keith, and Mike. Last week we waved good bye to Drew as he finished his tenure with a newly minted master’s degree to enter the manufacturing side of athletic shoes.

It’s funny how what you can understand of someone can get qualified and refined by knowing them, hearing from other people, and reading what people write about them, whether casually or formally. I love the word he uses to describe himself on his LinkedIn profile: “Fearless.” I use words like “ambitious” and “principled” (which I consider equally apt and insightful[XD])

An online search reveals things I really didn’t know about him. He kept me company for a few GGRs during the leaner years, so I knew he had speed, but you’ll have to check out how much of a stand-out runner he was back at Upper Moreland High School from what at least one running journalist wrote.

Thankfully, Drew will continue to be connected to JRC through of his new job, so we should expect to see him at least a little. Good luck, Drew! (And, Growlers, let’s know each other fully. Without the online searching. Creepy.)
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’12’07’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and image.

WWW (not the online thing) is a Growlers tradition that developed from a confluence of several different streams of practice, among them being drinking, eating, and socializing.

As far as drinking, that was a tradition that preceded my tenure in the form of runners bringing their brews of choice to imbibe post-run. Shockingly, the store staff not only tolerate it, those enablers actually endorse it. As far as the eating, that’s taken the form of occasional pizzas, everyone’s fave. Ordering got complicated during the 2nd year of C19 when pizzerias had unpredictable hours. Then Human Robot opened next to the Hiway Theater just 2 tiny blocks away. Well, socializing became that much easier because JRC does technically close at 8:00 p.m. and lights out can be a downer for hanging out and talking.

The word “confluence” has roots meaning “with-flow,” and combine to mean “a flowing together.” So WWW is a perfect confluence of the 3 parallel streams. The name began with the 2022’08’17’W run as “Wildly Wet Wednesday.” The W’s are just amusingly alliterative. And the 3 makes the 3rd run of the month the perfect Wednesday to celebrate it. The transformation to “Wickedly Wet Wednesday” is me confusing the words for the November announcement then realizing with this month that “wickedly” is easier to say with Wet Wednesday than “wildly,” anyway. Linguistics joins the confluence. I did start this Cerebrun by saying “several” streams. Ah, me.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’12’14’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with caption.

I began crafting cleverly considered cogitations for incarnations of this club in 2018. Then, they were available exclusively through email and Facebook. Going back and reading any that happened to be particularly memorable required email and Facebook accounts. And fortitude. Because those platforms were intended for communication and communitizing, but not for recalling. These cogitations, at least. In 2019, I began writing remarkably reflective ruminations for another running throng. Ditto on the exclusive availability.

I had considered consolidating both collections in one classy compendium, but they had become quantifiably considerable. Then my professional circumstances provided me with the opportunity to act. So in June of this year, I began the process of republishing the plenitude. Now I’m done.

As of this, my 300th piece (#185 Cerebrun and #115 Rumination, respectively) between the 2 groups, you can now check them out: Running. While having some familiarity with the respective groups (or running in general) is helpful, knowing them is not a prerequisite. Be assured, though, reading them all will give you considerable insight into running, 2 particular running groups, me, and even life itself.

Thanks to every one of you who has been a part of my audience so far and expressed your appreciation for my efforts. Finish strong!
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶*Numbering promoted in order to make current a true count by accommodating #1a, #81a, #108a, #112a, #113a, and missing #148. [Edited: 2023’01’11’W] ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’12’21’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with caption.

The months of November and December provided plenty of opportunity for me to practice my group picture-editing skills. Uncharacteristically, people managed to miss the picture op before various runs started but still met the group during the run or at its end. Some got the details of the planned route from the store staff. A few just wung it (verb conjugations: wing, wung, wungXD) but still managed to find us. There it helped that we’ve been doing the Sunset 5K route faithfully with the onset of winter, what with its proximity to the store, good lighting, and light traffic.

As far as the picture-editing, it’s a simple effort to cut and paste the missing runner in using Microsoft Paint. With the start of 2023, let’s call those pictures redoes: chances to make the picture an accurate representation of those who attended the run that evening.

Without Adobe Photoshop to complicate the editing effort by raising the aesthetic bar unnecessarily high, it’s also an amusing effort that never fails to make me laugh.

So there you go. Goodbye, 2022. Let’s see this next year be one of greater predictability, simplicity, and levity.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue

FINE PRINT
¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2022’12’28’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and image.