Volume XLIX Number 3 December 2023
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Table of Contents (Note: links might not work if you are reading this on your phone) Registration is Open for the 2024 Umstead Trail Marathon October Business Meeting Minutes President's Columnby Patrick Gale Drinking the Kool-AidThey lift me from the chair at the finish line and walk me to the darkness of the parking lot. I am lowered into the front seat of the Prius and a blanket placed over my shivering body. A voice from the darkness says, "Take these," and four pills appear in my hand. I don't recognize the pills. Are these legal? Do I need to take them with food? "I can hold onto them until I get something to eat," I whimper. "No, take them now." Finally I do as I am told. I blame it on the rocks. Those **** rocks. Dude from Colorado agrees. You can't run on these rocks. These tipping, rocking, rolling, sliding rocks that give you something new with each step. I day dreamed of stone pulverizing machines that I could push along the trail and reduce the rock to a soft sand. The thoughts made me smile until the next rock slammed into my toes. Another toenail lost. Another expletive leaving my mouth. This was 2019. The Grindstone 100 miler with a solid crew of friends and fellow runners joining me. I was not running. I had vowed to power hike and I had a strong pace. Halfway through the race fellow runners began to comment that I was walking faster than they were running. I finished the race without running any of it and wth time to spare. I had some hallucinations. That the leaves on the trails looked like fish. That a partially fallen tree we had to walk under in the middle of the night was beginning to move as we passed beneath it. That a mountain lion, making the sound of a small kitten, was stalking me as I walked along a ridge. There was even the sound of an owl coming from the darkness, but that just turned out to be one of my crew members, hooting as I passed his way. The event was a painful experience both mentally and physically. The worst of it hit me AFTER the race was over. As if I was able to bottle away my pain during the journey only to have it spill all over me as soon as the event was complete. A shaking body that refused to sleep when I wanted it most and an invisible 200 lb man that kept stepping on my feet as we drove home after the race. And yet, here I am, approximately five years later, pondering another run through a dark unknown pain cave in 2024. To join a band of friends trying to prove they can survive a day-long journey of relentless forward motion and uncertainty. Some of them are attempting their first 100 mile race. Others do these races all the time. As for me, I know that toenails will be lost. I know my body would revolt in some fashion. I know it might be two days of little to no sleep. I know I would need to consume an uncomfortable amount of calories and water to keep the fire going within myself when I am tired of continuing. And yet, I ponder the possibility of drinking the Kool-Aid, again.
Email me at president@carolinagodiva.org Editor's Cornerby Patrick Gale If you have experienced any technical difficulties with, or have suggestions and corrections for the newsletter, let me know. Feel free to submit run reports, random musings, and your must-do races to us at newsletter@carolinagodiva.org. Sincerely - Patrick Gale AnnouncementsWinter Series 2023-24by Patrick Gale Next up is the New Year's Day 8k Run at 1pm. The run start and finish will be held in Hillsborough, at Gold Park. The run will follow an out and back course along the Riverwalk Greenway with a turnaround loop on the Historic Occoneechee Speedway oval. We'll have restroom facilities available in the park and have a picnic shelter for registration. Here's the turn by turn course map in PDF form. Thanks to Anthony Corriveau, we're having automatic timing again this year. It helps greatly with bib assignment to have signup data in advance, so please use this pre-registration form if you think you might participate in the NYD 8k 2024. A big thank you to the race directors and volunteers who are making the Winter Series events possible this season. Run for the Donuts - photos Misery Run – Sunday Nov. 19, 2023 at 10 AM Moniese Nomp Romp – Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023 10 AM New Year’s Day Run – Monday, Jan. 1, 2024 at 1 PM Eno Equalizer – Sunday Jan. 14, 2024 at 10 AM Geezer Pleezer – Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024 10 AM Tower Climb Hill – Sunday, Mar. 10, 2024 10:30 AM Visit our website to read additional details about the series Registration is Open for the 2024 Umstead Trail Marathonby Doug Hensel The Umstead Marathon will be held on Saturday, March 2, 2024 at William B. Umstead State Park. This is Carolina Godiva Track Club's main event and allows us to support trail running in the Triangle, support Umstead Park, and keep the Club coffers intact to provide all the other great activities the club offers its members. If you don't plan to run but would like to participate, please pencil in volunteering for the marathon into your calendar. We always need at least 100 volunteers to make this race a success. No experience necessary. Last year, a random person carrying a box of donuts walked out of the woods on race day and immediately went to work volunteering in various spots. Hope to see you on March 2nd as either a runner or as a volunteer. Umstead Marathon Registration Page Membership Cornerby Julie Messina New members Sandra Gad Smith Primm Dan Waite Membership Anniversaries (five year anniversaries) 40 years P.J. Eric Stallard 35 years Bill Vann Jessica Lee Vann 20 years George Retsch-Bogart 5 years Andy Snipes Heather Bucurel Graduating to a new age group (Happy birthday!) W. Patrick Gale Craig Heinly Joanie Preyer
Want to include something in next month’s Membership Corner? Send notes to me, Julie, at membership@carolinagodiva.org. @ The Racesby Kevin McCabe This month in @ the Races the club had quite the month finishing with 86 results by 42 club members. This was bolstered by a strong showing on Thanksgiving day with 34 club members running. Amongst the 12 Thanksgiving races, some notable events were the Gallop and Gorge 8km in Carrboro drew 14 club members, while the furthest race from the Triangle, the Honolulu Marathon Clinic Turkey Trot 10 miler, saw club members Ronnie Weed and Stephanie DeVries running together in a time of 1:35:23. If you'd like to see where the other club member's ran check out the list below. If you have a result that we missed please send us your results!
