Hello, Team! This is the Winter 2024 edition of our restarted quarterly E-News series.

President’s Letter: The State of Club Northwest

Greetings and Happy New Year, Club Northwest -

Thank you for another year supporting Club Northwest Running. I know this club means so much to all of you, and I'm happy to say that 2023 was another year of success. There are so many people that I have to personally thank - who have put hours of their time into the club, including our coaches, our board, the executive members, Andie Roff who coordinates our volunteers, the duos known as Claire/Madeline (Wendle and Westerhoff) and Brent/Tammy (Jarosek and Bowers), Mitch Rees-Jones, Tyler Van Dooren, Erin Wagner, Zeth Peterka, Deborah Fletcher, Gail Hall, Willie Richardson, Steve H and H (Harris and Heaps), Ben Iten who keeps me organized, Nick Welch, Craig Kenworthy... all of you make this club a better place. There are also several volunteers that took on heavy lifts for All-Comers and our XC meets, whose work and efforts make it operate properly and efficiently. They are the reason we all have fun, my friends.

I think the best way to describe Club Northwest in 2023 is to share with you a conversation I had with another runner on the flight to the Chicago Marathon this past October. He asked me, "What's Club Northwest about anyway?" My long-winded response was, "I'm sure you've heard of the Resolution Run, the 5K around Magnuson Park where people jump in the water on New Year's Day? Well, we do that and it's one of the races that survived the pandemic and came back even stronger. We also put on the All-Comer's track meet on Wednesday's throughout the summer - and that also has been growing because it's a meet for the people - all ages, all abilities, it doesn't matter. If you want to run around an oval, it's for you, you should come. We have great coaches that have been growing our youth program, trasnporting them all over for XC, and then we have our coaches that come with us to events like Boston, Eugene, CIM, they will be here in Chicago and they will be at the Olympic Trials supporting our elite athletes as well. We see them every week on Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday. They also put on events like a spring marathon tune-up 10 miler and a marathon relay before Boston and Eugene. The Tuesday group is for everyone - you should go! (he actually went, by the way, and plans to attend when he's back from globetrotting). We also have XC teams for every age group, and take teams to Club Nationals each year. It's the biggest team event we have, and it really brings us together as a club. We train throughout the year, compete, and travel together. It's pretty special. And it's all volunteer-driven. That's what's most special about our club. We submitted a bid to host XC Nationals here in the Seattle area next year... Yeah, we have a lot of fast people who have accomplished incredible times in this sport and who sacrifice a lot to show up on the start line, but not all of us are The Flash fast. What we all have in common is that we are committed to making this club amazing by pitching in to put on awesome events, field trips, member celebrations like the Solstice Run and our holiday party, but most of all it's that we are all dedicated to showing up for ourselves and each other to be the best athletes we can be in this sport. And we do what we can to support the running community as a whole. You should join."

And that's us in a nutshell. Like any family, group, organization, or team, we aren't perfect, but we all show up to do our best. We try our hardest, and we do everything we can today to make sure we are better tomorrow. That's what this club has stood for, and that's what we bring into our communities, our workplaces, and our families.

Moving forward into 2024, I'm already looking forward to our marathon program. I'm pumped for All-Comers and our shiny new timing system. I'm crazy excited for XC because as you may have heard, our club will be hosting Club Nationals in 2024 at Chamber's Bay just south of Tacoma! If you haven't been involved with the club for some time, but have thought about coming around again, consider this your year. More to come on that, but we will be putting a lot of energy into this event as well as into our training and team building programs leading up to this event.

Additionally, we want to know what you are doing! Be sure to join our new members only slack (all members should automatically have an invite), and add your training/racing plans into the Club Northwest Athlete Schedule so we can train and race together. It's the best source of support you can get as an athlete.

And finally, save the date for our Annual Meeting to be held on March 9. Look out for the invitation to arrive in your inbox soon, and start to think about who you would like to nominate for the President's Award.

I can't say this enough - thank you. Thank you for being a member, for showing up for yourself and each other in training and for bringing your talents to the club to make it the best running club on the West Coast and beyond. This is a special club because it's built by and made up of very special and dedicated people. I'm so thankful for you all, and look forward to big things in 2024.

My best and run happy,

Danielle Henty

Club Northwest President

2023 club XC wrapped

The leaves have fallen and the ground has grown frosty in the mornings signaling the shift from fall to winter, and heralding the end of another successful year of Club Northwest XC.

The season kicked off in mid September in Bellingham with the Bill Roe Classic. On the women’s team, the Club finished 7th overall. The team was led by Lana Lacey, Melissa Phung-Rojas, and Alison Maxwell running tightly as a pack with a mere 17 second spread between the three teammates. A similar story unfolded on the men’s team with Bobby Baraldi, Tyler Van Dooren, and Will Thompson leading the team to a 5th place overall finish, crossing within 18 seconds of each other.

