PPTC Monthly Meeting Recap: September 2020

The Prospect Park Track Club has members-only meetings the first Monday of the month (or the second Monday in the case of an early month holiday, like Labor Day). After five months of virtual meetings that followed the same format we had for in-person meetings, club leadership decided to mix it up a bit for the September gathering. Captain Leanne moderated a town hall discussion, based mostly on questions members submitted in advance of the meeting. 

Opening Statements

President Tom kicked off the meeting with a few welcoming words, then introduced Leanne and the town hall format, which he described as an opportunity to “talk about who we are as a club.”

First, Leanne invited Coaches Tony and Charlene to share an announcement: Speed training classes are back!

• In-person sessions will resume, but registration is limited to 12 people each night (Tuesday and Thursday), and sessions will occur outside at 7 p.m. Editor’s note: As of 9/24, the in-person sessions are full, but the virtual option will still be available.

• They are also offering a virtual option for up to 30 people, which includes a training plan and Zoom sessions to go over the plan. 

Town Hall Questions

In anticipation of today’s meeting, the captains invited members to submit questions they wanted answered in the meeting. Leadership picked six questions to run through, and on top of that, Leanne monitored the Zoom chat to address other things as they came up. “We have a time limit and we have a ton of questions,” Leanne said. “If your question is not answered tonight, someone will get back to you.”

When will group runs start, and how will they be different?

Oren took this one. “For those who don’t already know, we have resumed in-person group activities.” Group runs are back, and the Saturday 8 a.m. gathering is the most popular. 

• What’s the same? Members meet up at a park entrance, go around and introduce themselves, then set off and break up into smaller groups so runners who keep a similar pace stay together. 

• What’s different? There’s a sign-up process, runners must wear masks, and the smaller groups seem to be a little smaller, and diverge into different routes once everyone gets started. 

“We’re not running in a giant pack like we used to,” Oren said, “and that was kind of obnoxious, anyway.”

What does inclusivity mean for a club like ours?

Linda, a member of the Diversity Committee, answered: “Inclusivity means providing a space and actively working to provide support and encourage advocacy to make running spaces we engage with safer and more supportive for runners of underrepresented or marginalized identities.”

We do this through group runs that are open to runners of all paces (especially now with our sign-up process), Facebook groups for people of different interests, and a variety of Social Committee events, such as food runs, a book club, cooking challenges, and a plant exchange. 

She added that if you have suggestions for ways to be more inclusive to email diversity@pptc.org or social@pptc.org. “You don’t have to join a committee to suggest an idea.”

Linda noted that the NYC Running IDEA group set up a petition for NYRR to address how it can do better to promote inclusion in the New York City running community. Members of PPTC worked on the IDEA petition, which you can read and sign here.

How does PPTC spend money?

Leanne called on Treasurer Doug to fill in the group.

“Is he here?”

(Silence)

“He left with all the money.”

Doug, of course, did not take the money and run—though he does oversee the money, and as the record books show, could run away quite quickly. He was just on mute. It has to happen at least once in a Zoom, right?

Doug provided a fairly detailed breakdown of the club’s fiscal year that ended in April. 

Here’s where the club money comes from, in descending order:

• Race fees

• Membership dues

• Clothing

• Training sessions

• Other activities (e.g. awards night)

• Donations

And here’s where that goes, in descending order:

• Race operations

• Donations, grants, and sponsorships

• Club activities 

• Clothing inventory

• Coaches

• Club operations

We have a little bit of a cushion in the bank account, which helps given we’re not taking in any race fees this year. 

This prompted a question from a member about if we should raise our dues. The answer: “There’s no reason to raise our dues at this point.”

What do the committees do?

Members with leadership roles took turns talking about what their volunteer commitments entail:

• Jana T, a director on the board “Each director is a liaison between the board and a committee. I work with Crystal on the Social Committee.” The director attends committee meetings and brings updates back to the board, where they discuss those updates and ensure the club is operating cohesively.

• Crystal, Social Committee “We put on events designed to help us get to know each other in running and non-running events.” This includes things like food runs and pub runs. Speaking of which, pub runs are coming back! Crystal said to look out for details for the next one, which will be on Sept. 30.

• Stuart, Race Committee “This year unfortunately because of the pandemic we had to get creative. We know that racing was a huge part of our club so we didn’t want to take that away, but we also wanted to make sure we were racing responsibly, so we created Run Together Apart.” (Honestly, at this point, I got so sucked into Stuart’s fired-up speech about the Race Committee that my note-taking suffered. There was an anecdote about being at a dog hospital and someone knowing about PPTC because of its races which concluded with, “We are famous.” Stuart’s salesmanship triggered a string of competitive, committee-recruitment commentary in the Zoom chat for the rest of this portion of the meeting).

