Cold, Goals, and Plans

I have seen that this cold weather hasn’t deterred many of you from getting outside and running. Not that I was surprised at all! I trust you all have mastered the skills of layering, illumination, and doing extra laundry. Aside from the cold, January brings an opportunity to think about goals for the year, and plans for how to get there. As Coach Braz said, we should think about short and long term goals for training/racing, and set realistic expectations consistent with training and health maintenance. What does that mean for each person exactly? Well your club is here to help with that. Read on.

2022 Race Series
Let’s start by talking about our 2022 race series. For all members, a little refresher: we have two of these:

The Wicked Grand Prix (a.k.a. WGP).
USATF-NE Road Race Grand Prix (a.k.a. USATF racing).

WGP is our own race series of 10 events where we track results in age groups in competition across our membership. Races for WGP are chosen by the WGP committee leaders. At each winter banquet, we recognize the age group winners and also our “Iron Runners” of our previous year’s WGP. An “Iron Runner” is a member who runs all WGP races in a season. In USATF racing, the club organizes Wicked Running Club team entries into each event, depending on how many people register for the races. USATF is a 7-event series which brings wider competition across all of New England’s running clubs. You will need to become a USATF member to compete there. At last week’s board meeting, we voted to have Chris Nolin and Kevin Powers as our leaders for the WGP. We also voted to have Chris Nolin continue as our USATF representative. Chris and Kevin will be organizing the club efforts around these race series. Thanks guys!

These two race series are excellent opportunities for members to set goals for the year. Will you be an Iron Runner? Place in your age group? See what it’s like to be in competition across clubs? The choice is yours, we are here to support. Chris and Kevin are sending/will send out details, but you can always contact them at christiannolin@gmail.com and kpower50@comcast.net. The first USATF race is February 13!

Volunteer Opportunities In addition to racing, perhaps your goals for 2022 will include giving more to our community by getting more involved in the club. We have you covered there as well, with many being low-commitment, small time investment, but far-reaching impact.

You may have seen VP Kelly Pheulpin sending out emails regarding volunteering at the 2022 Boston Marathon. Wicked has the distinction of being in charge of the Mile 17 Gel Stop. This is an amazing opportunity to see the world’s premier marathon up-close and personal. You’ll see everything, including world elites, para athletes, and just regular people like us. Your only struggle will be deciding which is more impressive. Our participation in the Gel Stop is what brings us our two Boston Marathon bibs each year, so it’s an important event for the club. And did I mention it’s a lot of fun? It certainly is. Reach out to Kelly at kpheulpin@aol.com if you have questions, or just check your inbox for her emails.

In addition the club has a wide variety of committees that you may want to get involved with. If any of the below interest you, please drop me or any of the board members an email.

Race committees (Frosty Four, Miles Over The Moon, Wicked Kidz).
Race committees (WGP, USATF).
Relay Race committees (26×1, Lynn Woods, Mill Cities).
Group Run Captain.
Scholarship committee.
Sponsorship committee.
Social committees (Winter Banquet, Summer BBQ).

Also each race has needs for day-of-event volunteers. This won’t be the only time we ask!

Goals in Progress We are aware that many of you have goals beyond what I’ve mentioned above. Several of you will be running Boston this April, and others have spring marathons picked out. Please consider making use of our Facebook page Wicked Group Runs and Races if you are open to someone else sharing one of your longer workouts.

Member Discounts for High5EM Races
Ashley Steeves, the owner of High5EM, has given all Wicked Members a 15% discount for all of the races that her company is managing this year. We sent the code out over a club email, but if you missed it, please contact Ashely or wickedpresident@gmail.com

Important Upcoming Dates

Every Monday, 6:30PM: BackBeat Brewing 5K group run.
Sunday February 13: USATF Grand Prix Race: Super Sunday 4 Miler, Bedford NH.
Saturday March 5: Winter Banquet at Village Tavern, Salem.

Member Recognition A quick congratulations to Caitlin Kuconis for knocking out the Dopey Challenge in Disney World, Florida. Caitlin ran 48.6 miles in a single weekend in their 10K, Half-Marathon, and Marathon. Great job Caitlin!

If you have other accomplishments you wish to share with the club, let me know! I do my best to keep up with such news but you know how that goes. We want to celebrate such successes as a club, together.