October Letter from the CRC President

Each year, we usually plan for one or two extended board meetings. This year, with so much going on, we have had only time for one longer than normal meeting. This occurred earlier this month at the Dowd YMCA.

We met for 5 hours and covered a whole host of topics. If you are interested reading through the full list of topics and their summaries, skip down to the bottom of my letter. I have provided a link to our meeting minutes.

 Our biggest topic focused on moving away from being such a board centric and toward being a more committee centric club.  Why you might ask? Well, since I joined our board, pretty much any activity or event sponsored by our club has been driven by the members of the board. This is somewhat understandable. These are the members who have stepped up and said they were willing to lead our club.  However, managing a club can be a time consuming task. The countless hours spent making CRC run smoothly can often be overlooked.

During my tenure as President I have seen a number of promising individuals step away from the board because they didn’t realize the commitment being asked.

The reality of the situation is that our club needs to spread out. We need to empower more members in the running of the club.

This is the only way that out club will continue to grow.

 To do this, we will be working to established committees for handling specific areas of our club.

We are currently working to establish the following committees.

·         Membership

·         Sponsorship and Advertising

·         Community Out Reach

·         Communications

·         Competition Events

·         Social Activities

 The description of the committees are still be finalized so below is a just a draft version. I will provide the final version in my next Nov letter. For now, read through these descriptions with this understanding in mind.

·         Membership: Coordinates, surveys, and assesses the member body. Handles new memberships, renewals, and dues

·         Sponsorship: Works with and seeks potential sponsors and advertisers.

·         Community: Coordinates with the larger community including the local running stores, charitable work, and coordination with regional clubs

·         Communications: Handles all internal and external communication from the organization: Newsletter, social media, website, etc.

·         Competition: Manages racing events and athletes’ participation in events

·         Social: Develops and manages non-competitive events and get-togethers. Club socials, happy hours, picnics, and themed group runs

Serving on one or more of these committees is as easy as emailing run.charlotte@gmail.com. Your email will then be forwarded to the appropriate committee chair.   

Think about it. Volunteer with our club and make a difference in our club’s future.

Upcoming CRC Activities and Events:

Here is what’s on tap for the rest of the year and into next year:

·         11/1/14 Thunder Road Marathon Preview Run 6:30 AM BB&T Stadium (Second Half of the TRM course)

·         11/1/14 CRC Guinness Tether Team Practice Run Run 2 PM Fleet Feet Huntersville, NC

·         11/8/14 CRC Guinness Tether Team Test Run 2 PM RFYL Park Rd location

·         11/13/14 CRC Guinness Tether Team Practice Run 6:30 PM Charlotte Running Company Northlake location

·         11/14/14 CRC @ the Thunder Road Marathon Expo

·         11/15/14 CRC Cheer Zone - Thunder Road Marathon 10 mile point

·         11/15/14 CRC Post Marathon Social - Brixx/Foxcroft 4- 6 PM

·         12/6/14 CRC Annual Meeting 2-4 Location: TBD

·         12/7/14 Holiday Lights Run - Freedom Park 5:30 PM

·         12/13/14 CRC Guinness WR Tether Team attempt @ Huntersville 5k 8 AM

·         1/17/15 CRC/Greater Charlotte Health & Fitness 4 miler and Relay.

CRC Guinness WR Tether Team

Guinness has officially approved our Tether Team World Record attempt so we are definitely a go for 12/13/14 at the Huntersville 5k.

We have two test runs coming up:

·         11/1/14 at Fleet Feet in Huntersville 2PM

·         11/8/14 at Run for Your Life Park Rd 2PM

·         11/13/14 at the Charlotte Running Company (Northlake location) 6:30 PM

Our team continues to have plenty room so if you are interested, please email run.charlotte@gmail.com. My goal is to have 200 runners, but if we have more, we definitely will not turn anyone away.

CRC/Thunder Road Partnership:

 CRC is making a big splash with the Thunder Road Marathon this year.

We will be at their course preview run on 11/1/14 @ 6:30 AM – BB&T Stadium. They will be running the back half of the Thunder Road Course.

We will be at the Thunder Road Expo on Friday 11/14/14. Please stop by our pacer booth to say hello.

We will have pacers leading various pace groups for the marathon.

We will have the 10 mile point Cheer Zone.

If you are interested in pacing or volunteering with us at Thunder Road, just email: run.charlotte@gmail.com.

CRC Renewal Swag:

 This month our board approved the renewal swag. In January, renewing and new members will receive a new CRC Membership Card and will receive a new CRC Magnet.

During the renewal process, members will be given the opportunity to purchase CRC singlets, tech-t shirts, and CRC caps.

Swag will be shipped on two separate occasions. The first batch will be sent to the printer on January second of ’15. The second and final batch will be sent to the printer on February 1^st.

After February 1^st, members can still renew but will not have the opportunity to purchase gear. 

CRC Post Marathon Social:

 CRC is holding our POST MARATHON social at the Brixx in Foxcroft from 4 to 6 PM on 11/15/14. Come out and enjoy catching up with your fellow CRC members. Share you marathon story with your fellow CRC friends.

CRC USAT&F Membership:

Seems like every day I learn something new. Since ’14 started while club has shown up on the non renewing club page for the USAT&F website. And, yes, we paid our USAT&F renewal payment. I did it myself in December of last year.

 What did learn? Well, our club was setup with the USAT&F to allow both youths and adults as members, because of this setting the contact person for the club must pass a background check before the club can be consider in good standing. Needless to say, I passed my background check and got the club cleared as of today. Unfortunately, this is not a onetime event. Each year from now on, I have to have a background check or our club fails out of favor with the USAT&F.  Let’s just say that I added it to my yearly todo list.   

Greater Charlotte Health & Fitness Expo 4 Miler and Relay:

The City of Charlotte has approved our race permit for Greater Charlotte Health & Fitness Expo 4 miler and relay. Mike is already well underway with the race planning. Look for the race website and registration information to be made public soon.

If you are interested in helping with this race, please email greaterClt4Miler@gmail.com. Mike monitors this inbox and I am sure that he will gladly accept the extra help. Putting on a successful race depends upon having numerous hands to help with the many tasks.

Mileage Program:

Dave has accepted the role as our new mileage program coordinator and with him; he will bring about some new changes.

Starting in January ’15, Dave will send the mileage program emails. Instead of each person responding with their mileage, there will be a link to the ’15 mileage program gdocs spreadsheet where they will enter their monthly mileage.

Dave will roll up the totals and post the summary to our club’s website.

For now, Audrey continues as our coordinator so remember to say thank you before end of December for all of her good work.

Mileage program emails can be sent to run.charlotte.miles@gmail.com

Member Status:

As of 10/31/2014, our membership stands at 365 members strong. Seeing so many runners supporting our club is simply awesome. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate their support.

Board Meeting Update:

Each year we hold an extended board meeting once or twice per year. This year October was designated as our month for our extended meeting. The meeting took place at the Dowd Y on 10/18/14 from 11-4 PM.

We use these extended meetings to cover topics that are just too large to cover during our monthly meetings.

To read a recap of the topics and summary, please us the following link: Extended Meeting Minutes

Wrapping Up:

Cooler temperatures have finally arrived. With it comes a great opportunity to get out and enjoy this beautiful world that we live. Don’t waste another moment go for a run, do a 5k or 10k, or sign up for your first marathon. Whatever you do, just go have fun running.

 I welcome any and all feedback from our members. To contact me, please use the following email address: run.charlotte@gmail.com. Our board members monitor this email inbox and usually respond to emails within 24 hours.

Best in Running,

Bill Shires

CRC President

run.charlotte@gmail.com