November 2024 President’s Letter PDF
Dear Members and GRRC Followers:
This letter recaps November club activity, highlights upcoming GRRC-related races, events, and volunteer opportunities, and provides a couple of reminders.
November Club Recap
1) The board meeting mostly handled wrap-up items from past events, discussed upcoming events, and highlighted the upcoming GRRC Board Election.
2) Gil Robs conveyed that those on the board who expressed preliminary interest in taking over CanLake have decided against it. As of now, there is no plan for GRRC to maintain Can Lake under its race umbrella in the future. However, he is still looking for a person, group, or business to succeed him and does have serious conversations about the future of the race occurring. More information about the race is at https://canlake50.com/. If you would like to speak with him about the race, please contact Gil via the race email: CanLake50@gmail.com.
3) The 11th Rochester Runner of the Year race of 2024, East Avenue Grocery Run 10K, extended its original 12-minute pace requirement to accommodate people who would need up to 90 minutes to complete the course. That allowed many people who originally would not have been able to participate in the longer distance, including me, to do the race and get RROY points. The two races (5K and 10K) saw the highest registration numbers the race has had. I personally saw many GRRC members, even if they weren’t all doing the 10K. The event raised $85,000+ for dozens of area food pantries and organizations.
4) Bound for the Hounds, directed by Martha Doody, was inadvertently labeled as not a GRRC race in my Coming Events section last month. It is, in fact, one of ours. My apologies for that editing error. I reused text from a different race and failed to catch that. And now for some cool facts in Martha’s words! TOP DOG: Jenny the Dog 25.3 miles WOOF WOOF! OVERALL FEMALE AND COURSE RECORD HOLDER: Jessie George 48.3 miles OVERALL MALE: Olex Pidhainy 39.1 miles [She also added a step challenge this year as an augmentation to the course challenge.]
5) MILEStone Patch Challenge Recap: More folks have entered the challenge! We’ve now got 45 registered, 37 of whom have input something to be on the board.
Top three: Jennifer Toti (1,509), Gary Thompson (831), and Theresa Puckett (544).
On the Board, but No Patch, Yet: 9 (I know at least have of them have raced more than 50 miles, even if they’ve not put in the data! Come on folks. Don’t wait until the last minute. 😉)
Bronze (50-99): 11
Silver (100-199): 8
Gold (200-299): 4
Platinum (300 and More): 5
Coming Events (Rest of November and December)
November
11/23 – Preview of Race with Grace 10K. See Bob Dyjak’s post about it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/142917355785027/posts/8734448576631819.
11/28 – RROY Race #12 is Race with Grace 10K directed by Cathy Mucha. There is also a 5K, but that does not count for RROY standings. Proceeds after expenses support C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association. Register at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Rochester/RacewithGrace10K.
11/28 – The Feast is put on by Medved also occurs on Thanksgiving Day. Not a GRRC race, it does offer members a discount. The multi-distance event goes through Rochester. More information is at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Rochester/FeastofBurden5Miler.
11/28 – The Livonia Turkey Trot is another one on Thanksgiving Day. Not a GRRC race, it does offer members a 10% discount, which I found out tonight when I reviewed the current club discounts. The race goes through the Village of Livonia. More information is at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Livonia/LivoniaTurkeyTrot.
December
12/14 – Don Curran Memorial 5K kicks off our Freezeroo Series! Register just for it or for the whole series at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Rochester/FreezerooSeriesIndividualRace. Race at least four to be in the series standings. The first 200 registrants will receive the Freezeroo 2024-25 tote bag as our gift. We’re already halfway there!
12/18 – GRRC Holiday Cookie Exchange and Lights Walk/Run. This year, we’re switching over to the west side. Meeting at Bill Gray’s in a private room, we’ll head out into the Northcreek Subdivision to enjoy holiday lights including a perennial “must see” on Celtic Ln. Sign up at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Rochester/GreaterRochesterRunningClubHolidayCookieExchangeAndWalkRun so we (the club and the restaurant) know how many people to expect.
Reminders
Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) Participation
Don’t forget: RROY races are discounted for GRRC members and members need six to be a Frequent Participant! See the full list at https://rochesterrunneroftheyear.org/. There is ONE left.
MILEStone Patch Challenge
Don’t forget to log your in-person race miles this month. Put the name of your race in the log comments and have fun! The sooner you sign up, the less backlog you’ll have. Sign up at https://runsignup.com/Race/NY/Rochester/GreaterRochesterRunningClubMILEStonePatchChallenge.
Volunteerism
RROY Races – Check with races directly; they nearly all need help! https://rochesterrunneroftheyear.org
GRRC – Want to be part of what keeps bringing people back to our events and attracting new members to our club? Let me know at president@grtconline.org. Expressing interest doesn’t oblige you, but it does give us a chance to share what’s involved. You do not have to be a board member to help with or do the following:
– Freezeroo Helpers
– Marketing
– Website
– Social Media
– Special Events (Banquet, Picnic, etc.)
– Outreach
– Volunteer at Large
Thank you for being a member or being interested enough to follow us in email and social media. Members can renew before their membership lapses and followers can become members by registering at https://runsignup.com/Club/NY/Rochester/GreaterRochesterTrackClub. Why be a member? It’s a great way to cement yourself in the running community and keep a store-agnostic group strong.
See you out there!
Vickey Beaver