*Women’s open and masters race, PNTF 2023*

Early October brought the 23rd annual running of the historic Emerald City Open Invitational hosted by Club Northwest. As anyone there can attest to, it was a tour de force of orange jerseys and good vibes on a sunny, crisp fall day. It was a full field with the attendance of Lake Sammamish Run Club, Seattle Run Club, and a number of collegiate teams as well. The women’s team solidified a 4th place finish, with Lyndsey Eisenbach leading the team and finishing third overall. Meghan Lyle and Deborah Fletcher were the other team top finishers in 14th and 18th place finishes respectively. The men’s team rallied from their previous meet to secure a 1st place team finish. Leading the charge were Mac Franks and Colin Monaghan finishing 2nd and 3rd overall respectively. Not far behind was teammate Will Thompson with a 7th place finish.

The championship season kicked off with PNTF at Lincoln Park in West Seattle. The day would end with a clean sweep across both Master’s and both open teams from CNW winning the team championship outright. Well done, Club!

In the men’s Master’s division, Adam Schroeder won the race outright, followed closely by David Simmons in 3rd and Emmet Hogan in 4th. In the women’s Master’s division, Megan Heuer, Meghan Lyle, and and Laura Breyman led the charge in 5th, 10th, and 15th place finishes respectively.

In the open division, the men’s team made a clean sweep of the top 6 finishes for the day, led by Mac Franks, Colin Monaghan, Bobby Baraldi, Tyler Van Dooren, Ben Li, and Brian Comer. In the women’s open race, four of the top 5 finishers were Club Northwest athletes, led by Erin Wagner, Alison Maxwell, Lana Lacey, and Melissa Phung-Rojas.

*Mitch being Mitch. In his reliably endearing way.*

The team continued to excel using the steam built from PNTF at the Regional Championship in Portland. The women came away as a team with a 2nd place finish. The top three performers included Erin, Lana, and Alison yet again finishing in a spectacular 2nd, 4th, and 5th place overall. On the men’s side, CNW finished 1st as a team, with Tom Anderson breaking the finishing tape. Mac and Bobby continued their dominance seen at PNTF as well, finishing with a 2nd and 4th place finish. It was another excellent team performance in a championship event.

With the completion of Regionals, the final preparations began for Club Nationals. Thousands of miles had been run. Numerous hours of core work, yoga, and reassembling schedules to keep pace with the demands of training culminated on December 9th at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, FL.

On the women’s team, nine Master’s athletes and six open athletes competed for CNW. On the men’s team, sixteen Master’s athletes and seven open athletes made the trek to Florida.

*Lana Lacey leading CNW women’s open team, Club Nationals*

On the women’s side, Lana Lacey, Alison Maxwell, and Melissa Phung-Rojas executed gritty racing strategies achieving consistent progression in finishing place from the start to the finish line. They were followed by teammates Erin Wagner, Sarah Paquet, and Ashden Personeus who gave Club Nationals their best as well. As a team, CNW Women came away with a 13th place finish of the twenty assembled teams.

In the men’s race, Mac Franks led the charge. In a blistering 15:55 for the first five kilometers of the 10k, he would go on to finish the race in 35th overall, followed closely by teammate Bobby Baraldi (55th). Next to the finish line was teammate Ben Li (76th), followed by Mitch Rees-Jones(93rd). Finishing in a pack were the final three teammates including Tyler Van Dooren (118th), Logan Singer (119th), and Brian Comer (129th). The Men’s team finished 12th as a team of the twenty-five competing.

In the Master’s races, twenty-five Club Northwest athletes competed. Nine represented in the women’s race, and sixteen men competed between the 10k and 8k distances.

*Sophia Liu and Meghan Lyle leading the Master’s Women team.*

In the men’s 8k, Club Northwest was represented by David White-Espin (19th), Leslie Sharpe (77th), David Longmuir (87th), Dennis Foster (110th), and Ray Leone (105th)

In the women’s 6k, the assembled team included Meghan Lyle (24th), Sophia Liu (31st), Deborah Fletcher (59th), Holly McIlvaine (63rd), Judith Puzon (70th), Jennifer Saam (82nd), Michelle Neal (85th), Gail Hall (91st), and Kay Pinkstaff (117th).

*Club Northwest Men’s Master’s Teammates*

Club Northwest masters athletes in the men’s 10k included Adam Schroeder, who finished 8th in the race. He was followed by teammates David Simmons (29th), Emmet Hogan (48th), Jordan Anderson (50th), Paul Mannino (70th), Jason Hect (72nd), Mark Bloudek (73th), Blair Cossey (77th), Sean Messiter (152d), Brian Houck (172nd), and Craig MacLean.

