Please accept my apologies for the tardiness of this “Letter
from the President”. I like to have it posted on the last day of the month, but
it just so happens that the end of August/September fell right on a weekend that I was racing out
of town. I promise to return to the normal end of month post for September.
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This month I want to share my thoughts about a response to
an email sent by our club to former CRC members.
……………………..
When a CRC member doesn’t renew their membership, there can
be any number of reasons. The most common reason which I totally understand is
that they are just busy with life and forget. Juggling a job, spouse, kids,
family, soccer games, dance class, etc can test even the most diligent person’s
ability to keep track of it all.
Recently, we reached out to these members – just to see
what’s up and see if they would like to rejoin CRC. Below is a former member’s
reply to our email….
“there was no benefit for me personally in being a member.
I joined and never heard another word from the club. “
Seeing this response is frustrating to me on two levels.
I personally think our club does a pretty good job of
dissimulating information. We are regularly posting updates to our FaceBook and
Twitter Pages. We list upcoming events on our website. Additionally, our
website carries a ton of other information about the club as well. On top of
this we include tons of information about our events in our club’s newsletter
each month.
Short of printing out and sending our newsletter “snail”
mail, I am not sure what we can do about it. I do realize that some people
choose to not have a Twitter or FaceBook account, but every one of our members
has an email address. From this I can
infer that they have internet access. They could at the very least get pull up
our website.
But on another level this response really “digs” at me.
Communication isn’t a one way street. We share our run.charlotte@gmail.com address everywhere
because if there is an issue, we want to know about it, and we want to resolve
it. But members have to let us know what’s going on. Tell us when something
isn’t working. Our email above obviously went to the right person at the right
email address. I do realize that some
spam filters do catch our emails. We have a board member that regularly gets his
monthly CRC newsletter dumped as spam. When we know about it, we will do
everything humanly possible to help with it.
I implore every member to let us know when they are not
seeing an expected communication from our club. Two CRC emails should be
delivered each month to your inbox:
Mileage Program Reminder and CRC Newsletter. We will occasionally send
additional emails when the need arises. Everything else, we post through our
Twitter, FaceBook, and club website pages.
Upcoming CRC Events:
Here’s what’s happening this fall for CRC. Please make an
effort to come out and participate in at least one event.
·
9/15/13 @ 6 PM. CRC Monthly Social/Fun Run. Run
starts at the Metropolitan between Hickory Tavern and Dressler's. 4 miles max.
All paces are welcome.
·
10/5/13 7:00 AM to 7 PM CRC
Uptown Throwdown 12 hour Solo/Relay. Additional details
or contact run.charlotte@gmail.com
·
10/13/13 @ 6 PM. CRC Monthly Social/Fun Run. Run
starts at the Metropolitan between Hickory Tavern and Dressler's. 4 miles max.
All paces are welcome.
·
11/10/13 @ 6 PM. CRC Monthly Social/Fun Run. Run
starts at the Metropolitan between Hickory Tavern and Dressler's. 4 miles max.
All paces are welcome.
·
11/23/13 CRC Huntersville Holiday Half Prerun
No. 1 – for details contact run.charlotte@gmail.com
·
11/30/13 CRC Huntersville Holiday Half Prerun
No. 2 – for details contact run.charlotte@gmail.com
·
12/8/13 Holiday Lights Run 6 PM- Freedom Park -
Gravel Parking lot. Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Chip cookies will be available
for everyone.
·
1/25/14 CRC Winter Classic 8k 2pm start time.
Same fast course at McAlpine Greenway off Monroe Rd
CRC Summer Track Series:
We wrapped up our first ever CRC Summer Track series in
August. Like any new event, we hit a few snags along the way. We worked around
these obstacles and at the end of the day, the Charlotte Running Club gave the
runners of Charlotte a great opportunity to test their speed and get some great
prizes for their efforts.
