Sunday, March 31, 2013

March Letter from the CRC President

 
 

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

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