The Annual General Meeting was held on February 23 at Skills USA. Heidi Walsh and Marcia Keene once again did a great job organizing the event, with club members entering through a “finish-line” archway into the running-themed rooms. There was plenty of barbecue and macaroni and cheese, followed by the delicious cupcakes made by club member Joanne Hampton and fresh-roasted coffee provided by club member Kellie Capritta. If you couldn’t attend, you missed this year’s cupcake flavors of White Russian, Tiramisu, Peanut Butter Brownie, and more.

Outgoing club president Jim Pratt reviewed the club’s 2012 accomplishments, which included organizing summer track workouts, Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon training runs, the Loudoun 10K Trail Run in November, and charitable donations. The club made donations to several organizations that support running in our region: Special Olympics-Loudoun County, Girls on the Run, Friends of the W&OD, and the NE Distance Project, which supports runners on the east coast transitioning from college to a professional running career.

The board also recognized the accomplishments and contributions of several club members. Tammy Cummins and Darrell Hollowell recruited and organized volunteers for two important sources of income for the club, the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon and the Rotary Resolution 10K. Warren Frick was recognized for being our most die-hard member in 2012, for impressive attendance at weekend runs and traveling longer distances than most of us. Dave Haber was recognized for being the best morning person, for being positive and pleasant, even and especially at 6 am on the weekdays! And finally, Beth Alwin received the “Born to Run” award for setting personal records in five distances in one year – a remarkable achievement!

Closing out the business portion of the meeting, Mike Moye reported the election results. Here are your new board members:

Allison Abbe (President)

Jane Allen (Vice-President)

Diane Adams (Secretary)

Miriam Borrego (Treasurer)

Jim Schatz (Member-at-large)

Tom Simonds (Member-at-large)

James Sullivan (Member-at-large)

by Annie Adams

My current running goal is to be able to run a consistent 9:30 mile (that is, to keep up that pace for about 5 miles). I generally run about a 10 minute mile, so this is a pretty achievable goal. And there are plenty of cheats to get your pace up, such as listening to fast music, or chugging a 5-hour Energy beforehand. I would like to talk about the running aid of the pacer.  Read more »

A few months ago, a colleague told me that she had just started running. After watching family members run and race for some time, she decided to join in. She jumped right in and signed up to run the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in May. She confessed that she didn’t like running, wondering if and when it would get easier. I relayed some things from my own experience that I intended to be reassuring, like how it initially took me a couple of miles for a run to start feeling comfortable, and that hitting 5-miles for the first time was a big turning point for me.

My colleague hadn’t reached those points yet. For her, every run was an act of will. She wasn’t yet getting a sense of enjoyment or accomplishment. Until then, she was just trusting that will and discipline would carry her through. I remember feeling that way while training for my second marathon – the elation of “firsts” was behind me (first 15-miler, first 20-miler, . . .), so it took something else to get through those long runs. Discipline, patience, and the company of other club members certainly helped. Read more »