For my efforts, I only ran one of the meets. I would have
run more but I find that taking pictures of my friends running is just as much
fun. Maybe next year, I will line up a photographer, and I will run more. Who
knows?
On this note, there is a good chance that we will have it
again next year. Give us a few months to think about it, and start working on
the details. We will get it posted so our club members can add it to their
training schedules for ‘14.
I would like to personally thank Providence Day School for
letting us use their fantastic track and Larry Fredrick for being our Track
official. Lastly, I want to thank Ben Hovis and his team for all the hours that
they put in to make this happen.
Sunday Social/Runs:
Sunday socials/runs were popular events for our club in the
past so we are working on getting them back. Aug 11, we did our first from the
Metropolitan behind Hickory Tavern at 6pm.
Our next one will be September 15 at the same location 6pm.
These runs are meant to be an easy 4 mile run where members
can hang out and catch up.
RSVPs are not necessary. Members just need to show up about
5:50 behind Hickory Tavern and be ready to run at 6pm. Afterwards members can hang out at Hickory
Tavern for a beverage and some food.
Upcoming Board Elections:
We are moving into the fall and soon it will be time for the
CRC Board election. Starting in October, members will be able to submit
nominations for board positions. Members can nominate their self or other club
members. Nominated individuals must be a CRC member in good standing with the
club and having been a member for at least six months. In November, our CRC
election will be held. The election results will be announced at our annual
December club meeting.
Member Referrals:
Don’t forget to tell your friends to include your name when
they join the Charlotte Running Club. By doing so, they will get you a gift
card to Inside Out Sports. We check at the end of each month and then get the
cards out to the referring CRC club members.
Board Meeting Update:
With the Panther’s game falling on the same night as our
board meeting, we moved down the road to the Triple C Brewery. Sometimes moving
things around is a good way to mix things up. I got lots of “thumbs up” for the
new location.
Billy wasn’t able to make it so I gave his treasury report.
I also shared that I had sent the Form 1023 to the IRS. I will be following up
to verify this meets the IRS’s requirements for CRC to obtain its charitable
status.
Mike provided an update on our CRC Winter Classic 8k
progress. I have to give credit where credit is due. Our WC8K race committee
has selected “Partners for Parks” as our 8k race charity. Our race donation
will contribute to the funds for rebuilding of the stage at McAlpine after the
park reconstruction.
Rob and his social team are making great strides to get our “2013
12 Hour Relay Uptown Throwdown” going. Registration is open and Rob and his
team have a ton of stuff planned to keep it interesting for the entire day.
We also talked about the social/fun on the second Sunday of
the month. Our hopes are to make this something people like doing every month.
Another venturing that our club is partnering is the Holiday
Half Marathon in Huntersville preruns. We have been in contact with the race
director and will be publishing dates of these runs.
We also decided to combine our fall social with the Uptown
Throwdown relay. What better way for members to socialize than to give them a
day of running and hanging out at the same time. This merger of club events was
approved by the entire board.
We also talked about the club buying hats and head bands. We
task one of our board members to research and present options back at the next
meeting. We are also looking to have another “Club Store” opening soon. I will
keep you posted on these details.
Minutes from the July meeting can be found here.
Board Meetings:
I know this is somewhat of a reminder, but it bears
repeating. Our Charlotte Running Club Board meetings are open to current club
members and their guest. These meetings take place on the last Thursday of each
month at the Dowd Y at 6:30 pm. There are exceptions to this schedule for
November and December. Those meeting dates, times, and locations will be
announced before hand. Our September meeting will be on the 26th.
Once again, I would like to thank every member for being a
part of the Charlotte Running Club. If there is ever a question, concern, or
just a comment, please email it to run.charlotte@gmail.com.
Our Gmail account is monitored daily and emails will get directed to me. The
other option is seeing me personally. I run all over Charlotte and am always
willing and able to listen to our member’s concerns.
Fall days are upon us – enjoy them,
Bill Shires
CRC President
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