Last year was a great year.  The club successfully celebrated 50 years of running and we hosted the most runners in our TS races = 1258 for the year.  That’s an average of 105 participants in each race.

We want to build on that success in 2010.   The club’s goal in 2010 will be to engage our members in ways beyond the trophy series and MTS races.  How?  We’re thinking about it.  Maybe posts for training runs and training partners, maybe gatherings to see professionals race locally, maybe events with other clubs.  We’ll be defining the idea in the next few months and you’ll hear more about it in the future.

January’s TS was balmy compared to December.  103 of you, 75 members, raced out at Twin Lakes park.  It’s a great start to the year and I look forward to seeing you out there!

Deb

• Rick Edrich – 1st in TS (for the first time in 20 years w/ the club)!
• Tristan Mitchell – Fast Man
• Deb Cunningham – Fast Woman
• Janet Fairs – Race Walk

The December race will go down in history as one of the events with the worst conditions as measured by the number of people beating their handicap.  Previous “worst” events include:

Finally, the 65 runners at today’s race bring our full year total to 1258 runners participating in the Trophy Series this year.  That total is the most in the last 5 years.   Congratulations on a great 50th anniversary year, RMRR members.  I’m looking forward to running with all of you in 2010!

The October TS was beautiful as usual.  96 of you came, including 19 new runners, out to Waterton Canyon for our 10 mile race.  Times on the uphill were faster than expected because of a brisk tail wind.  We didn’t realize that until we turned around & headed down the hill.   Many of us were surprised by the relatively slow downhill times.

 With fall comes marathon season and the end of the summer racing season.  We wish those of you with fall marathons a great time!   Those of you who raced with us out on the big dry creek trail should be more than ready after braving the heat.

The MTS is one of RMRR’s biggest fund raising events.  As an all volunteer organization, we put on a limited number of events designed to best-serve our members.  If you have ideas or want to get more involved, email us to get involved.

Happy running!

Deb

Adam Feerst remeasured the course especially for the event and Race Directors Ric and Rochelle Robinette put on a fine race as usual.

Thank you to everyone who came out – from the 28 first time runners to the high school cross country teams to our dedicated members. 

Now that our 50th anniversary is in the history books, the board will focus on membership – attracting and retaining members to keep our club strong.   

First time race directors Scott Kukel, Mike Quispe and David Rothenburger marked the course perfectly and then ran at 0:00 to make sure we have a fully staffed finish line.  Volunteers galore helped them conduct a great race.

Next up for RMRR is the 15 mile Marathon Training Series next weekend. 

As club president, I want to thank everyone who participated in our Weeks’ Worth of Running.  I was amazed and impressed by:

• Loyal members who attended every event!
• Adventurous members who tried something new!
• Members who came back to the club to renew old friendships and make new ones!
• Those whose smiles told me they were having a great time!

There are so many examples of smiles from:

• The kids fun run at the pancake breakfast race. 
• The members from the 1960s & 70’s having such a good time at Runner’s Roost that we had to reluctantly tell them time was up.
• The group of speedy guys who ran so many miles at the 50 mile relay event that we topped 150 miles for the day.
• The volunteers who came out to time the predict run & eat cake and ice cream at Boulder Running Company.

See the photo gallery to see what I mean.   (All images are not uploaded yet.  Email Deb Cunningham any pictures you would like posted.)

I would like to give special thanks to event leads for the week:

1. Pancake TS:  Doug Smith, Bonnie Keefe and Carmen Kitts.
2. Monday Reunion:  The group of “Honorary Chairpersons” and Dave Cunningham who helped me connect with former members.
3. Tuesday Wash Park Run:  Eric Greene and Dave Cook.
4. Track w/ Maureen Roben & other clubs:  Scott Kukel & Mike Quispe.   And of course Maureen!
5. Trail running with the Denver Trail Runners:  David Rothenburger. 
6. Predict Run:  Kevin Downing and Dave Cunningham.  And celebrity starter Mark Plaatjes!
7. 50 mile Relay:  Karen Voss Szymanski & Peter Szymanski. 

Next, let’s give special recognition to Joe Arrazola, the founder of RMRR.  At 75, Joe is still going strong.  Thank you, Joe, for making the drive from Pueblo to attend the reunion and to run laps with us at Saturday’s relay.  You’ve still got it!!

Finally, our club really came together this week.  We had a core group of people who attended every event or nearly every event, got to know each other better and established a strong foundation for the future of our club.  I’m proud of how we worked together to create a memborable experience for everyone who attended.  Years from now, we’ll look back on this week as a fun time in the club’s history.  To those of you who participated, THANK YOU!   Road Runners is a great club!!

