At the conclusion of the past two months, I have sat
at my desk with my fingers just above the keyboard, ready to write about the
happenings of the club. What is it that I need to tell our club members?
Let me start off my March letter with some changes to
our CRC Board of Directors.
Aaron Linz and Caitlin Chrisman, who were among the
founding members of our club, have decided to step aside from the CRC Board.
This was an extremely tough decision for the both of them. I like to think it
is like watching my children grow up. In the beginning, I have to spend a lot
of time making sure their clothes are clean and their teeth are brushed. But as
they grew, I have to extend them more and more freedom to do things on their
own. I have to show that I trust them to make good decisions. Otherwise, how
can I ever expect them to grow into successful adults? Aaron and Caitlin have
spent a few years now helping develop the club into what it is today, but both
felt it was time to take a step back from their duties.
I am here to say “thank you for your efforts”.
Without their contributions, the entity we know as the Charlotte Running Club
would not exist.
This departure left two CRC Board positions to fill,
and the present board followed the guidelines set forth in the club’s bylaws.
Our club is fortunate to have two members that have accepted new roles stepped
forward: Laurie Knowles and Jessica Bilbrey. Being new to the board, I expect
that they will bring new ideas and boundless amounts of enthusiasm to our club.
To those that might have questions about the club
process for replacing board members, I am sharing the link to our club’s
bylaws which explains both the resignation process and the nomination
process.
One of our most imaginative members, Mike Kahn, has
moved away from Charlotte. Mike spent hours working on new graphics, sponsors
for the Winter Classic, and many more creative aspects of the club. He has accepted
a position in New York, but before leaving, Mike wrote a piece about the best
running club on the planet. I recommend everyone take time out from their busy
day to read
it. Despite Mike no longer living in Charlotte, I will always consider him
part of the Charlotte Running Club’s extended family.
The center of the marathon running universe moves to
Boston next month, and there is a huge contingent of our club members making
the trip. For those that don’t know, Boston provides a team category, and our
club has created an open male and female team, along with a masters’ male team.
Every member making the trek to finish on Boylston Street should email Caleb
Boyd so they can be added to one of the Charlotte Running Club teams - caleb_boyd@yahoo.com. Let’s see if we
can have every club member signed up who is making this historic 26.2 mile run.
Charlotte
Running Club Boston Marathon Teams:
Men's
Open Team
1 Austin, Stan
2 Beigay, Michael
3 Belfiore, Bradley
4 Boyd, Caleb
5 Brinkley, David C. Jr.
6 Crockford, Chad
7 Guyer, Walt
8 Kahn, Michael S.
9 Lemke, Josh
10 Matena, Daniel
11 Meulemans, Jason
12 Mitchell, Michael
13 Shue, Billy
14 Stanford, Nathan L
Women's
Open Team
1 Baucom, Sommer
2 Crockford, Danielle
3 Dodge, Jamie
4 Donlan, Anna
5 Guimont, Elise K
6 Hansen, Emily
7 Matena, Valerie
8 Sikora, Jocelyn
9 Tsang, Phyllis
Men's
Masters Team
1 Aswell, Bobby R Jr.
2 Balletta, Peter
3 Bynum, Gordon
4 Halter, Jonathan
5 Hartung, Todd
6 Patch, Tom
7 Ulrich, Mark
Women’s
Masters Team
1 Allen,
Diane F
2 Remes,
Johanna
3 Rubinich,
Deb
4 Russo,
Kathleen
5 Smith,
Susan
This is the
link to use on race day to track our club members.
With
Boston nearly here and pretty much an end to the southern marathon season, our
club members will soon turn their attention to thinking about a fall marathon.
An idea that I have been kicking around is holding a marathon training forum on
our CRC Facebook page. The purpose here isn’t to create a better wheel, but
something to give our members an opportunity to ask questions and get some
solid answers. This way they can get answers from people who they actually can meet
and get to know. This just gives our club members another way to connect with
each other, and it gives them a way to do it from the comfort of their own
homes.
