Think Big

So I have lived here for almost three years now, and I've seen a lot of changes with the running scene in that short time. People come and go, some faces are the same, but what never changes is the growing population of Baltimore Runners.

When I first got hooked up with Fed Hill it would get decent turnouts, but now some weeks are ridiculous. Tuesday Night Track started with me, Brett, Eric and Will on a cold, dark night at Dulaney. Now we get 15-20 a week and I wouldn't be surprised if this year is a little larger. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays - all have organized runs.

What I'm looking for is ideas from you guys on how we can grow the community here, get more people involved, facilitate discussions, etc, while maintaining our core group. That is, I don't want any of us to have to necessarily do anything we're not already doing, and certainly don't want to dilute our group too much. Basically, I want people that live in the city to stay in the city to run.

Some ideas I've been throwing around are organizing a Canton run, using our Wednesday Night Run as a template. Give people a disclaimer, saying that it's loosely organized, run at your own risk type run. No key bag, no water, just the route and maybe a friend. At the very least I can let people know how long the run is. Of course I'm pretty sure I would eliminate Baltimore Street for people other than us. My only problem with that is I usually stop running on Wednesdays after March, as I start riding on Wednesdays, but I could work something out and maybe someone would be willing to be a "leader." I will never open up Fridays, because I don't want anyone other than us there.

I also want a legitimate website. Does anyone have experience with this? I'd like it to be cool, with the ability to have photos from races, race results, archives, records, forums/discussions, for sale, etc. I am going to include a few links to what I'm talking about for reference.

Terp Runners

Jim's New Thing

Mid Maryland Triathlon Club

So take a look, let me know what you all think. This could be for us, but ultimately it would be fun to expand to Baltimore. I bet we could make this thing huge, and develop the sickest running city in America.