BEST WISHES FOR A SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL EVENT... ... to all Gators heading south or any other direction for an event this weekend! We have our first half marathoner of the year and our Gator Fitness Challenge is in full swing! The Spring Valley YMCA parking lot is fuller than it has been since early 2020. Whether your first event of the year is next week or this summer, it's time to join in on the fun! Regarding our "Who's In?" athlete event calendar... You have indicated in our recent member survey that this tool is a valuable member benefit and one that we should continue to offer, so we definitely will do so. Our rule of thumb for what is included in the calendar is "anything longer than a 5K" meaning that we generally list all events that would take you longer to finish than the time it takes to finish a 5K (with a few exceptions for special club events such as the Ice Cream 5K, the Gobble Wobble 5K, the Saucony Mile, the RefrigaGator Swim, etc)... The reason for this is bandwidth to maintain the calendar... It's a challenging task to keep it current and if we included 5K events, it would be very difficult to maintain. BUT, that does not mean that 5K and shorter events are not important... In fact, many of us likely began our endurance sports journeys by running a 5K. So while we do not track them on the calendar, we highly appreciate when you do these events and strongly encourage you to post comments on our best wishes posts for ANY event that you have that is not included on our calendar, including 5K and shorter events. We look forward to sending Good Gator Vibes your way whenever you cross a starting line! Before we cover the weekend workouts and this weekend's event, a few reminders/notes... • Member Survey... Thank you for your input! Our officers have already started to review the results and discuss ideas based on the input. More to come! • 2022 Gators Registration... Registration is open for 2022. If you have not yet had an opportunity to renew your registration, see Don Mack's December 8 post under "Featured" that includes all of the details including the link to online registration and step-by-step instructions. Please renew before January 31... Your member benefits will be in effect until then. • Winter GFC... The 13 week Gator Fitness Challenge, week 2, is in progress! It runs from January 3 to April 3... If you have not already joined and are interested in joining in and taking on one of or both of the weekly challenges, just post a comment and you are in. Each Monday we have a "Roll Call" to see how we did in the prior week. You can join any time... The GFC motto is "It's never too late to start!" • Hats and Visors... We will continue to distribute these until they are gone. If you have not yet claimed one, see Don Mack before they are gone. Weekend Workouts: We have a couple of opportunities for you to train with fellow Gators this weekend... • Saturday, January 15, 8am-9:15am: Zwift Cycling Meetup... We are tackling the Watopia "Legends and Lava" route. You can join us for part of it or the entire 75 minutes. See "Event" for more info... https://www.facebook.com/events/631452501404342 • Sunday, January 16, 11:15am-12:15pm, Spring Valley YMCA Indoor Lap Pool: Uncoached group swim workout Weekend Events: For the 3rd straight weekend we have an athlete participating in an event... • Sunday, January 16: Key West Half Marathon (Key West, FL): Beth Wysoczanski, following up on a very strong fall 2021 running season, will be running in this event that ends with a steel drum performance and Seadog Beer... Seems like a perfect way to spend a January weekend! Go Beth! Have a great weekend and Gator Done!