One of the big initiatives that I am pushing this year is
community service. We started a page on our club’s website to give a “shout
out” to members when they complete their community service efforts. To be added to this list, just send email to run.charlotte@gmail.com. Please
include the event and the day of the community service.
I also realize that people give back in many different ways.
This month I would like to give a “shout out” to Paul Martino for his efforts
with “Let Me Run”. Paul is working with “Let Me Run” to organize a “Let It Rock
for Let Me Run” benefit event on April 13.
This event will be held at the beautiful Whitehead Manor Conference
Center with lots of food, drink, music, and auctions. The music will be
provided by the Bad Daddies, Charlotte's favorite party band. There is no
better reason for getting out on Saturday than raising money to help inspire
boys be themselves and have so much fun. For more information here’s Paul’s
email address - paul@letmerun.org
With more social events and group runs on the
calendar than ever before, the club has invested in its own finish line clock.
The clock was used for the first time at our Scrambled Egg Group run and will
be used at other CRC group run events including our upcoming CRC Track Series
in July and August.
The month of March in the south means usually two
things: marathons and basketball. Our club’s March madness basketball challenge
is well underway. The club’s best “picker” will receive an Inside Out Sports
Gift Card for his or her astute understanding of bracketology.
The CRC Scrambled Egg 5k at McAlpine was a huge hit
yesterday. There was fun run/egg hunt for the kids and group run 5k/egg hunt
for the adults. The 5k started with runners pairing up for an egg toss. Once
they had tossed the eggs 4 times without dropping it, they could take off. To
my surprise, only a few dropped their eggs. Maybe even funnier than watching
the egg toss was watching people run while holding multiple eggs in their hands.
Once the runners had finished, they could examine their eggs
for special prizes. Most of the eggs contained candy, but a few held pennies
which meant they got a gift card. Only a few eggs held time deduction bonus.
John Compton set the men’s course record via the time deduction bonus of 8:38. Anne
Marie posted the fastest women’s time via the time deduction bonus with a 10:40
course record. Straight up timing, Anne Marie won with a time of 25:40 while
Clayton was first across the line for the men in 20:50.
Afterward, there were plenty of chips, deserts, pizza, and
water for all.
Rob, Stephanie, and the entire social committee get high
marks for their efforts. I was very impressed with everything from the behind
the scenes organization to the running of the event. They deserve a huge “THANK
YOU” for all of their hard work.
Click
here
for photos from the event
Last month I talked about our club rolling membership
cards and magnets to existing members. I want to continue with updates to our
members on this front. During our March board meeting the purchase of the cards
and magnets was approved. Our plan continues to be that we roll them out in
June. Distribution methods are still being discussed but hopefully in my April
or May letter, I will have more details on how cards and magnets will be
distributed.
Earlier this month, Aaron sent me two emails. One
contained the results of a club survey in 2011. The other was an extract of our
member’s goals from the club’s registration database. I should say that he sent
both to the entire board not just me – just to be clear.
I spent many hours reading through both of those lists
and jotting down notes along the way. These are some of the most common request
that I saw: “run with others”, “get faster”, “run a half”, “run a marathon”,
“run a BQ” (Boston Qualifier), and/or “improve my pace”. Pushing back in my
chair, I felt like I had a better insight to what our members are asking of our
club.
It also makes me pause, as I began to understand just
how many different goals are out there for our club members. I wish this club
could be everything to every member. The reality is that it will never happen.
Our Board of Directors, all volunteer, does an amazing job giving of their time
and energy to make things happen within this club. However, our efforts are not
without limits. We have to balance ability to hold club activities with our members’
availability to help with them. This is why I have been such a proponent of
having an active membership. There is an old saying, “Many hands make light
work.” The more active our members are; the more activities we can offer to our
membership. However, it all starts with our membership stepping forward to help.
Be an Active member and help your fellow runner,
Bill
Charlotte Running Club President
