I may not be the lithest, the most talented, or have the fastest time in the field, but I have passion and courage, and sometimes that is enough to do something extraordinary."
-- Lauren Fleshman
​

This is my favorite time of the year.  Whispers of fall are creeping in: crisp nights here and there, a tree with a smattering of brightly colored leaves.  This is the time for running.

As a kid, I discovered a whole new side of myself when I signed up to join my first cross country team.  I was intensely shy and anxious, and to this day, I don't know what made me scrawl my name onto that sign-up sheet on the athletic director's door.  But once I arrived at those practices, something started to fall into place.  Moving next to my teammates, with no initial expectations except to put one foot in front of the other, felt accessible and also freeing.  I found stillness and calm within myself as I moved, an irony that I revel in to this day.  At my first races, the butterflies at the starting line made me question my decision to join the team.  But after the gun went off, I found myself seeking my teammates, pushing myself one literal step at a time, and finishing with a profound sense of accomplishment.

Cross country is a pure sport.  There is a start and a finish and the path between the two.  Every runner that toes the line will have to traverse the same trail in the same weather.  The distance covered will be measured in minutes and seconds, points will be awarded based on place, and the fastest individual will win while the team with the fewest points will be victorious.  It seems simple, but there's something spectacular about the courage and the heart that is required in each race.

On any given day, a runner has the opportunity to break a new boundary, to set a new personal record.  Consider: a personal record is the first time one's body has ever achieved that time.  She has to toe the line and ask herself: what can I do TODAY?  What WILL I do today?  And with each passing moment of the race, she must conquer invading doubts, overcome the increasing fatigue, and press on.  Each step is an act of courage, 

If you're looking to watch some brave, exciting moments, consider coming to an upcoming cross county meet and cheering on our Bobcats.  On October 5, we'll be hosting our only home meet of the season on the new course at the Lansing Center Trail.  We have several other nearby competitions listed on this site's calendar.  The NY State Cross Country Championships will be held nearby at Chenango Valley State Park on November 12.

And if you're looking for a starting line for yourself or your child, a chance to listen to your inner courageous runner, please consider:

• Lisa's Run on September 24.
• The Youth XC Series at Lansing and surrounding venues on October 8 and all fall.
• Many other races listed on the FLRC website.

Happy running,
​Coach Becca

Many of us are feeling that longing for summer days to keep stretching out before us and are trying to avoid looking the impending autumn squarely in the eyes.  It's been a sweet (albeit sweaty of late) summer with plentiful sunshine.  

For those of us who love to run, we're waking early to beat the heat or stepping out at dusk when the sun is no longer high in the sky -- and even though we love summer, we start to feel the beginnings of excitement for all that autumn running brings: cooler temperatures, cross country and road racing season, crunchy leaves beneath our feet.  

We're between the seasons: it feels like summer, but Lansing's fall high school athletes officially started preseason training today.  It's hot and muggy, but back-to-school sales and Halloween merchandise fill store shelves.  The kids are definitely not in classes yet, but camp options are winding down (those of us with small children are very aware of this last point....)  These in-between times mean endings -- and also beginnings.  For us runners, autumn is a celebrated beginning.  As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

The Lansing Lighthouse 5K is this weekend, August 20th, and there's no time like the present to get a race under your belt.  Brought to you by the Lansing cross country team, the race is a perfect opportunity to mark a new beginning, to start over with a new season of running or a journey to being more active.  It might by your your fiftieth 5K or your first -- for everyone, it'll be their first (and likely only) race of August 20, 2016.  

Herein lies yet another gift of running: the reminder to be present in the moment.  When we head out on a run, we often have intentions or plans for a certain pace or time, and we usually evaluate our progress towards a goal based on how that run went.  There's value in this.  And there's also value in knowing that each run is a different opportunity, a unique experience, a chance for a beginning, a starting over.

My favorite season of the year is autumn, most notably because of how much I love running in the crisp air.  I'll be breathing in the warm summer air while it lasts.  And I'll be ready to see a cloud of breath as I exhale on fall runs when the time comes.  

For those of you who wish to do the same, gather some friends and meet up at one of the community run locations.  Team RWB will be at the Town Trails run tomorrow, 8/16/2016, at 5pm.  Join us at the Lighthouse 5K on Saturday, or morning walks at the track once they resume in a few weeks.  If you want to meet at a time or place that isn't listed on the calendar but want others to join you, please let me know and we can add that to the calendar and Facebook page. This website is definitely in its beginning stages too, as is the attached community calendar.  Share your feedback and suggestions, or if you're interested in organizing a run, let me know: lansingcommunityrunners@gmail.com

--Coach Becca

​Lansing High School's cross country team has a new home course!  With support from Steve Colt and the Lansing Recreation Department, the Lansing Center Trail hosts  1.5, 1.9, and 3 mile routes on which modified and high school runners will train and race.  The course is entirely grass trails and features great spectator viewing.  Fans will be able to watch the start from a raised viewing area, see runners pass by the one- and two-mile mark, and then watch a sprint to the finish -- all from one vantage point.  

