The Beginning of Something RICHMONGOUS!

That's right. It's time for Richmond, Kentucky, to have a running club of its own.

So here's the deal:

1. The first organizational meeting will happen at Apollo Pizza (228 S. Second Street, Richmond) on Tuesday, August 20 from 5:30-7:30. This will be a very loosey-goosey meeting--come as you are, whenever you feel like it, stay as long as you wish. Weather permitting, we'll set up shop on the back patio; otherwise, we'll be in the main dining area (if you can't find us, just ask one of the helpful Apollo staffers).

The purpose of this meeting is just to get a feel for who's out there and who might be interested. If we've got enough people at the meeting, we can talk about any or all of the following:

• How to structure the club;
• How to find new members;
• When/where to establish regular group runs;
• Whether to pursue RRCA membership; and
• Whether we need to come up with a better name than "Richmond Running Club."

2. The first group run will happen at Lake Reba on Saturday, August 24, at 8:00 a.m. We'll meet at the big parking lot at the main entrance (next to the baseball fields). Distance and pace are TBD, but don't worry--all runners are welcome (even those who need to take walk breaks). We'll probably map out a three mile course, and, if anyone wants to go longer, we can figure something out.

Who's invited?

Anyone who lives in and around Madison County and wants to run--level of experience and PRs be darned. If we've got any competitively-minded folks, we can talk about establishing a racing and training group.

Goals

For the immediate future, I think we can hope to accomplish the following:

• Provide a social community for area runners;
• Hold regular group runs;
• Share local running routes;
• Promote running and healthy lifestyle choices among Richmond-area residents; and
• Keep members up to date on upcoming running and racing opportunities.

In the long term, we may consider:

• Coming up with a cool t-shirt design to promote the club;
• Establishing new races and/or partner with existing races; and
• Advocating to make Richmond a more runner-friendly community (better maintenance for sidewalks, improved crosswalk visibility and enforcement, pushing for construction of a Richmond Greenway, etc.).

And you are?

My name is David Powell. My wife, Erin, and I moved to Richmond a bit over two years ago--if you've spent much time running in Richmond in the last two years, we've probably seen you on the sidewalk/trail/track while running and grunted hello. If you've got any questions, email us at richmondkyrunners@gmail.com.

Hope to see you soon!