Thursday, November 7, 2019

Webmaster Notes for Annual Meeting

Attached is the annual report from the UPRRC Webmaster for 2019, to be presented by proxy at the Annual Meeting on November 9, 2019.

  • In the period January 1, 2019 to November 1, 2019, we had 5,286 page views (528 a month or 17 a day) by 1914 unique visitors.
    • This is lower than the 7,801 page views from 2,865 unique visitors we had for this same period in 2018 
  • The page views per month peak during the summer months.
  • Users spend about 80 seconds on our website per session and visit an average of 1.73 pages
  • The Monthly Calendar view is the most visited page (39%) followed by the Monthly Calendar List view (36%)
  • New users still represent 83% of all visitors in a year over year comparison
  • Google Chrome was the most popular web browser to view our website used 41% of the time. Safari was 32% and others made up the rest.  
  • The website was accessed from Windows computers (43%) vs. Apple computers (31%)
  • Apple iOS was the overwhelmingly most popular mobile browser used to access the site at 66% of the time, with Android at 32%.
  • Where data is available (which is on 42% of our site hits) the top age group is 45-54 years old.
  • Our website is visited by slightly more male visitors (51%) than female.

We are always taking suggestions on improving the website.  Please submit those to eric.charette@yahoo.com

Cordially, 

Eric Charette
UPRRC Webmaster

Sunday, October 27, 2019

2019 UPRRC Annual Meeting

2019 UPRRC Annual Meeting

Date
Saturday, November 9, 2019

Location
Queen City Running Co.

Address
119 W. Baraga Ave Marquette, MI 49855



Schedule
Meeting to start at 12:00pm noon Eastern Time
Note there is no formal run planned for prior to the meeting.

Agenda
  • Officer and Staff Reports 
  • Financial Overview
  • Set membership dues for 2020
  • Appointments
  • Hall of Fame Nominations 
  • New Business 
  • Set Meeting Date for 2020 
All members are invited and encouraged to attend and refreshments will be provided!

Friday, August 30, 2019

Rediscover Running

We all have had periods of long time where we were not able to run. 

I am not talking about a weekend when your in-laws are in town or it rains cats and dog for three days making outside running difficult.  I am talking about the times when it is weeks, months or years since you have run.  This might be because you can't run, like coming back from an injury -- or times where you just don't want to run because you've lost the desire. 

If you are in this state right now, I'd like to suggest that you rediscover running today. 

Let's look at two examples that define what I mean. 

During my competitive running career, I went through periods where I struggled to find motivation.  One particular time I recall was when I had plateaued with my race times and no matter what I tried, I just couldn't take that next step with my time goals.  I still ran every day, but I was just going through the motions.  Living in Alabama, you literally can train year round because even the winter weather is tolerable.  I had been training nonstop, year round, for 5 years with no break.  I felt like I was in my peak years for fast times, so I was unwilling to take a break and lose any fitness.  I knew that unless something changed, I was going to ultimately burn out and either walk away from running, or risk injury and not be able to run.

I knew that I needed to rediscover running.  Not that I had forgotten how to run, but I had forgotten what I loved about running.

So, I started to trail run, much more often.  I still did my quality running on the roads and track for temp and VO2Max workouts, but on most other days I could be found in the woods on single track.  For me, being alone in the wilderness is just about as good as it gets.  It doesn't matter if I am crushing a hill climb, working on my footwork on a technical downhill or just on an easy jog with my dog, I feel so alive when trail running. 

I noticed that my joints stopped hurting so much from the less from the softer surface of hard packed trails.  My road running quality actually improved because I wanted to make the most of my actual workouts.  And for once in a very long time, I actually started looking forward to running again.  It just took a change of where I ran to mix in more trail running, and I was able to rediscover why I loved running so much.

I was able to rediscover running and it changed my life. 

Fast forward nearly a decade to present day.  I have been retired from competitive running since December of 2016 when I went out on top with a Boston Marathon qualifying time at Run CIM in Sacramento, California.  But with medical issues, I really have not been able to run (fast) since hanging it up. 

There is an old saying that reads "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be."  Well I didn't let running go, I had to walk away from it, even if it was on my own terms.  But the yearning for it was so much greater because I was still at the tail end of my prime and I knew that I had more quality miles left in my legs.  How can you continue to do something that you love so much, but not at the same level you could once?

I knew that I needed to rediscover running.  Not that I had forgotten how to run, but I had forgotten what I loved about running.

I quickly learned that I needed to redefine what running was for me.  Because it will no longer be repeating quarters on a track at sub minute miles or going out for 3 hour long runs.  Running is now closer to jogging than running.  Running is taking the dog out for an hour where I rotate running for a minute followed by walking for a few minutes.  Running is being in a new city and exploring on foot pre-dawn to experience new places.  Running means something different to everyone, and can even change what it means for each person over time. 

I was able to rediscover running and it changed my life. 

With winter fast approaching, if you have been on a break with running, now is the perfect time to rediscover it.  Start slowly to avoid injury or burnout, but build up a routine before the snow flies.  Depending on where you live, you have 1-2 months before it gets really cold to create a new habit of running, 

Be sure to understand that what running was to you before you stopped may be different than what it is to you when you start again.  Maybe once you rediscover running you will actually enjoy it more (or differently) than you once did. 

Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.