Over the summer, Lansing Recreation Department's cross country camp was held at the new course, and captains' practices were often run on the trails.  The Lansing Pathways Committee has poured such care and dedication into these trails, and the Recreation Department has been so helpful in creating a new starting and specator area.  With Ian Golden of Red Newt Racing and Finger Lakes Running & Triathlon Company providing his expertise in creating the course route, the Bobcats are proud to be running at this location.

​It's a beautiful new place to call home.

Windows are open at last, and we runners are able to don shorts and t-shirts after a long season of leggings and fleece. 

Social media is abuzz with abundant updates on the first warm weather races completed and even more happy bits of news about spring goals being set and then achieved, be it one mile or five.  

And Lansing student runners have been embracing the spring season, even if the weather hasn't always felt spring-like...we had winter and now it's feeling like summer.  From the girls varsity team achieving an undefeated dual meet season to invitational and championship podium appearances from both varsity and modified track & field athletes, our young runners and jumpers have impressed.  (And the varsity season continues on!  Check out their latest news at the Lansing Star.)  Our elementary students have walked and run over 5,270 MILES since September through the Mighty Milers program overseen by Ms. Leone Inman.  

Spring definitely has arrived -- and summer is just around the corner.  Please come join us at some of the upcoming events in Lansing, Ithaca, and beyond!

This morning, my father called me from the finishing chute of a 5K in New Hampshire.  "27:23!! On a hilly course!  And negative splits!!"  

This is a man who spent over fifty years of his life believing that he could not run.  He had bad knees.  His back would give out,  He figured he'd run if someone was chasing him.  But this is also a man who has cheered on his daughter while she raced on the trails and the track and the roads and listened when she was telling him that there was no feeling in the world quite like the pride one feels upon completing a race, after doing what previously seemed impossible.

Last April, I had planned to run the Boston Marathon.  I'd qualified for the fourth time -- and for the fourth time, injury struck.  I was sidelined with a broken foot.  Dad and I watched the runners, and he let me fill the space with chatter of what I would do differently when I got back to training. I appreciated the graceful manner in which he listened that day: I felt heartbroken to be watching the race that remains on my bucket list pass me by once again, and I knew that Dad was letting me talk so I wouldn't cry.  

What I didn't realize was that he was devising his own plan.  At sixty, he decided to become a runner.

Our phone calls were filled with questions about running form and injury prevention, queries about foam rollers versus stick rollers, and suggestions for the best running gear and shoes.  We each would read intriguing or inspiring articles and books about running and rush to text them to one another.  I thought it was great that he had added some jogs to his regular walks and bumped up the speed on the treadmill.  And then I started to get race updates.  There was the first 5K,,,and then another, and another...  Dad started to text me snapshots of his Garmin; his mileage was climbing while his weight, blood sugar, and  blood pressure were dropping.  His knees and back had never felt better.  His insomnia was cured as long as he was running regularly.

When my dad visited at Thanksgiving, just six months after he started running, he told me that he wanted to break 30 minutes for a 5K by summer 2016.  It's May 1st, and the man ran a hilly 5K race on a cool spring day in 27 minutes and 23 seconds.  

Dad would  be the first to tell you: it's just one foot in front of the other.  He has excelled at listening to his body, resting when his body is tired but promising himself a run on the days when his body is able.  Generally, this means he runs 4-5 days a week.  He rolls out diligently and has continually adjusted his nutrition to find what foods make him feel both healthy and satisfied.  He accepts that this journey to becoming a runner is an evolution, that he is both aging and becoming faster and that his training will continue to change with both of these variables.  

His story is at the core of what I love about running.  Our bodies are made for movement.   We can grow stronger and achieve new personal goals at any time in our lives; running is not just for the young.  

If you have been wondering about running your first race, getting back to running, trying a new race distance, or setting a new goal time: go for it.  Put one foot in front of the other.  Reach out to others with your questions.  Join others for a run.  Join US for a run!  I promise you, when you cross that finish line, that first step will feel so worth it.

And here's one specific way to get started:
​June 18th marks the 9-week countdown to the Lighthouse 5K.  It takes 9 weeks to complete the Couch-to-5K training program.  You can do this.

We had an early taste of spring, but it seems that Mother Nature has one last blast of wintry weather to share with all of us.  Morning walks have been delayed until April 15th.  Several track meets have also been postponed, but Senior Night and our first home dual meet remains on the schedule for this coming Monday, April 11th.  We have seven seniors on the team this year, and we are looking forward to honoring them before taking on Trumansburg and Dryden.  The forecast is typical of central New York, so bring layers -- but do come join us in cheering on our Bobcats!

First post!  Welcome to our page! I feel so much gratitude to live in a town like Lansing.  We are a community that supports each other, and this space is meant to help us connect so we can move together!  

I love running because it is accessible to everyone.  One foot in front of the other, and you're off!  That being said, a lot of people believe that they can't run, or they have had pain or injuries that have caused them to stop running in the past.  I've dealt with injuries of my own, and along the way I've learned a lot about how to run.  You can, in fact, learn to run more efficiently and with less risk of injury!  

There is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction that one feels after finishing up a run.  No matter how far or how fast, there is a pride in oneself after setting out with a goal and then resolving to achieve it .  The only thing better: sharing this feeling with others.

So please: come join us for a run!

​--Coach Becca