Hello Gators, It’s time to celebrate a fantastic year! Just eight days from today… Saturday, November 7, we will be having our 2nd annual end of year club party. Allison and Melissa have been hard at work in planning a great evening and we hope that many of you can join us for the fun! Thanks to our outstanding sponsor “Centre for the Healing Arts” (Mike Connelly), the event is FREE, but we need you to pre-register if you are planning to come so that we can accurately estimate food and drinks. If you have not already done so, register today through the Evite e-mail or the event invite on our Facebook page (deadline is next Tuesday, November 3)… https://www.facebook.com/events/516359868514052/ . For more details, see “Gator Bash 2015” below. This week's news topics include...Accomplishments… Iron Brent, Hat Trick x 3, Sweet Run, Will Run for Beer, and Hot to Trot!!Gator Bash 2015… Don’t miss what will likely be our most memorable event of the year!!Tri Club Workout Update… A modified Thursday night, moving inside on Saturdays, and other Tri Club workout news!!GFC Update… Are you up to the challenge?!?! And… drum roll… announcing our GFC prizes!!Mark Your Calendars… Upcoming club events include Off Season Training Seminar (next week), the Philadelphia Marathon/Half Marathon, our End of Year Club Party, and Annual Members Meeting!! Happy Birthday!: Best wishes to the following Gators celebrating birthdays last week and this week!Wednesday, October 21: Matt DavidsonTuesday, October 27: Riley Milligan (our youngest member just became a teenager!)Thursday, October 29: Chris “IM Security” PhillipsSaturday, October 31: Heather Tracey… Happy Halloween!Sunday, November 1: Heather Irwin Accomplishments: A brand new Ironman and lots of running around…Saturday, October 17: Ironman Maryland (Cambridge, MD): Brent Voynar, “You Are An Ironman!”… After enduring a two week delay due to weather and another half hour delayed swim start, Brent Voynar attacked the Ironman Maryland course and completed his first Ironman event. And Brent had a spectacular time finishing in the top 25% overall. Way to go, Brent, congrats on an amazing achievement!Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18: Runner’s World “Hat Trick” 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon (Bethlehem, PA): We had three athletes (and one fiancé) take on the “Hat Trick”, which includes a Saturday morning 5K and 10K with start times separated by a mere 90 minutes and a Sunday morning half marathon…Gregg Heimer (participating with his fiancée, Kimberlea) battled through some significant stomach issues to complete all three events, even placing in the top 35% overall in the 5K! Way to battle through it and cross all three finish lines, Gregg!Tiff Pfluger finished in the top 25 overall females for the Hat Trick (out of close to 500) and for the individual events finished in the top 5%-8% of all females, the top 15% overall, and the top 10% of her age group for all three events. Great job, Tiff!Tim Pfluger finished #5 overall in the Hat Trick (out of 800+ total participants) and for the individual events finished in the top 1% of all three races including a #1 age group win in both the 5K and the 10K and a #2 age group finish in the half marathon… PODIUM!! Way to go, Tim!Sunday, October 18: Hershey Half Marathon (Hershey, PA): Heather Tracey had an awesome race finishing in the top 3% in both her age group and all females and also in the top 7% of all race participants… Sweet race, Heather!Saturday, October 24: Stoudt’s Brewing Distance Classic 12K (Adamstown, PA): Gregg Heimer took both his fiancée, Kimberlea, and his recuperated stomach out for another run in this race to the beer. EDITOR’S NOTE: There are no Gators that I’m aware of racing this weekend, but Gregg will be on the sidelines at the Philadelphia Rock N Roll Half Marathon to cheer on Kimberlea who will be running in her 5th race in 15 days on Halloween.Sunday, October 25: Hotfoot 8.8 (Fort Washington, PA): Both Brian Kozera and Kristin Kozera participated in this event as a tune-up for the November 22 Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon. This unique race includes both an 8.8K option and an 8.8 mile option. Of course Kristin and Brian chose the 8.8 mile option! Great job, Kristin and Brian! Gator Bash 2015: Following are the details about this year’s party…When? Saturday, November 7, 6:00pm-11:00pm6pm-7pm: Happy Hour7pm-8pm: Buffet Dinner8pm: Recognitions and door prizes8:30pm: "White Elephant" gift exchange11pm: Turn out the lights, the party’s over! (at least at the Barn)Where? The Barn at Providence Forge in Royersford. The facility is part of the Providence Forge townhome complex at 217 Providence Forge Rd. just off of Vaughn Rd. It is on the left just past the swimming pool. Parking is a bit limited (please adhere to the parking/no parking signs); if you cannot find a spot in the parking lot, please park on the wide shoulder along Vaughn Rd. For more details about the Barn… https://www.facebook.com/TheBarnRoyersford/info/?tab=overviewCost? Thanks to our awesome sponsor