Leaving office

On Saturday afternoon, the office of the Charlotte Running Club Presidency was handed over to Eric. There is no doubt in my mind that Eric will do a good job for our club. He will bring a new perspective and new style which I am sure will help our club as we continue to grow and mature as an organization.

Thinking back to just over 2 years ago when I started my CRC Presidency. The time was both exciting and scary for me. We as a club were barely out of our infancy. Aaron, Jay, and Caitlin took an idea and made it a reality. They had gotten us off to a great start.

Driving home from the board meeting where I was elected President, there was little pit in my stomach. There was also this nagging voice in the back of my head saying don’t screw this up and above all don’t run our club into the ground.

People who know me; know that when I say I am in; I am in 100%. I learned so much about running our club. But those first 6 to 8 months were rough. There were times when I wondered if the rest of the board made a mistake in electing me.

But I dug in. I learned and listened to others. I tried to make the best decisions possible.

Yes, I had my fair share of failures. Who doesn’t have failures? Make small ones, and learning from them is what's really important.

Looking back now, there was a lot of hard work that I put in to this club, and I am proud to say that we did more and accomplished more than I ever expected or even thought possible. But I am not going to say that I did everything solo. Having a great group of board members over the last two years really helped. I would be entirely “white headed” if not for all the extra hours that they put in as well.  

Lately several people have asked me why I am stepping down. The answer is really twofold: time and preferences.

The demands on one’s time are much greater for the President than any other board position. Like I have often said, the “buck” stops here. Everyone looks to person leading our club for direction on nearly every issue. Whether there is a potential member with a question about joining our club, an existing member is changing their membership, or a vender wanting to do business with our club. All of it tends to flow back to this one person to figure out.

Throw in top of it; I really like organizing events. 10,000 Day Run, CRC All around Miler, summer track night, Holiday Lights Run, and Guinness World Tether Team were all things I had hand it making happen. In all honesty, my workload just become too much.

Stepping back will allow me to focus on the things that I truly like which organizing events for CRC. In all honesty, I will probably do an even better job with them. No longer will I be splitting my time across numerous different fronts. I can solely focus one thing at a time.

What's in store for me now. Well, I am looking forward to the next two years as being just a board member and seeing what I can do to continue our successes. Fun times are what lay ahead.  

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner