Caitlin’s departure from the Charlotte area makes me sad on
a selfish level because she has meant so much to me and our running community
the past 5 years. Yet, for Caitlin and
her husband, Garrett, it is a wonderful opportunity to take another step forward
in their career growth. They will only
be 2.5 hours east of Charlotte so visits/email/fb/twitter/phone calls are
always still available.
Caitlin came to Charlotte after graduating from Wake Forest
and lining up a job with Bank of America right out of school. She and I met on Craiglist. It was not a date and neither of us was trolling
for some fetish sexual encounter. We
both were frustrated trying to locate a group to run with. Either she or I posted a request out on
Craiglist. I honestly can’t remember if I found her post or she responded to
mine, but after we both did our own independent background checks to make sure
we were not running with a serial killer, we met in front of Discovery place
after work for our first run.
There are some folks that almost instantly on a run you know
you click. Caitlin is the gold standard
for that type of feeling. I immediately
felt comfortable with her and looked forward to our next run. At the time (2009), I was in my mid 30s and
had just started to get back into running.
I had always run since college but over the 10 years proceeding, if I
got out for 3-4 runs and averaged 30 miles, it was a really good week. The marathon bug had caught me and I was in
need of a steady training partner for motivation. Caitlin was attempting her first competitive
half at OBX after a terrific collegiate career at Wake Forest.
As we did more runs together, her energy, enthusiasm, and
smarts got the wheels in my head turning and before long we had recruited
several other local runners as regulars at our morning runs. Before long, we figured, heck let’s call ourselves
Charlotte Running Club to have some identity and grow this thing a bit more. Charlotte already had a good group of runners
but the scene was fragmented and folks did not have a forum to find each other,
meet and train together. CRC and the
foundation we built helped provide the opportunity for folks to connect.
Anyone who knows Caitlin has a good story about an
experience with her. I am fortunate to
have lots of great memories with her. Heck the name of my blog is a story about
her (Uno Mas!). But the point of this blog is to say thank you!
Caitlin Thank you for inspiring me to believe even as I
approached 40 and am know a master runner that I can achieve good results. I have had lifetime PRs from 5k-marathon in
my late 30s! I have trained harder,
farther, smarter than I ever did in college.
Most importantly, I have LOVED IT!
Her passion for running is contagious and somehow got me excited to get
up at 5am to run track workouts at 5.30am.
I never would have dreamt that would be me!
Thank you for growing the Charlotte Running club. We have a terrific running club that Caitlin
was a huge part in building the club as a founder and multi-year board member.
Who would have guessed that FB 7 min pace group would grow well over 100
participants and by posting a run request an hour before a run somewhere in the
city that you most likely will have at least 2-3 runners show up!
Thank you for inspiring and encouraging so many women in Charlotte
to improve. Dalena, Michelle, Danielle…I
could go on and on but all these ladies were good runners and Caitlin helped
build their confidence, train and encourage them to be even better by being a
good friend and role model of what is possible.
All three are now sub 3 hour marathoners among other accolades.
Thank you on behalf of all the men who were your training
partners and have run lifetime PRs. I
kid Caitlin that she is her own worst enemy with training partners. She recruits men to push her in workouts and
then as they consistently workout with her, they get better and become
faster. Several have gone on to do quite
well in local races. Heck, Caitlin was
kicking my tail when we first met and I grew into a much better runner.
Thank you for your connections. I have name dropped Caitlin a few times to
help an athlete get into an event or have checked with Caitlin before going to
a new city on vacation as to whether she knows anybody there. All those experiences went well.
Thank you for encouraging me to coach and for all the coaching
you have provided to our running community.
Caitlin has the intelligence and experience to provide sound training
advice to your athletes and to your coaching peers such as myself. I know I can always engage Caitlin in a
helpful discussion about training approach for current and prospective athletes
that I coach.
Thank you for being a friend. Above and beyond running, Caitlin listens, empathizes
but also never feeds me B.S.. I actually
find that type of feedback very refreshing.
Sometimes it is uncomfortable but ultimately healthy for a friend to
just tell you objectively their opinion. From time to time I need that candid
slap in the face to ground me. Caitlin
has the guts to do this and I am thankful and envious of her courage.
So this morning, June 29, 2014, our last official Charlotte
run with Caitlin was just like it always has been. Caitlin showed up, high
fived a few folks as a quick low key thank you gesture. We started off on the
run and caught-up on various runners, running events, got a good run in, and
had a lot of laughs. Near the end of the
run, she turned off before Dowd and shouted later as the rest of us headed
towards Dowd.
Runners/friends come and go as that is the fluid nature of
our world. We win some, we lose some. Raleigh/Durham/Chapel
Hill, you just won the lottery getting Caitlin for the next several years! Best wishes and I can’t wait until our next
run.
