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July/August 2011 Editor's Notes
Measuring Each Success
Brenda Barrera
July/August 2011
How do you measure success? What role does sports play? If you are like me, it factors in a variety of ways. Let’s look at a few . . .
This past May I had the honor of being a presenter at the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) Convention in Fredericksburg, VA for a seminar on developing a marketing and media strategy to foster successful events. The room was packed with apt listeners and only one person dozing off; I’ll chalk that up to a success.
The Convention was a wonderful time to see old friends like Freddi Carlip, past RRCA President and publisher of Runner’s Gazette, and meet new running friends like John Sissala who has served the MCRRC in various roles and is the Maryland USATF Course Certifier. He has devoted countless hours so you can accurately “measure” your successes and personal triumphs at various races. Sissala is one of the many unsung heroes we are proud to highlight this year in our “Behind the Race” series (p. 18).
I imagine Grady or Dash (“four-legged runners”) would call it a successful day when they see their owners beckoning them with a dog leash for a run outside (p. 34).
How many of you open to the WRR Runner Rankings section first and have the Web site page bookmarked on your computer? For top age groupers from 19 to 80 plus, success means scanning your age division and seeing whether your name made the list (p. 28).
In this special Triathlon Issue you’ll find various articles and information on the multisport event. Margie Shapiro, WRR triathlon columnist, highlights “Goodies and Essentials” to help you achieve training and racing success (p. 24). Meet two triathletes we think are inspirational: Robbie Wade and Michelle Harburg (p. 70).
I had the pleasure of meeting USA Triathlon President Bob Wendling when I competed in the Old Point Tidewater Triathlon in June. He is enthusiastic about the future of the sport and mentioned the success of the Mid-Atlantic region, “a hot-bed for multisports.” With more than 23,000 members, our region has the largest number of members in the country!
That’s impressive and so is this statistic from the USA Triathlon Web site: “Triathlon participation in the United States is at an all-time high, following unprecedented growth over the past decade. USA Triathlon can easily track the surge through its membership numbers, which surpassed 135,000 annual members in 2010. To put that into perspective, annual membership hovered between 15,000 and 21,000 from 1993-2000.”
Standing at the beach, I buried my toes in the sand, fidgeted with my goggles as I listened to race organizer Greg Hawkins give final pre-race instructions. It has been a long road since my inaugural triathlon in 1985 and to still be competing is a blessing and a huge success by my standards. As I peered out over the choppy water assessing the current and tangents, I heard Greg share race safety precautions and close with: “I’m the luckiest guy; I’ve got the best job!” I feel the same way. How fortunate am I to be able to claim good health, plus the success of combining work and play!
Wishing you much success in your training and racing,