the Centre for the Healing Arts, there will be NO OUT OF POCKET COST for our members and guests! But you do need to register to attend to ensure we have enough food and drink.How do I sign up? An Evite e-mail was sent out a while back and a Facebook event (pinned to the top of our group page) has been established. You can reply to either. Facebook link… https://www.facebook.com/events/516359868514052/What’s the “White Elephant” gift exchange all about? This is an extremely fun event! It’s entirely optional, but we highly encourage you to participate! Anyone that would like to participate should bring a wrapped gift that costs no more than $10 out of pocket. And it doesn’t have to be newly purchased (we know you have some interesting items around the house)… The more creative you are, the better!... Last year’s gifts included the now iconic giant fork and the flower cladded swim cap. Each participant will be given a number and will select a gift in numerical order starting at 1. When it’s your turn you can either “steal” a previously opened gift or select an unopened gift. If your gift is stolen, you can steal someone else’s or select another unopened gift. More rules/details will be explained prior to the start.What’s the attire? CasualAny other details? There will be music, door prizes, a club video, and maybe another surprise or two! Tri Club Workout Update: In order to meet your needs for this time of year… form improvement, strength building, technique improvement, and addressing weaknesses, the club workout schedule will be modified as follows starting next week (week of November 2)…Mondays and Wednesdays (no changes): Tri Swim workouts at 10am-11am (Don S) and 8:30pm-9:30pm (Monday rotation between Steve and Brian and Wednesday covered by Maribeth).Tuesdays, 7:30pm-9pm (slight modifications): Will include a 45 minute spin session immediately followed by a 30-45 minute strength/core/stretching session (rotation between Michelle and Maribeth). Running will no longer be incorporated into this workout.Thursdays, 7:30pm-8:45pm (significant change): We will convert this workout from a bike trainer session to a run technique/core/strength session. It will take place on the indoors track. Rotation between Danny and Byron. NOTE: This will begin on Thursday, November 12 as there will be no workout on November 5 due to the seminar.Saturdays, 7:30am-9:30am (moving indoors starting on November 7): This will include a 75 minute bike trainer session in Room 2 followed by a 15-30 “on your own” brick run (indoors track, outdoors track, or treadmill). Don M will remain as the coaching lead. If you’d like to learn more about these modifications as well as what our focus will be on during the workouts (and what you might want to focus on in your individual workouts), please consider attending the Thursday, November 5 “Off Season Training” seminar hosted by Brian and Danny in the Y’s Corporate Conference Room. Gator Fitness Challenge Update: Congrats to the 24 Gators that have completed at least one weekly SBR or Plank Challenge! And special congrats to Maribeth, Brian, Michelle, Don M, Dorian, Tiff, Tim P, and Logan who have completed all six challenges through week 3! It’s never too late to join, so if you are not already signed up but would like to join, just let us know (e-mail nflsteeler8@msn.com)! And a bit more incentive… WE NOW HAVE PRIZES TO BE AWARDED AT THE END OF GFC III: Piranha Sports has provided two Sprint Distance race entries to the club that will be awarded to two GFC participants. Every time you complete a weekly challenge (or one of the overall challenges; see below), you will receive an entry into the drawing that will take place on Monday, January 4, 2016. Sign up today! This week’s Gator Fitness Challenges:SBR Challenge: At least 20 minutes each swimming, biking, and running with a combined minimum total of at least 1 hr, 30 min.Plank Challenge: 1 minute, 20 seconds And don’t forget to keep track of your overall totals as you get bonus points each time you complete 10,000 yards of swimming or 5 hours of cycling or 50 miles of running! Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming events include…Thursday, November 5, 7:30pm-9:00pm, Spring Valley YMCA, Corporate Conference Room: Off Season Training Seminar. This seminar will be conducted by our USAT coaches and will cover recovery, strength training, and technique training during the latter part of the year.Saturday, November 7, 6:00pm-11:00pm, “The Barn” at Providence Forge (217 Providence Forge Rd, Royersford): End of Year Club Party. If you have not already done so and you are planning to come, please accept Mellissa’s Facebook invite!Sunday, November 22: CLUB EVENT – Philadelphia Marathon and Half MarathonThursday, December 17, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Spring Valley YMCA, Corporate Conference Room, : Annual Member Meeting. This is your opportunity to get up to speed on the club’s 2015 accomplishments and learn what we have planned for 2016! It may be followed by an informal gathering at a local establishment. Go Gators! Don M