• Alison, Blog Team “If you're a member of the PPTC Facebook group, you might have seen the spotlight posts on members and why they love running—all of that comes from the blog team. You don’t need to be a writer or an editor, or anything having to do with putting words to paper. You just have to be into PPTC and into running.” While Alison shared how to get involved with the blog, Murray set off some controversy in the chat: “But where does the Blog committee stand on the Oxford comma?” Don’t worry, strong opinions on punctuation are not a requirement for joining the blog team. Email blog@pptc.org if you want to share some running-related writing with the community.

• Jennifer, Clothing Committee Not only does this committee hook you up with the staples like singlets and hats, they also coordinate special items like the PPTC masks.

• Will, Communications Committee Will put on a little show-and-tell by holding up a paper newsletter, the ancestor of the digital Speed Read he distributes to members weekly. Even in paper newsletter times, Doug was still our trusty treasurer.

• Caitlin-Marie, Social Media Team It’s pretty self-explanatory: This group of six members keeps the club informed and engaged through platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

• Rebekah, Grants Committee Every year, PPTC awards $12,000 in grants to organizations invested in running and our community. The fall grants cycle is about to start so reach out to grants@pptc.org if you want to help us give back.

• Oren, Membership Committee “We make sure new members get the information they need.” This committee also helps manage the Wild Apricot membership platform. 

• Sara, Welcome Wagon “Brand spanking new as of this week.” The idea is to help new members get started with group runs and meeting other people. “We’re looking for people to help shape what this will become based on their experiences joining the club.” 

Tom concluded the committee round-up: “Our leadership is dedicated not to improving the quantity of our membership but the quality and giving back whenever we can.”

Well said.

How are winners chosen for awards that are not voted on?

PPTC awards night falls in February. Club members can vote to give their teammates a variety of honors, but club leadership determines the following awards:

• Most Races The captains track progress and give this award to the person who completes the most races in the year, but this year’s award will have to work a little differently, given the lack of races happening. The captains will send an update on this when they have one.

• Female/Male Runner of the Year This one is also based on race performance, including age-graded results, number of races, and points scored at team races. Again, this will take a different twist for 2020, TBD.

• Al Goldstein Generosity Award Goes to someone who has made a strong contribution to the club that is not necessarily quantifiable.

• President’s Award It’s up to the president to determine criteria for this one. Tom said he likes to pick “someone who makes a significant contribution that wouldn’t be recognized in another way.”

• Volunteer of the Year Chosen by the volunteer committee chair, the recipient is usually the person who puts in the most volunteer hours for the club.

• Ultrarunner of the Year The captains choose a person who has had an outstanding performance or someone who has given a lot to the ultra community.

What do the captains do?

Leanne explained: The captains organize training programs, including group runs, Ultramarathon Training Group, Marathon Training Group, and The Last 10 Miles. They also uphold the club code of conduct and make recommendations around any related disciplinary actions. The captains are also working with the Diversity Committee and NYC Running IDEA on a plan of action regarding Rebuild NYRR—it’s part of the captains’ roles to represent the club in the NYC running community.

Are we going to do a modified Last 10 Miles for people running the virtual NYC Marathon?

Answer: Maybe?

How can we more substantially contribute to ensure our park stays clean?

Murray has been in contact with the Prospect Park Alliance about group volunteering for park cleanup. The PPA has received a good response to its call for individual volunteers, so Murray is working with the board on a plan to get gloves, bags, and trash grabbers for group plogging in the park. 

“You pick up trash while you go for a run,” Murray said. “It’s great cross training. You don’t realize it, but the bending and picking up stuff really adds to the physical exertion. There will be notices about any day that we organize.”

Is our 50th anniversary on hold?

“Well we had great plans until we were smacked with the pandemic,” Tom said. “We may have to put off some of our 50th anniversary celebrations until next year.”

The plans for a 50-mile race in Prospect Park are still in progress. Michael and Doug are organizing it.

“We’re planning a lot of socially distanced things but I don’t want to promise anything until we get a permit,” Michael said. It will be the first or second week of December, and club members will get to register first.

A few minutes past 8, Leanne made a last call for questions and comments. Members shared a  couple of updates in the chat:

• Running for Ayotzinapa 43 would like to thank all PPTC members joining in on the 43 miles for the 43 hearts. Please look at the social media post for more info.

• PPTC has two teams for Womxn Run The Vote. The second team (PPTC-2) still has available slots.

Tom wrapped it up by sharing some deep breathing exercises and encouraged others to give them a try during these times of high stress. 

Breathe in, breathe out, and see you next month.

**Editor’s note: Tom read this post prior to publication, and wanted to extend a special thank-you to the members involved in executing our virtual races this year—Stuart, Stephanie & David—as well as Will and Jennie, our race directors for this year’s virtual Turkey Trot. Thanks for working to ensure our members continue to have events to train for!

Text by: Christine DiGangi
Edited by: Alison Kotch
Produced by: Linda Chan