When Did We Forget to Support Local Running

Thanks, Tiffany.  With the continued success of these grandiose for-profit races, like the Rock N Roll marathons as one example, I just get a little nervous.  Very happy that our numbers for this race are higher than usual this year, that people are loving our race!

A big part of that blog entry was venting.  Here was what was in my head, and, as most people know about me, I'm very up for communication - as evidenced in the club's communication with its members:

While our counts are up so far this year, I've had a LOT of people who have said they aren't running the DRC Half this year because they are doing San Antonio Rock N Roll or Dallas White Rock Half.  I know it's everyone's personal choice, but being so invested in helping this non-profit, it is a little like a knife to the heart every time I hear it.  I still have concern that by race day, San Antonio's new Rock N Roll Marathon and Half Marathon, will take away from our numbers.  I've also heard rumors in the running community of a new long distance race this year or next that would be right about the same time as our race, and I find that of some concern as well.  For example, 100 people that choose to do one of those other races instead of ours means like $2000 of membership benefits we miss out on being able to add for next year.  Meanwhile, 100 more runners this year, means we get to come up with a fun way to give $2,000 worth of benefit back to the runners over the course of 2009 - yippee!

Many runners are very into the whizz-bang like these Rock N Roll Marathons deliver, done by for-profit companies, who are very commercialized with a ton of sponsors and offer lots of bands, food, and beer.  The DRC Half isn't about spending a ton on those extras so that we can give most of it back to supporting the club year-round and we're not about covering every inch of the race site in sponsor signage either and we concentrate on having a solid good experience for our runners because we're limited without a full-time 9-to-5 race director.  They are very different races, but if a lot of runners start choosing the former over the latter, it could hurt us down the road.

I'm very protective of the club, and I just want to make sure we continue to flourish - we're at 3,000 club members now and the 3rd largest running club in the US and so let's see if we can get to being the 2nd largest running club in another couple years!