Tuesday, April 1, 2014

March Letter from the CRC President

A while back Mike Kahn wrote a letter to our club about why CRC was the best running club on the planet. I go back to read it ever so often because I identify with it so closely. I have been running in Charlotte for a long time now, and I have made quite a few friends over the years. However, since joining CRC, I have made a whole bunch of new friends for which I am a richer person for it.

This was made ever more apparent to me when my 10,000 consecutive day run drew such a large crowd. My initial expectations were for a small turn out. After all everyone has busy schedules so getting out for an evening run at Triple C can be tough.

I was surprised, excited, and appreciative of everyone that came out. So much so that it is really hard for me to put into words what this meant to me.

It doesn’t sound like enough but “Thank You” for sharing a part of your day with my on a special day in my life.


Upcoming CRC Activities and Events:

Our board is working hard to have a CRC presence all over Charlotte this year.

·         4/3/14 Scavenger Hunt @ TrySports Blakeney & South Park 6PM

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

·         5/6/14 All Around Miler Track/Dirt/Road Mile 6:30/6:45/7:00 UNCC Track

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

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

·         Tour de Charlotte Group Run Series

·         Brain Freeze Run

·         CRC Summer Track - July/Aug dates TBD

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

·         CRC/Run Safer Clinic Oct

·         Holiday Lights Run - Dec


Partners for Parks:

Once again this year, our Winter Classic 8k was profitable. This allowed our club to make a $2,000 donation to “Partners for Parks”. We asked that this money be err marked for rebuilding the McAlpine Stage. The McAlpine stage is central to so many functions that it would be sorely missed if it were not rebuilt after the upcoming changes at McAlpine. 

Vida Cantina Happy Hour Social

The guys at Vida Cantina invited us in for a Happy Hour social in March and provided us with some free appetizers.  This was my first visit to their establishment so I was very impressed.  They were on top of it. I hope that we can continue to work with them and possibly have future CRC Happy Hours at their location. 

All Around Miler Event:

We changed up the “All Around Miler” event. Originally, we planned for 3 races on 3 different weeks at 3 different locations because finding a track, a road, and a trail option in close proximity is a tall order here in Charlotte. However, the guys at UNCC really came through for us. UNCC’s location provides the ideal location to have all 3 races on the same evening.

Therefore, on 5/6/14 at 6:30, 6:45, and 7 PM, we will run a track mile, a dirt mile, and a road mile. We will give age group and overall awards to the winners.

Registration is here.

The club member's registration fee is $10 and for non members it is $15.

If you need to get in some mile repeats, this is an excellent opportunity for you.

Mileage Program:

Audrey has tabulated the February results for our club and posted it to our http://www.charlotterunningclub.org/2014/03/crc-mileage-program-february-2014.html website.

 You can still join our mileage program by replying to Audrey’s monthly email. If for some reason, you don’t receive it, you can still email Audrey at run.charlotte.miles@gmail.com

Member Status:

Our club is up to 280 members. This is up 20 members over last year.

CRC March Madness Basketball Challenge:

We had roughly 50 members participate in our CRC Baller’s Challenge this year. To view the standing on cbsports.com click here.  

CRC Membership shirts and cards:

The board members divided up the members nearest them so they could hand deliver another round of shirts. The remaining shirts will be mailed during the month of April. I apologize for the delay. We have been making every effort to hand deliver as many shirts and cards to avoid the shipping cost.

** Note ** After April 15th new joining members will not receive a shirt. The club is not able to maintain ample supplies of shirts beyond this day.   

Team Category – RFYL Signature Series:

Many of you run in 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.

Proof of my word, I have received emails from RFYL stating that our club won the club category for their first two races: 2 shoes, 2 shirts, and 2 x $25 awards toward entry in to RFYL races. I will be giving these out via Facebook during the first week of April. The shoes and shirts will need to be picked up during on April 10th which is the Captain/Team night at RFYL.

Board Meeting Update:

This month we shifted our monthly board meeting to Whole Foods. Whole Foods offers a more central location for all board members.

I have listed our discussion topics below.

The big items, we will be out the TrySports Scavenger hunts on 4/3 – Stephanie is handling the Blakeney Store, and I will be handling the South Park store. There is no cost to the club for these events and it gives us an opportunity to be visible in the community. We talked about the location for our fall 12 hour relay/solo run. Rob is already working out the details. Eric, Billy, Stephanie, and Wendy agreed to be on a committee which will organize our Tour de Charlotte activities in July. For those that don’t know during July there is the Tour de France cycling race. We thought it would be a good idea to do some group runs around Charlotte to coincide with this event. So stay tuned for more information about these runs.  Our last task of the meeting was to distribute out shirts and cards to board members who would then distribute them to members in their area of Charlotte. The remaining shirts will be mailed to our members during the month of April. The board also agreed that April 15 will be the cut off for shirts. Members signing up after this date will not receive a club branded item as part of their member until they have renewed ’15 membership. 

We had nine of the ten board members present for our meeting.

Board Agenda:

·         Approval of Previous Month's Minutes

·         Treasury Report – Paul

·         Gear Store update – Bill

·         Park Reservations for CRC Events

·         TrySports Scavenger Hunt – Bill/Stephanie

·         Parks and Rec – Donation – Mike

·         CRC Monthly Challenge – Eric

·         Uptown Throwdown – Rob

·         CRC March Madness – Mike

·         Tour de Charlotte – formation of a committee – Eric, Stephanie, Billy, Wendy

·         Distribute of member shirts and cards - group

Minutes from the 3/27/14 meeting can be found “Coming Soon”.  

 Wrapping Up:

Spring has been a little slow getting started this year, but I promise you that it will be here soon. If you feel stuck running your local neighborhood loop or are just tired of the concert, Charlotte’ great greenways and trails can provide the perfect respite for you.  

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




  

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