Mike Wilson

Webmaster

2004 has been a fabulous year of running for me. I set a number of goals for this year and by the end of the year, I will have accomplished all but one. In the course of this running, I have met a lot of new friends. I truly feel privileged to be able to say I am a Strider. And, two of my adult children started running this year so I now have even more encouragement to run.

2004 Goals:

• Run a marathon - I decided to try running a late spring marathon in order to decide if I could survive the Chicago Marathon. I was able to complete both with Boston qualifing times in each - a first in my 27th year of running.
• Complete all Gold Cup races - I received my Jim Cox award after the Fall Frolic with the six other members of the Magnificent Seven.
• Run at least two races in every calendar month - The Sleighbell is done - I made it. In the course of doing this, I have run 47 races. Now, that's not even close to Jerry Ezell but for somebody who ran no races in 2000 as I recovered from prostate cancer, I have come a long way.
• Repeat as First Place in 60-64 Gold Cup standings - I didn't make this one because this young whipper snapper named Jack Potter (he is all of 11 weeks younger than me) joined CRS and the Gold Cup competition and you know what? He is a lot faster than me. I only managed to beat him in our first head-to-head race. I was able to achieve 1000 points but only because Jack was injured for a couple of races. (Do you think falling off the roof is a legitimate reason for not running?)
• Qualify for CARA Awards - I have been a Chicago Area Runners Association member for many years but this is the first year I actually tried to qualify. I was successful in qualifying for a CARA Participation Award (104K in Cara races) and the CARA Long Distance Award (5 races in the Long Distance Series including a marathon or longer).

This year has seen major changes to our web site. My intent is to make our information useful, timely and interesting so that the web site is a resource for our members. In addition to keeping the Gold Cup Results and Standings current, I have scanned the results of over 150 Other Races to display the accomplishments of our members outside the Gold Cup series.

I have also added more than 35 photo galleries of our members enjoying being runners. The daily birthday update gives us all a chance to send a greeting to our fellow runners on their special day. The Member PR page and the Boston Qualifiers page provide additional information on member accomplishments.

The newly revised Home Page provides improved focus for club activities (highlighted notes in each area as well as notes of general interest) and club members/activities in the slide show.

Contact info:
You can reach me via E-Mail at