*Luke Contreras, 15th place National Junior Olympics*

A little to the east in Louisville, the Club Northwest Youth Team arrived to the Junior Olympics championship in a show of force from teammate Luke Contreras who finished 15th in the nation for boys aged 11-12. Luke completed the 3 kilometer course in 10 minutes and 20 seconds. Well done!

And so ends another season. Well done, Club Northwest! Now to look forward to hosting XC Nationals here next fall. Thank you to all our athletes for their participation and performances. Thank you to all teammates and volunteers without whom, we couldn’t put on races. Thank you to all our sponsors for their continued support. And thank you to all families, friends, and community members that continue to support us as we strive to make Club Northwest the best running club it can possibly be.

-Written by Steve Harris

-photo credits: Zeth Peterka, Matt Huerta, Aimee Nogoy

*The self titled “Silverbacks”: Men’s 70’s Master’s Teammates at Club Nationals*

January Blog: motivation and goal setting

Their ebullient voices carried through the coffee shop, lifting those in its wake with energy and positivity. Faces flushed, water bottles emptied, and gear slightly sweaty even in the December morning chill, these 6 friends had just completed a Saturday morning run. Embodying the most powerful motivator, social connection, they could have easily turned their 6 miles into 12 should they have desired.

Motivation can be described in many ways. It is the “why” informing human behavior, spurring us to action, propelling a course forward, and allowing us to maintain the trajectory. It moves us from intent to actualization. It brings form to actions needed to help us reach our goals. Comprised of a complicated set of biological, emotional, social and cognitive factors that initiate behavior, it is not only the process of activation, but endurance through barriers of which will undeniably arise. For many goals, it is a combination of both intrinsic factors (autonomy, mastery and purpose) and extrinsic factors (compensation and reward) that compel action.

As the New Year takes hold, fresh goals emerge, but along with them, the sparkle of the holidays – and the endorphins that accompany – fade. Celebrations come with sleep deprivation, changes to usual habits (perhaps, a skosh – or quad-shot – more of caffeine), and illness, lethargy, and malaise settle in where luster had been. It is beyond a doubt that runners are incredible architects of motivation, resilient in the most harsh of setbacks, but even so, a little tailwind is always welcome. When the chasm between intent and action in reaching our goals seems insurmountable, what are some ways to bridge the gap?

Tips for setting goals

The start of any effective running season requires that we set out with an intended outcome. We need a goal. So what are the tenets of good goal setting?

Although originally applied to business or academic achievement, the principles hold true for running too.

Confirm Commitment: what is your goal?

Bring Clarity: what is the roadmap to progress toward your goal? What are the steps in progressing from where you are presently to achieving the stated goal?

Engage Challenge: what inspires achievement but does not feel out of reach? What is a realistic, yet sufficiently challenging goal to strive for?

Gauge Complexity: does the roadmap match skill? Is this realistic and possible?

Reflective Feedback: how are you progressing toward the goal?

**I would add, Optimistic Flexibility: how do you overcome obstacles, as they are sure to arise? What can I do to plan for the unexpected so I can get back on track?

Tips for maintaining alignment with goals

Firstly, remember to phone a friend. “My first piece of advice is to find friends to do fun runs with,” says CNW Masters competitor, Danielle Henty. Having a support system – be it a one-on-one fitness buddy, a group, or romantic partner – ensures the greatest success in consistency. And not just in “showing up,” as the data shows that gentle competition can super-charge a work-out, and encouragement can carry you through when losing momentum.

Secondly, find ways to lower the barrier to entry. Align your day-to-day tasks with your goals:

-This may include scheduling exercise (take a look at your weekly calendar and slot time for training).

-Sleep wearing your work-out gear (we have all heard it before, and it works!) or lay it out the night before.

-If affected by the winter weather, consider a light box to energize your mornings.

-Level load stress to approach each work-out with maximal (may or may not dovetail with optimal) energy (prioritize restorative and reparative sleep, avoid alcohol, focus on hydration, check cortisol with deep breathing exercises several times a day).

Leverage dopamine. Otherwise known as the “feel-good” neurotransmitter it is central to the “reward center” of the brain and operative not only in mood regulation, movement, focus and attention, but also, motivation. The “Premack Principle” illustrates the power of this relationship and suggests that by coupling a something you “should do” with a something you “want to do” the behavior becomes more approachable. For example, pair the listening of that new Beyoncé album you’ve been waiting for with a treadmill work-out. Additionally, you could pair this week’s most recent installment of your favorite podcast with the time needed to complete your long run.

So turn that rainy and bone-chilling Seattle wintery morning into an enticement: gossip, laugh, jam, daydream, groove, and dance those miles away. Even as your T-shirt may be a little rumpled from overnight slumber. Beyoncé couldn’t care less.

-Written by Milah Frownfelter

-Edited by Steve Harris