Howdy Striders,
Well we did it! We stayed focused and trained hard for 24 weeks and ended up with over 100 half marathon participants at the Aramco Half Marathon and nearly 150 runners at the Chevron Marathon and also had close to 20 Striders entered in the El Paso 5k where Sabra Harvey was the first female to cross the finish line! Congratulations to all for achieving your goals.
We celebrated our achievements at the post-marathon party at Deanna and Ryan Rand’s home. We watched a recap of the Houston half and full marathon, ate tons of GOOD food, shot pool, drank dehydrating beverages and shared our upcoming events. If you haven’t experienced what it’s like to be under one roof with lots of Striders, you need to attend one of our future events because the camaraderie and support is overwhelming. Thank you Deanna and Ryan for opening up your beautiful home to all of us. We had a great time!
Many are now planning upcoming events while others are enjoying a well-deserved break in training. Whatever you decide, enjoy yourselves as you’ve earned it!
I was glad to see so many Striders join us for the January Run with the Prez Pub Run. We had over 20 runners join us and this time we made our way back to the Pearl Bar for some hula-hooping. The competition was on and Caitlin proved to be a tough competitor. Newlywed Maki showed us how it’s done in Japan and Coach Matt reminded us that men are just as capable of moving our hips. We had some new members join us which is a great way to get to know each other so don’t forget to join us on February 23 for the next pub run.
One more reminder that memberships expired on December 31, 2009 and while we grant a 90 day grace period for renewals, you must be an “active” member to vote during elections which are right around the corner. Join us on Monday, February 7 for our first quarterly meeting at the new Saint Arnold’s facility from 7-9 pm. We’ll be holding a membership drive and you are all encouraged to bring your running friends along to help get to know us. This is also when we vote in our new board members so it’s especially important that you have renewed your membership, otherwise you will not be able to vote. Those that won’t be able to attend will have the opportunity to send in a proxy ballot which you should have received from our governance chair lead Megan Clark-Dillingham.
The HARRA Spring Series is upon us and kicked off with the Buffalo Wallow 6k on February 6 and nine out of 13 Striders placed in the competition. That’s something to brag about! Congratulations to all that ran the event. The next competition is the HEB Bayou City Classic 10k scheduled for March 13. This also happens to be our race of the quarter so now you have another good reason to run. The Houston Striders will reimburse all members that run for us $15 so sign up now!
Relay coordinators Chip and Abby Maxa have already started planning the next Beach to Bay Marathon which is being held on May 17. We usually have more than 50 Striders travel to Corpus Christi to run this event and if you’re interested in running, contact our race coordinators at rrmaxa3@gmail.com although you should see an email from them coming out very soon. We usually stay for the weekend and tear up the town after the marathon so clear your calendars and join us.
That’s all for now Striders…until next month,
Your prez,
Miriam Terc