President's Column - December 2024

Jennifer Hay, Vice President

This is my last article as your vice president. I don’t know how I let Jerry talk me into sharing the President’s letter responsibilities with him, but I’m glad he did. I liked having a way to make his presidency a smidge easier because I’m confident I made it harder in other ways. It also made me carve out additional time to consider how I could contribute to the Club.

I used to think of Gulf Winds Track Club as Carter’s (husband) and Hawthorne’s (son) people. They’re the fast runners in the family. They’re the ones who love to race and then hang out for the awards and chat with people. I even sent them to the January awards events and holiday parties without me. But you people sucked me in and made me care. You also showed me that GWTC isn’t just for the fast people and the ones training for Saturday morning PRs. Above all else, GWTC offers the village to support everyone in their pursuit to be their best selves. I have so enjoyed serving as your vice president the past two years. I’m proud of the work we did to expand the group run schedule, including starting a new training group for the half marathon. I’m excited to have the Running Shorts e-mail announcements going out each month to keep you in the loop. And I’m also glad to see the increased enthusiasm for getting involved and making new connections. As I pivot to my new position as Director of Communications, I hope to increase Club membership and outreach with new Instagram and Strava accounts and updates to the website—and to find new ways to help us grow and thrive as a community. As I figure out what all that will involve, I’d love to hear your ideas for how to make our Club even better. Text me: 850-294-9395. Y’all are awesome! ❤

FROM THE PRESIDENT

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