> View past results for @ The Races October Business Meeting Minutesby Ben Barker Board Meeting Minutes – November 14, 2023 The Board met at Tobacco Wood Brewery for October’s Board Meeting, led by President Patrick Gale. Attended by Kevin Nickodem (Treasurer), Ben Barker (Secretary), Julie Messina (Membership), Patrick Bruer (Webmaster), Heather Bucurel & Andy Snipes (co-Haberdashers) and Kim Manturuk. Patrick Gale called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Patrick Gale introduced Kim as Godiva’s 2024 Vice President! Godiva’s Annual December Pizza Party will be Tuesday evening, December 12, at Ponysaurus Brewing in downtown Durham. Pizza and salads will be ordered during the prior week, to be provided by Godiva. Attendees will buy their own drinks. The Godiva web site will have more details. Email blasts will go out to the membership, reminding & encouraging all to RSVP, so food orders will be sufficient. Folks who RSVP will be entered in a drawing for door prizes, provided by Coastal Race Productions. Godiva has a private space reserved from 6pm to 9pm. Kevin shared the financial reporting for October, and the four months year-to-date (July 1 – Oct. 31). October was a slow month for both revenues and expenses, fairly typical for October. Kevin noted the revenues from Umstead Trail Marathon registration are lagging behind last year at this time but believes we can expect higher registration fees in November and December. Patrick Bruer asked about the drop off in Summer Track’s 2023 donations (4-mo YTD) when compared to the 2022 donations. Kevin will look into it but it is likely just timing of the receipt, such as more members prepaying for the entire series early in the season, prior to the June 30 fiscal year end. Julie promoted Godiva with a membership tent and table at October’s RDC Marathon & Half in Durham. She talked to many fellow runners, collected emails from five and sent each membership information. So far, we have gained one new member! Julie would really like to see Godiva do this at more races in Spring 2024 and would ask for more members to get involved. Since October 10, Godiva has had eight memberships renewed, and we have added three new members. Julie suggested our Godiva events, such as Winter Series, ought to recognize Masters and Grand Masters designations for prizes. The Board agreed it would be an easy addition, in most cases, and thought the Winter Series Race Directors could be encouraged to do so this season, at their respective races. Patrick Bruer will ensure the officers’ names are updated on the Godiva web site. He also asked if the Board wanted to update the Google group email list, or should we discontinue using it? There were several ideas hatched in the discussion, which was to continue via email following this Board Meeting. Patrick Gale closed the meeting at 7:37pm. Our next gathering will be the Annual December Pizza Party, December 12th at 6pm, at Ponysaurus in Durham. Assorted Member MusingsThe Misery Run 2023 (recap)by Jim Clabuesh The story of the day was Kevin McCabe kicking like mad across the last pasture to nail his predicted time on the nose. I think that’s the first time in the 32 years I’ve been directing the November CGTC Winter Series race that that’s happened. Kudos Kevin!! We had 20 starters and 18 finishers this year, down a few from last year. The weather was our typical non-Miserable sunny and 50’s. There were nearly as many volunteers as runners again this go round. Thanks to Laura Heyneman, Lauren Figge, Susan Harris, Chris Crowder, Alan Schumacher, Erin Hensel, Shauna Griffin, John Jewell, Paul Umbach, Corrine McCarthy, Patrick Bruer, Tom Arnel, Julie Messina, and Doug Hensel for their help putting on the run. Special thanks to Barbara Hindenach and Tom Kirby for doing the registration and the timing. They also stopped on the way to the farm race morning to get safety pins, since I forgot to get them from club storage. Of course co-RD Luke Lucas gets the biggest props for allowing us the use of his wonderful property to have the event. Thanks Luke!! This was the 27th year he’s hosted us. Thanks to all the runners and volunteers over the years! Godiva Weekly Runs
Our club weekly runs are on Thursday evening (American Tobacco Trail) and Saturday morning (Umstead State Park). Please check with the listed run coordinator to confirm details. Additional information about the club can be found online using the links below:
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