February Letter from the CRC President

February has been a month of extremes. One day the temperature is 75 degrees, and then the next day the snow is piling up on my front lawn and the temperature is in the teens.

Hopefully, this bouncing around weather is over soon and we get on with spring.

As long as I am on the topic of the weather, the snow and sleet that covered Charlotte caused us to postpone our Valentine’s Day Group Run. Pushing back the date in the name of safety and common sense was the right decision. Our new date turned out to be awesome. We had great weather and a huge turnout.

While most people come to Triple C for the “spirits”, we did supply the Gatorade and cupcakes for runners post run. We also raffled off a number of items in including our red and white CRC Valentine’s Day Bears.

I enjoy these types of events more than anything else that I do for CRC. Getting the opportunity to talk running and share why CRC is the best running club in Charlotte one on one with other runners is really important to me.

In the past, CRC has often been thought of in same context as just for fast runners and/or elite runners. Nothing could be father from the truth.

CRC is about people who enjoy the activity of “running” and want to share their passion with others.

This is the common thread that binds us all.

Upcoming CRC Activities and Events:

Please make an effort to come out and participate. If nothing else, make a late New Year’s Resolution to attend at least one event this year.

·         3/1/14 Allen’s Road To Boston 5k Frank Liske Park 9 AM (Saturday morning)

·         3/5/14 10,000th Daily Run @ Triple C Brewery 6:30 PM (Wednesday night)

·         (Marcus Watson - to speak for 10 minutes about St. Jude’s Hero’s Program - know our new program and how we can help get them access to training materials and premier races)

·         CRC March Madness BasketBall Chanllenge (late March)

·         4/13/14 CRC Scrambled Egg 5k @ McAlpine or Reedy Creek Park 12-3PM (Sunday afternoon)

·         5/8/14 CRC's 5 Year Birthday Group Run @ Triple C Brewery 6:30 PM (Thursday night)

·         All Around Miler Series - 3 weeks in May

-          Track Mile (Tentatively UNCC or AG Middle School Track on 5/6/14 - a Tuesday night))

-          Dirt Mile (Tentatively McAlpine or Reedy Creek Park on 5/13/14 - a Tuesday night)

-          Road Mile (Tentatively Freed Park on 5/20/14 - a Tuesday night)

·         CRC Summer Picnic June (Freedom Park - Shelter) 11- 3pm - 6/14/14 (Saturday)

·         Tour de Charlotte Group Run Series

·         CRC Summer Track - July/Aug dates TBD - checking with Ben

·         Uptown Throwdown 12hr Run Oct 10/4/14

·         CRC/Run Safer Clinic Oct

·         Holiday Lights Run - Dec

10,000 Continuous Daily Runs

This coming week, I will be running my 10,000^th consecutive day. If you are in the area, come by Triple C Brewery on Wednesday night at 6:30 PM. We will be heading out for an easy run anywhere from 4 miles to 10k. See you at Triple C.

Mileage Program:

Audrey has tabulated the January results for our club and posted it to our www.CharlotteRunningClub.org website.

We still have awards from our ’13 mileage program. I will have them with me for pickup at our 10,000^th Consecutive Day Group Run 3/5/14. 

Lastly, I encourage everyone to participate in this program for two reasons. One, this gives you a great reason to go out door and put in a few miles even when you don’t feel like. Two, Audrey does an awesome job sending those inspiring monthly reminders to share your total miles with the rest of the club.

Member Status:

This month, we had 15 members either join or renew their club memberships. Our club membership now stands at 271 awesome runners sharing a common bond.

Word of mouth is the best recommendation that any organization can have. This month we had only one referring member listed. Remember, during your weekly runs to give CRC a shout out and ask others to include your name when they join our club.  

CRC March Madness Basketball Challenge:

Our CRC March Madness Basketball Challenge is returning this year and with some additional loot on the line. We are discussiong a prize structure of gift cards to the top 5 overall.

Please stay tuned to our FaceBook and www.CharlotteRunningClub.org sites because they will have the full details to the contest.

 

CRC Membership shirts and cards:

If you are in the area, please drop by on Wednesday. Mailing shirts and cards to our members is quite costly for our club, besides, if you come by Triple C, I will get to meet you.  I will be able to personally hand you your card and shirt.

Team Category – RFYL Signature Series:

Many of us run the RFYL Signature Series. When you sign up, select a “Charlotte Running Club” from the team category. This puts our club in the running for free stuff which I see goes back to you. Last year, we won several pairs of shoes and shirts which we passed along to you.

Board Meeting Update:

This month’s board meeting was mostly status updates for ongoing activities. We are going to make a couple of shifts in the upcoming events. We plan to have a booth at the TrySports Scavenger Hunts in exchange we will promote their scavenger hunts to our members. The first schedule hunt will be 4/3/14.

The second change involves the midsummer runs in July. We discussed changing these to free group runs and holding them at various business around Charlotte.  Potential names for the series of group runs could be “CRC Tour de Charlotte”.

All Board Members were present.

Board Agenda:

·         Changes and Approval to Previous Month's Minutes

·         Shirt and Card Distribution - Status - Bill

·         Allen's Road to Boston 5k - Status - Mike/Bill

·         Park and Rec access for Events - Bill

·         All Around Miler Series - Bill

·         CRC Mid Summer Night Miles (1, 2, 3) Series - July

·         CRC March Monthly Challenge Program - Eric

·         TrySports Scavenger Hunts - Bill

·         Mileage Program - Bill/Mike

·         CRC March Madness BB Challenge

·         March Extended Meeting - Group

·         Discussion topics for extended meeting - group

·         Inside out Partner Program & Gift Cards- Bill

·         Treasury Report - Paul

Minutes from the 2/27/14 meeting can be found here.

 

 

Wrapping Up:

Running in Charlotte is really awesome two times per year: Fall and Spring. We are just about to start the spring season so get out the door and enjoy a run on one of the many greenways and trails around Charlotte.

If you don’t know where to run, just email run.charlotte@gmail.com. Let us know where you live and we will point you toward the nearest trail or greenway in your area.

 

Come run with me,

Bill Shires

CRC President

run.charlotte@gmail.com