Mood:
luckyReason #17 to come to Penguin Winter Carnival, February 4-6, 2005 in Tampa, Florida:
THE STANLEY CUP!
.... currently in the possession of the Tampa Bay Lightning! http://www.tampabaylightning.com
On June 7, 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 to win the National Hockey League championship and won the coveted Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Cup, the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America, was donated by Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston and son of the Earl of Derby, in 1893. Lord Stanley purchased the trophy for 10 guineas ($50 at that time) for presentation to the amateur hockey champions of Canada. Since 1910, when the National Hockey Association took possession of the Stanley Cup, the trophy has been the symbol of professional hockey supremacy. It has been competed for only by NHL teams since 1926 and has been under the exclusive control of the NHL since 1946.
Sorry, Canada. The Stanley Cup not only isn't headed north, the Tampa Bay Lightning are taking it far into the Deep South, Land Of No Snow. Ruslan Fedotenko scored twice, including the critical first goal just as he did in the conference finals, and the resilient Lightning held off the Calgary Flames 2-1 in Game 7 Monday night to win their first Stanley Cup.
The Lightning play at the St. Pete Times Forum. Their 2004-2005 season isn't posted online yet, but it's quite possible that there will be games in town during the week of the Penguin Winter Carnival.
Tampa is also a big football town! On January 26, 2003 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVI, defeating the Oakland Raiders, 48-21. Super Bowl records were set during the game with five interceptions and three interception returns for touchdowns. It was the first NFL Championship in the Tampa club's history. At the age of 39, Jon Gruden became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl. Tampa Bay limited Oakland to just 62 total yards in the first half, the second-fewest in Super Bowl history, and finished the game surrendering just 269 total yards and 11 first downs. Linebacker Derrick Brooks sealed the victory with a late fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown and CB Dwight Smith set a Super Bowl record by returning a pair of second-half interceptions for touchdowns. http://www.buccaneers.com/index.html
Tampa's Arena Football team, the Tampa Bay Storm, have been World Champions five times since 1991. Arena football competition extends through February and tickets may be available during the week of Penguin Winter Carnival. http://www.tampabaystorm.com/
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News Flash: Consumer Reports magazine, July, 2004:
The host hotel chain of the Penguin Winter Carnival, Residence Inn by Marriott (https://www.angelfire.com/ult/pwc2005/lodging.htm) received a "Quick Pick for Best Values" top rating in the moderately priced range of nationwide hotel chains (only four selected out of 24 national motel chains including La Quinta, Holiday Inn, Ramada, etc.), and got a special mention as one of the top three hotel chains nationwide for "Best Complimentary Breakfast".
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The first in a series of introductions to the members of the people who are taking this from crackpot idea to reality:
The Penguin Winter Carnival Organizing Committee Members:
Meet Beth Terry!
Can you hear the music in the background? "Meet George Jetson . . . Jane his wife." One of my worst memories in the 90s has to do with the television I watched in the 70s.
In the mid 90s, I took my son to the Grand Canyon. It was the *biggest* vacation we had ever taken. He was about 10. And I was about 20 pounds too fat to take him on the burro trip down to the bottom of the canyon - the Colorado River. How many of you remember watching the Brady Bunch make that trip???
I did my first race ever in the fall of 2000 - a few months shy of my 35th birthday. This was actually my first athletic event of any type. I was always the kid picked last in PE because I sucked so totally at everything athletic. I had never played any type of sport - team or individual.
My son, Joe, who is now eighteen years old, six feet tall (my baby boy! :-) and a proud member of the Georgia Army National Guard is going out to Ft. Huachuca (AZ) this summer/fall for training and after he graduates, we are returning to the Grand Canyon. Although I am no longer too fat to ride the burros, we are going to hike it. I'm planning a double crossing. :-)
Along the way, in the last four years, I've been a single parent to a high school age son who has been able to set and reach for and attain his own goals, I've become an ultrarunner (my distance PR is 100K but I am in hot pursuit of a 100 miler finish!) and an ironman (Great Floridian 2002), and, over Memorial Day weekend . . . I won a marathon (Wickham Park, Melbourne Florida)!! :-) I'll never win Boston, but I it seems I can pick up hardware in the races most folks aren't willing to finish. Or even start.
I made some lifestyle changes about a year before I started racing - I quit practicing law and began subcontracting out to trial attorneys to do briefs and appeals. I've sorta become the guru in post conviction relief in my part of the world . . . and I love it. I recently made another huge lifestyle change when I rented the old farmhouse on a working horse farm outside of town. I am a city girl, gone country, and I have fallen in love with this "new to me" lifestyle.
It all (job, racing, the new place) sort of works together for me. It feels like . . . coming home. :-)
BTW - the farmhouse is conveniently located 7 miles off of I-75 in Valdosta, GA. A perfect stopping place for any of ya'll who might be taking a road trip to join us in Tampa in February. :-)
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This is one of a series of newsletters about the PENGUIN WINTER CARNIVAL, FEBRUARY 4-6, 2005 in Tampa, Florida.
Penguin Winter Carnival is a fun social meeting of runners, walkers, friends, and family attending the Run Tampa 2005 events, and will include special Friday morning workshops and get-togethers throughout the weekend. We welcome participants of all speeds! Race options include your selection of 5K, 15K, half marathon, and marathon distances over two days, plus special challenge awards for those intrepid (i.e., crazy) folks who would like to tackle a 5K, a 15K, *and* a half-marathon or marathon within two days.
For complete details and periodic updates, bookmark these websites:
Penguin Winter Carnival website:
https://www.angelfire.com/ult/pwc2005/
Penguin Winter Carnival news:
Join the Penguin Winter Carnival email discussion group:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/PenguinWinterCarnival/?yguid=103428986
Calling all snowbirds! Fly south in 2005 to join the flock for fun, friends, and frolic! All are welcome!
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