Turkey Trot 2009 - the last words?

[Jim]

First, if you can pick up at the Blood Bank Garage on Wednesday night,
it would be appreciated. Registered, too. It will save time & hassle
on Thursday morning.

Carpool, carpool, carpool. Even if it's a meetup at a grocery store or
the Ridge center & come down. 2500 people, plus the locals, make for
a parking problem. Please, help be a part of the solution and
carpool. Please note also that the rangers are going to issue tickets
on Thursday, so park legally.

We have 240 chips left. We might run out, and I won't feel too bad.
(I'll feel bad, but geez, we've been talking about this all year).
Register on Wednesday and avoid the rush.

If you hear folks asking where to go, tell them that the 10k gathers
in the North lot, and 5k in the south lot. (Some folks will say that
the lake is "North", and it might seem so. If that's the case, then
the 10k is the "east" lot and the 5k is the "west" lot.) We'll pull
you out onto the road when it's time. There is a stack of (adequate)
maps at chip pickup.

Speaking of chips - they're yours to keep. PLEASE tie them into your
laces. Don't tie them on top of a RoadID tag, or anything metallic,
as they don't work that way. Most of you won't have any problem
putting them FIRMLY in your laces. Look around, ask friends &
neighbors about their chips, and help them out.

And if you talk to David Comi (or any of the staff down there) thank
them. Thank the road marshalls. Thank the registration staff. Thank
the folks out there to try to put on a great event. Thank the
Sontheimers (GREAT food). And thank your fellow runners & walkers for
helping to make this one of the greatest Turkey Trots in the region.

Thank you.
Jim

[Jim]

Well, that tears it. We had 191 register tonight - which leaves us
with precisely 49 chips for race morning. I don't know what to tell
those who come down too late other than I'm sorry. We've been talking
about selling out for months, and we shall.

There are nearly 2000 of you doing one of the runs. I would STRONGLY
encourage you to park at Waldameer and use the jog down for your
warmup. If you've already picked up your chip, you'll be in GREAT
shape to do so. If you have not, you'll still be able to. There
simply won't be enough parking if all 2500+ of you decide to park at
beach 1. So please, carpool, or park at Waldameer, or something
smart.

Last year there were a couple of angry letters to the editor - having
to do with how we take over Presque Isle with little consideration for
the community. In a way, it's true. You can't have 2000+ people at
beach 1 and not get noticed. But we do an awful lot to draw good
crowds to the park, which is how its funding is determined. In
addition, we're out there for a couple of hours, then we're gone. Not
perfect, but not bad, either. So let's try to be nice to our
neighbors, show how thankful we are for the opportunity to make a
good, healthy use of the park, and help prevent any public image
problems this year.

You all have my thanks for supporting our club, our community, and our
sport.

Jim