Thursday, October 17, 2013

The new Pettit Center track and a truly informational speaker

I recently joined the Badgerland Striders, which is Milwaukee’s main running club and the 7th largest running club in the NATION.  I went and saw this awesome speaker tonight at the monthly club  meeting which was held at the Pettit Center after the dedication of the new track.
Dr. Brant McCartan who is a foot specialist in this area.  He actually ran Boston this past April.  He talked a little bit about how Boston came together to help out the runners and spectators after what happened.  I’m not going to say too much on that subject because I don’t want to get facts wrong, it’s not my story to tell, and as a runner, or just a human being, it’s still hard to grasp. 
He talked about the dangers of shoes being too big/too small, how to get properly fitted and the proper socks.  He said you should go with a synthetic sock because it wicks the moisture away from the foot and prevents blistering and other disgusting ailments all of us runners know about but cringe to talk about.  He was a great speaker and it was nice to hear his opinions on several topics that I was a bit confused about.
After he was done, we continued with the normal monthly meeting, discussing the dedication of the new indoor track, which was paid for with the money the Striders’ made throughout the year.  We will be having a 20k dedication race in December for it.  
Work on the NEW track at the Pettit, Photo Courtesy of Tom Held
We also discussed recaps of races the club has hosted in the past couple months.  There’s a point in every meeting where the club director asks for “any new medals” and people get to stand up and talk about the race medals they’ve received since the last meeting and basically brag about how awesome they are.  Sounds lame, but I love this idea. 

I met some great people at the meeting and since I was a newbie, I had to stand up and introduce myself and talk about races that I’ve done and what my goals are.   The club director came over and personally welcomed me to the club and said “we’ll get you to the marathon in 2014.”  It was nice to be around other weirdo runners like myself for once.  I’m counting the days until the next meeting!!!

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