Approximately 15 members were in attendance at the meeting. Two new prospective members were there as well. One being an experienced runner from Texas who has recently moved to this area and another woman who ran in the past, then got away from running for one reason or another, and is now wanting to get back into running. We welcome all spectrums of the running community to get involved with our club.
The treasurer's report indicates a balance of approximately $3500 which will be almost totally depleted when the check is issued for our new Chronomix display clock. This is a gorgeous piece of equipment which should serve the Lawrence running community for many, many years. Thanks again to Ed Payne for his fund-raising efforts to help make this purchase possible. There was some discussion as far as marketing potential with banners, etc., to be displayed with the runner's times.
We did a brief recap of the Dam Run (a more thorough recap will be done when we meet with Duane Peterson of Parks & Rec). Everyone thought the run went very well. There were a total of approximately 130 entries. We would like to continue working with Parks & Rec to put this run on in the future.
A major item on the agenda was a discussion of the need for a regular beginners weekly run. Molly Wood volunteered to be in charge of starting such a group as of the first of May. All runners interested in this group are urged to check our website on the 1st of May to find out when and where these runs will take place.
Molly also displayed a beautiful marathon T-shirt quilt, which her mother made for her. This is a beautiful work of art with some of Molly's medals sewn into the quilt. There is also a blank space for Molly's 2006 Boston Marathon shirt, which she should have in a couple of weeks. One of the benefits of membership in runLawrence is free T-shirt quilt lessons!
Brenda Groskinsky gave an accounting of money she earned for the club through the sale of Dining Cards. Thank you Brenda for your efforts on behalf of the club.
All club members were urged to send articles, stories, product reviews, etc. to Janet Huchingson for inclusion in our newsletter. It may be that it will work out best to just publish submittals on the website as they are submitted rather than holding them for a regular periodic publication. This will be discussed further at our May meeting.
It was agreed that we would make no major changes in our annual Thanksgiving Day 5K. Club members are reminded to be on the lookout for sponsors, award ideas, T-shirt design ideas, etc.
Club members were also reminded to place any clothing orders they would like asap. I have worn my runLawrence singlet & shorts to a couple races this spring and have had many comments on how nice they look and they have proven extremely comfortable to run in.
Car-pooling to races is, I believe, one of the really fun parts of being a member of runLawrence. This gives new racers some confidence in going through the registration process (number is always pinned on the front), help in putting on the chip if one is used, where are the porta-potties, where do I leave my warm-ups, etc., etc. It is also fun to re-hash the race on the way home - proudly display awards won, talk about the short fat guy who passed you right at the finish line, etc. Chances are someone from runLawrence is traveling to any Kansas City or Topeka area race, so please check in with us if you would like to ride along!
The next club social event is a fun run on country roads followed by a pot-luck supper at Greg's house. This is set for 4 p.m., Sunday, April 30th. Directions to Greg's house will be e-mailed to club members. This event will also serve as the club's May meeting.
We have not kept good records on payment of dues. We have to this point kind of kept it on the honor system for each member to keep up on their annual dues. If you are unsure as to whether you are paid up, please check your checkbook records and submit your dues if you have not paid in the past year. We will have to devise a better way of sending reminders to those whose dues are due and perhaps we need to add a Membership Chair to our club officers. We will put this on the May club agenda.
Submitted by,
Dee Boeck
President