While most of us hate change, change is really a good thing
because we are forced to think on a new level. From different people spring forth
new and better ideas. After 2 years of being our club’s President, the time is
right for me to step aside from the Presidency and give someone else the
opportunity to lead our club.
As I looking back now, I have learned a lot about running
our club and working with our members. We have experienced plenty of successes –
our membership is up and we put on some great events, group runs, and socials. We
have given our members more opportunities to meet and share than at any time in
our past.
This is not to say that everything has been peaches and
cream. More than a few times I have made mistakes and sometimes I have just
plain screwed up.
I often find that there are similarities between being our
club’s President and being a ship’s Captain. Successful voyages should be
attributed to having a strong crew. Our
club couldn’t have put on the activities and events that it has without the
great support from our existing board members. They efforts have made this club the
success that it is. But when trouble waters are found and things don’t go as
expected, the “buck” stops with the Captain or in this case me. I have always
accepted the blame in these cases. I was the one in charge so I needed to
answer for it. That’s just who I am.
Honesty, integrity, and trust should NEVER be given. They
should be earned. I hope during my tenure as President each member felt that I was
honest, showed them integrity when dealing with their issues, and worked hard
to earn their trust.
Now, this is enough about me. Let’s get on with the good
stuff.
Over the next two weeks, we have a bunch of activities
planned. Please check out the upcoming events section below. Make a point to
attend at least one activity or event. Better yet, attend them all.
Upcoming CRC Activities and Events:
Here is what’s on tap for the rest of the year and the start of next
year:
·
12/1/14-12/6/14 Voting for the CRC board
·
12/6/14 CRC Guinness WR Tether Team practice run
Jason Deli Huntersville 9 AM
·
12/6/14 CRC Annual Meeting 2-4 TrySports South
Park
·
12/7/14 Holiday Lights Run - Freedom Park 5:30
PM
·
12/13/14 CRC Guinness WR Tether Team attempt @
Huntersville 5k 8 AM
·
12/14/14 CRC/SLR Ugly Sweater Run McMullen
Greenway 7:30 AM
·
1/17/15 CRC/Greater Charlotte Health &
Fitness 4 miler and Relay.
CRC Guinness WR Tether Team
With a 161 members as of mid November, we are well over main goal of
116 runners. We will have one more practice run on 12/6/14 from Jason’s Deli in
Huntersville at 9 AM. This run will cover roughly 90% of the 5k course.
I will send out the athlete info sheet the first week of December so
start looking for it in your inboxes. Additionally, I will be posting a copy of
it our FaceBook page.
Note ** We ordered 150 tether team shirts. Those registering by
11/8/14 will get their shirts. For those registering after 11/8/14, the shirts
will be distributed by the registration date and time. There is no guarantee of
shirt sizes. All runners will still receive their Holiday 5k race shirt.
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 Expo, Cheer Zone, Pacing:
I would like to personally thank everyone that came by our expo both
on Friday and/or helped us with the either pacing or at the cheer zone on
Saturday.
Eric and I spent the entire day of the expo talking about running, the
Thunder Road marathon, and most importantly the Charlotte Running Club.
Being a partner with the Thunder Road Marathon was an awesome step in helping
the entire Charlotte running community to know that our club is here to stay.
We are already talking about coming back next year in a very similar
role – just bigger and better!
Board Position Elections:
Elections for our ’15 board will open tomorrow and will run through
noon on Saturday. Anyone not voting by then will have one last opportunity by
voting just prior to the start of our board meeting.
Electronic voting will close at noon on Saturday 12/6/2014.
As in the past, we will use electronic voting. Each of you will be
sent an email with a link that opens to a Google form where you can cast your
vote.Note, you will be asked to enter your CRC member id. This will be included in the same email that contains the link for voting.
Get to know the candidates by reading their bios (Bios are only available for the candidates that returned. Also bios were posted as the candidates returned them).
Electronic Voting
In past years, we have used Survey Monkey for our voting. This year,
we switched to using Google Forms. Survey Monkey cost the club $200 a year yet,
we only used for our voting and maybe one other survey per year. The cost
justification just wasn’t there for us to continue with it. Google Forms Survey
tool is free. The functionality isn’t quite as nice which is why we are asking
our members to enter their member ids when voting. This will ensure only vote
per member is counted. In the case of a member voting multiple times, only the
last vote will count.
CRC Expenses,
One of the most common questions that I am asked pertains to where
each member’s renewal fee goes. Well, a big chunk of it goes for just a few
items: RRCA Membership, USAT&F
Membership, Membership Cards, Member Magnets, PO Box, socials, events, etc.
Let’s take one of these for an example.
Our RRCA membership runs about $2000+ dollars for nearly 400 club
members. These are yearly expenses.
Why do we need our RRCA membership for example? Well, we need it for
the insurance. This insurance covers in case of an issue during group runs,
track meets, socials, and any club gathering. More so, we need it because
without it, we could not do event like our Winter Classic 8k or our Charlotte
Health & Fitness Run. The city of Charlotte requires us to have it.
Please be assured that as board members we all pay very close attention
to how our club spends your money.
Board Position Open:
This month Paul Mainwaring
resigned from our board. Over the last 11 months, Paul has been a terrific
board member and Treasurer. He will be missed. I wish him only the best.
What does this mean? We have an open board position which will have 1
year of the 2 year term to complete.
With club elections upon I have decided to leave this position to be
filled by the ’15 board. Additionally, once the new board is selected, a new treasurer
will be selected. In the meantime, I will double up by filling the treasury
role.
Greater
Charlotte Health & Fitness Expo 4 Miler and Relay:
Mike has been working overtime to make sure Greater
Charlotte Health & Fitness Expo 4 miler gets off to a great start. You can help
him out a bunch by registering early
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:
Audrey will be finishing up her duties this month, and Dave will take
the reins with ’15. I am looking forward to seeing the changes that he will be
bring to our mileage program.
As with ’13, we will continue to have mileage patches available. You
can pick up your patch at the 4 miler in January.
Mileage program emails can be sent to run.charlotte.miles@gmail.com
Member Status:
As of 11/28/2014, our membership count stands at 370 members strong. Now,
if I could just remember everyone’s name. I am working on it.
Board Meeting Update:
Our November meeting was a week early due to the last Thursday of the
month falling on Thanksgiving.
Topics covered during our meeting were as following:
·
Password – I emphasized that our club’s password
should be not shared through any electronic medium. If any board member needs
the password, they can call me.
·
Elections – I updated the board on the
nomination and planning for the board electrions
·
Croft Brewery Run – We talked about the many
brewery runs coming on the Charlotte running scene and how CRC would want to be
involved.
·
Advertising/Sponsorship – Eric updated the board
for the ongoing activities like the ACC Bowl, Belk Bowl, and Super Bowl
ventures. He also updated us on how he was changing how we deal with sponsors
and potential sponsors of our club.
·
Committee
Staffing - with our move to more of a
committee structure, we discussed ideas for getting more members involved with
the committees.
·
4 Miler – Mike gave us an update on the 4 miler
progress.
·
Magnets – we approved the buying magnets for
members renewing for ’15.
Wrapping Up:
The holiday season is here. Spend some time with family and friends.
Take in a holiday themed race or two. Really get into the season and enjoy it.
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
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