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
Presidents Column June-July 2026
GWTC Board meetings are typically fairly languid, but interesting, affairs. The last couple of Board meetings have seen an infusion of energy that is atypical but welcome, as differing opinions are generally good for organizations. In April, the 2026 Marathon/Half...
Vice Presidents Column May 2026
Every runner, if they stay in the sport long enough, comes face-to-face with injury. It is not a question of if, but when. And when it happens, the real challenge is often not physical - it is mental. We have plans, goals, races circled on the calendar. We build...
Presidents Column April 2026
Robert Skrob recently forwarded me a report from RunSignup (RSU) that chronicles race trends for 2025. I found it pretty interesting and will summarize some of the findings here and contrast what I can with my perceptions of our local experience. RSU estimates that...
Vice Presidents Column March 2026
On February 8, 2026, I woke up to one of the most beautiful days of the year. The temperature was almost perfect for a nice little run. However, the only running I did that day was running from the parking lot of the new FSU Herbert Wertheim College of Business to the...
Presidents Column February 2026
I have to say, until recently, I had yet to attend a widely recognized world event, athletic or otherwise, that happens to be held in a different part of the planet each year. The World Cross Country Championships was an event to behold. I was fortunate to attend the...
Vice Presidents Column January 2026
Runners are a different breed. We do something for fun that often is used as punishment in other sports. However, there are definitely different breeds of runners. There are the ones who try to win the races and the ones who don’t pay any attention to time. There are...
Presidents Column December 2025
One of my favorite nonprofits is World Central Kitchen (WCK). Founded in 2010 by well-known chef José Andrés, this organization operates worldwide and provides fresh, hot meals to people in need during natural disasters, wars, and humanitarian crises. WCK sets up...
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....