President's Column -September 2023
Jennifer Hay, Vice President
I often find myself looking around Gulf Winds gatherings a little star struck. I’m always surrounded by people who have accomplished amazing physical feats. They’ve run dozens of marathons, completed grueling ultras, made being an Ironman look easy, qualified for Boston, finished 5Ks, 10Ks, and half marathons in times that are unfathomable by most of us running the streets of Tallahassee. And they’ve all done this while living the rest of life: working, cooking meals, running a household, raising children… They are superhuman. Freakin’ rockstars! I am completely in awe of what they are able to train their brains and bodies to do. But what impresses me the most about them is what they give to our running community. If you flip back a page and look at the names just in the directory, you’ll find people who have been directing races for decades. Yes. Decades. And yes, plural. Many of our race directors host more than one race or serve on multiple race committees. They do it every year and they work with a committee made up of a bunch of other people on that page. They spend countless hours ensuring all the details of a race come together to make it safe, fun, fulfilling, and cost effective. They sweat every detail: permits, insurance, registration, sponsors, portolets, race shirts, bibs, awards, marketing, hydration, traffic control, course marking, volunteers, food, cones, signs, timing equipment, trail grooming, and sometimes even bug spray. And they have fun doing it. I love being on race committees because I get to work with the rockstars. But y’all, at some point they are going to have to pass the baton. They have run their leg of the race with amazing grace and speed, and now it’s time for the rest of us to hold the lead. But we have to take the baton! Letting it fall to the ground is not an option. So go find a race director and volunteer to be on their committee. Yes, you. And yes, now (because life doesn’t actually get simpler). And that’s how you get to hang with run royalty and learn to be a race director. Even if you never take the lead role, you can serve on a committee and shine at getting sponsors or making the finish line fun or coordinating art for medals. Or you may just have a good truck for picking up race equipment. Every role is critical, and these volunteers keep Gulf Winds going and keep the Tally running community running. Be one of them.
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Presidents Column November 2025
If you’re a runner, you probably have mixed feelings about the track. It’s where we go to chase speed, suffer through intervals, and push ourselves to the edge. But it’s also where we find rhythm, precision, and the kind of progress that can only come from deliberate,...
Presidents Column October 2025
September always feels like jumper cables to the GWTC race calendar, jolting it into high gear each year. The legacy races that almost always land this month are Sickle Cell, the Women’s Distance Festival, and Prefontaine. If memory serves, Sickle Cell and Women’s...
Vice Presidents Column September 2025
A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast, something my wife and kids get tired of hearing me say. Short sidebar – GWTC is launching our own “We Run This Town” podcast in mid-late October, hosted by Mickey Moore, who as usual is volunteering his time and talents....
Presidents Column August 2025
The Gulf Winds Track Club held its annual meeting on July 19 at Momo’s Pizza on Market Street. Based on last year’s member survey feedback requesting more social gatherings, we again combined the annual meeting with a casual social event, just like last year, with...
Vice Presidents Column June-July 2025
This past week, the GWTC Executive Board voted to make the single largest donation that we have ever made to become an official sponsor of the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships being held at Apalachee Regional Park, known to most runners as the ARP. If...
Presidents Column May 2025
A New Perspective Like most of you, I have run a lot of races. My last race was the Sickle Cell in 2024. After a series of doctor appointments, it was determined I needed surgery, but I hope to return to racing—maybe late fall—or, if you will, “participating.”...
Vice Presidents Column April 2025
There are very few things I like more than waking up on Sunday morning to go run the trails over at Maclay Gardens State Park. It’s one of the reasons why I think it would be hard to beat Tallahassee if you were looking for a place where you can run trails year-round....
Presidents Column March 2025
I have written time and again about my old running group, the Sloths. Not unlike the group runs that many of you are now a part of, this group of friends came together and bonded as a result of daily runs from a downtown office building in the middle of our...
Vice Presidents Column February 2025
If someone had told me seven years ago that I’d be VP of a track club and writing an article about how much I love running, I would have told you that was crazy. I never ran until January, 2018 – running was a necessary evil of ‘real’ sports like soccer and tennis. My...
Presidents Column January 2025
There is this program that I listen to some weeks on NPR that the hosts always begin by sharing the the best news they have heard all week. Well the best GWTC news I have heard all week was the announcement by Race Directors Jack and Laura McDermott just prior to race...