Runner’s sported their club logo wear with a variety of singlets, t-shirts, and warm ups showing the sun logo that was the symbol of the club for 49 years.  Some of the gear was vintage wear and matched the clothing on Ric Robinette’s display board showing club gear from the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s.  Other gear featured the new 50th anniversary logo.

In addition to club shirts, the anniversary blankets arrived.  All participants received a logo key chain as well.

The June race was run on a new 2-mile course.  With the higher turnout of 150 runners, the old course was too narrow and had too much loose gravel at the finish.  Race Directors Doug Smith and Bonnie Keefe worked with Ric Robinette and Adam Feerst to design the new course.  Numerous compliments were received, so this course is a keeper!  With the new course came new course records from Scott Kukel for the Men’s Scratch, Deb Cunningham for the Ladies, and Mike Blanchard for the racewalk.

Thank you, Board and volunteers for getting the week’s worth of running off to a wonderful start!

John Meyer of the Denver Post was at the race, taking photos and interviewing club members about the upcoming 50th anniversary.  The club will be featured in a story on the front page of the sports section the day before the Bolder Boulder.   Aurora Arlet, the club’s PR Director, worked with John to arrange the media day.

Two new course records were set at the May race, the second time we’ve run on the Stapleton course.  Congratulations to Mike Blanchard, racewalk recordholder with a time of 39:05/7:44 pace.  Scott Kukel set the Men’s record with a time of 23:11 or 5:48 pace.

Next up for the club is our 50th Anniversary.  The fun starts with at 2 mile race at Bible Park on Sunday, May 31.  This race is followed by a kid’s fun run and a pancake breakfast.

It was a great day to run the April 4 miler at City Park.  Despite predictions of 8 inches of snow on Saturday, we only got a dusting.  It was  a cold morning for race directors Stephanie Struble and Brian Bergevin.  They were out there at 7am and started us off on time. 

The snow we had quickly melted off as 81 road runners took to the course.   The day saw two new course records:  Scott Kukel with a new Men’s course record of 23:11 and Race walker Mike Blanchard in 39:05. 

I think attendance was down today because of the predicted snow and due to the Platte River 1/2.    Although race attendance was down this month, club membership is up.  We have 531 members, 367 families.  That’s a modern day record – thank you to everyone who joined, who renewed their membership and who participated in an event this past month! 

The Bolder Boulder training group from Scott Carpenter Middle School joined us for the race and Kerry Kuck’s wife, Janet Leonard was race photographer.  For those of you who don’t know, Kerry has a stress fracture in his calcaneous.  It happened this past week, ending his hopes of Boston this spring.  That’s tough news so close to the race.

On a brighter note, plans are set for the 50th.  We’ve got lots of great events planned with more features and attendees noted each week.  Check out the 50th page to plan which events you’ll attend.

We set a modern day record for attendance at the March three mile race with 140 (count ‘em) participants. The great weather and short distance was a irresitable combination.  Speaking of great weather, I’m getting in the mood for summer running.  After joining Felix Lopez and our new members on Highline this past weekend wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, I’m ready!

Track practice starts on April 1.  Scott Kukel and Mike Quispe have a set of workouts to prime you for your summer racing season.  One of the highlights of the track season will be our 50th anniversary work out on Wed, June 3.  Led by former RMRR member and local celebrity Maureen Roben, the workout will feature members of most of Denver’s running groups (Masters, Phidippides, Columbines).  I’m looking forward to that one.

We’ve also reserved the griddle for our pancake pacer 2 miler on Sunday, May 31.  Depending on how many of you make it out to Bible Park, we may need that second griddle!

Summer is my favorite time to run.  Although I run year-round, my best RMRR memories are from the summer - hanging out with all of you after the cookout in August, long runs on the Highline with some buddies,  track workouts as the sun sets over the mountains.  

This summer is a time to celebrate those memories and create new ones.  Throughout our club’s 50 years, we have seen so much – newbie runners completing their first 5k, celebrity athletes joining us for a race, members of foundations like Achilles Track and AIR coming out to run with us, school kids training for a marathon mile, and finally some of our older members hanging up their running shoes.  I’m proud of our history.  Throughout the years, we have provided a low cost events for everyone.  Our all ages/abilities message is more than a message.  It’s the way we run RMRR. 

I invite you to be a part of our celebration this year.  No matter how fast or slow your are, we’ve got something for you!