December 30th

Today's Run

Today was the last Sunday run of the year and it was a brisk morning! We ended up with a turnout of about 18 people, thanks in part to Carolyn who brought along her son, daughter and a friend.  Jon Hughes and Corey Downing also were out there today along with Lucy who has switched to the fast group which starts up the street from us.  It was great to see Mike O'Brien return after a long absence. In fact we had three Mikes out today. The other two were Mike Brown and Mike Murphy Yes, Mike Brown, we did note your late arrival and hope you made up the shortfall at the end of your run!!

 

Two people whom we expected to join us today were unable to make it.  Gina had her Saturday 20 mile run switched to today due to yesterday's rain. (Gina is doing the Melbourne Music Marathon).  Bob is arriving a day later than expected. He is in route from Vermont and had to contend with the snow which dumped on the northeast a few days back

 

I've attached a copy of the Marathon schedule for the coming months.  It was incomplete last week.  Please note that Seth has run every Disney Marathon since inception!  Congratulations, Seth!!

 

The Years in Review

For me, today's run completes 25 years of running with our Sunday group, along with about a dozen of you who also have been around as long or longer.  The group started about 30 years ago!  

 

Over this period, the Sunday running group had declined from an average turn-out of as many as 50 runners to about 12 to 20 people currently. But that's not all bad.  The advent of the Track Shack sponsored training programs has added much value and changed the face of the Orlando running scene over time. As these programs grew in popularity, the size of the Sunday group has shrunk. John and Betsy Hughes have made a huge contribution to the running community and are to be commended for their dedication and huge contribution to the local running scene!

 

About six years ago the ORC Sunday group virtually disappeared, and it has taken some time and effort to rebuild it. The effort was worth it! We now have some 90 people on the mailing roster, but this includes many inactive runners.  We periodically try to prune the e-mail list to include only those people who still join us when they can and those who have left the area but enjoy keeping in touch. In the latter category, we have a half dozen or so people who now are spread out over the states and, indeed, around the world. They now live in place like Chicago, Colorado, D.C., south and west Florida, and even Australia!

 

Looking back, there were only 20 people on our Sunday mailing list five years ago. During 2009, this number doubled.  At the end of 2010 we had some 50 people. By the end of 2011 the count reached 70. With the advent of our ORC blog, the number of visitors from the U.S. and around the globe continues to grow. Today the list has grown to 90 names. Visitors from places like Australia, Japan, Europe Canada and the U.S. have become commonplace. 

 

We would like to hear from you if you are no longer running with us and let us know how you are doing, whether you plan to return and whether you wish to be removed from our distribution list. We reserve the right to drop anyone who no longer runs with us, so please get back to us (preferably in person!!)

 

While the ORC does not publish membership data, I estimate that the Club has about 200 members. Of these, only two dozen or so ORC members participate in our Sunday runs. Conversely, the majority of runners on our Sunday group mailing list don't appear to be ORC members. 

 

The good news is that Orlando has a vibrant running community and is a great place to live and run!  I find it very exhilarating to see so many people on the road each Sunday.

 

Thank you for your company and friendship all these years and especially this year.  My best wishes to each of you for a Happy and Prosperous New Year. On to the challenges of 2013!

 

Jack