Another Mile in the President’s Shoes

Ray Petit

April and May are my favorite months in the running season. Although March has several great races, the weather is too tricky to add them to my list. I am looking forward to the Healthy Heart 5K, the 1998 Volvo Midland Run and the Spring Lake 5 Miler. For those of you looking for a marathon this month, please consider the McMarathon on April 26th.

At the general membership meeting in late March, Allen Paul made an excellent presentation on safety in running and biking. The theme of the presentation was that it can happen to you. Allen mentioned good practices that we should all practice, such as carrying identification and cab fare in case you need assistance in getting home. You should always assume that drivers don’t see you and, if you are running by yourself, you should tell someone what route you will take. I was pleased to see that most of us said that we run with a vest when it is dark.

It is worth noting that we had approximately 30 members at the general membership meeting. The size of the crowd didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that approximately 20 of the members present have been coming to meetings for years, and approximately 10 members attended their first meeting.

I don’t understand why the club isn’t getting bigger, or stated another way, why do so many members stop coming? Where are Peter, Claire, Jennifer — 3 or 4 different Jennifers in the last year — Denise, Marty, Wendy, Gary, Jimmy, Brenda, Ray, Eva, Steve, Judy, Alice and so on. I am grateful that Peter, Louise, Kathy and Carl are still active in the club, despite the fact that family obligations keep them from running with us on Wednesday. OK, Peter doesn’t run with us because he doesn’t like to run. Comments are welcome.

John MacGillivray, the RRCA state representative invited all runners to attend a running summit in Long Branch on April 25th. Sam Bianca asked for volunteers for the Midland Run to (wo)man the clocks on the course. As he did last year, Midland race director Mark Zamek invited RVRR to provide a person at each clock during the 15K and 5K. Last year I enjoyed calling the time out to the runners at the one mile mark, but this year I would like to run. If you don’t plan on running at Midland, please consider working one of the clocks. We will host a feast for all club members at Midland. If you can help us, please call Sam at 732-463-1462.

I would like to thank Andrew Lee for proactively conducting a survey on behalf of the club. At the next Board meeting we will review the survey results and determine what changes we can make. I am still very interested in the opinions of those members that we never see on a Wednesday night. If you have other suggestions for us, please call me or email me at "Petit_Ray_P@bns.att.com".

If I ever forget to thank Rolf Arands or Gene Gugliotta, it is an oversight. Both men need your help. Rolf needs articles for the newsletter and Gene needs you to visit the RVRR web site. The bulletin board is a great way for us to communicate with other runners.

Although the Internet gets all the press, please don’t forget that we have a Post Office Box as well as a hotline. The hotline number is 732-463-RVRR.

We were saddened to learn of the death of 18-year-old Lindsey Conover. Lindsey is the daughter of John Conover and Betty Shonts, and step-daughter of Dean Shonts from Sneaker Factory. This loss is especially painful because Lindsey was so young. Our prayers are with the family.

Newsletter Articles:

Another Mile in the President's Shoes || Trink's First Marathon || May Newsletter Deadline || Happy Birthday/Welcome To the Club || Sole Sisters || Volunteers Needed for Midland! || Midland Run || Dead Running Shoes || Snow! || Pre Rescheduled || Race Results

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