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In Memoriam

Club Members and Guests:

At another time, I will have a few words to say regarding last week's Turkey Trot I also suggest you check the archive (clock below) to read last week's blog post (if you have not already read it.). We begin our winter racing season on Saturday, with the Belle Haven Half-Marathon.

News I received this morning transcends all of this. By now, many of you know of the death of Marine Cpl. Nicholas P. Rapavi, 22, Springfield, Va. Nicholas was the son of Dr. Paul Rapavi, and of Cathy Rapavi-Burnley. Paul Rapavi is one of the mainstays of our Club. A frequent competitor, as well as a frequent volunteer, Paul also is well-known for his kind and generous spirit, traits which he obviously passed on to his son.

News reports say that Nicholas fulfilled a life-long dream by entering the Marine Corps. They also say that he died a truly heroic death, ordering his squad to stay back while he investigated a suspicious-looking gate. He was shot, "and died surrounded by his Marine brothers," according to the Washington Post.

Nicholas Rapavi chose to serve, and made the ultimate sacrifice as a result. We know that his family is proud of their son, and we share in that feeling. But we cannot know the depth of pain and loss they now suffer; for this, we can give only our support and our prayers. I know that Paul and the rest of Nicholas's family will appreciate this in their hour of mourning.

ERG

Board Meeting; Marathons; Lance; 2007 Schedule

Club Members and Guests:

A lot of news and commentary to catch up on:

1. November Board Meeting: The regular bi-monthly meeting of the Board will take place Monday November 13 at the Silver Diner in Clarendon at 7:00. Main topics will be the 2007 Race Schedule (see below), the upcoming Snowball Series, an invitation to become a Running Club Partner for the DC National Marathon in March, and a proposal that the Club donate funds for the installation of a new water fountain on the Mount Vernon Trail near Reagan National Airport.

2. 2007 Schedule: The proposed 2007 schedule is or will be posted very shortly on this page. Sorry for the delay. There will be a discussion heading on the Forum page of this site for you to contribute your comments and suggestions.

3. Snowball Series: The 2007-2008 Snowball Series begins Saturday December 2 with the Belle Haven Half Marathon. The Snowball Series will operate under the same "Volunteer to Score" rules as last summer's Bunion Derby. To make keep track of volunteers more simple, I have open a "Volunteer" discussion string under the "General Discussion" heading of the Forum. Simply log in your volunteer participation, and we will have a record of it. Volunteer opportunities begin with the Thanksgiving Day Race in Del Ray, Alexandria.

4. The Election: Perhaps some potential Club members were swept into office on Tuesday, and certainly there will be some among the new staff arriving in Washington. If you know such folks, please welcome them to DC by introducing them to the Club! A farewell to veteran Congressman (and honorary DCRRC Member) Jim Ryun, Kansas-2, who served in office with the same conviction, work ethic, and dedication that made him the world's greatest miler through much of the late 60s and early 70s. Best wishes to Congressman Ryun, and to his successor in office.

5. Richmond Marathon: Good luck to the following Club Members running in Saturday's Richmond Marathon. (And sorry to those we did not know of . . )

Kenny Ames
Aaron Bernstein
David Heinen
Mark Kline
Joe Lydon
Robin Martz
Tom Stone

For future "major races," let's start a discussion string in the Forum so that folks can tell us that they are running, and after the race, tell us how they did!

6. NYC and Lance: Disappointing that again we did not have an American winner in this race, despite a deep entry, but it shows again the difficult-to-predict nature of our sport. I am personally tired of the use of rabbits in Boston (where a world record cannot be set legally due to nature of the course) and NYC (where a WR cannot be set realistically for the same reason). They added nothing to the event but a distraction. Fortunately the TV coverage in NYC did not linger unduly on a certain prominent athlete's first-ever marathon. Lance is to be credited for digging deep and posting a near negative-split on a course that is not set up for that. We have all heard or read what he said afterwards. Now, he knows, and the rest of the sports world does as well, just how difficult it is to race a marathon. I'm proud in this Club that while we train and encourage novice marathoners to complete the race (only after asking them to earn their stripes in shorter-distance events), our goal is to keep those runners and teach them how to race the event. That is the purpose of our SLR and Wednesday night programs, not just for the marathon, but for all distance events. Lance could have just run and posted a time that most people would have been impressed with -- say, 3:10 or 3:15. Rather, he chose to race. Good for him.

Now, imagine what he would do with a year of SLR and Wednesday night under his belt. And all for the paltry sum of $20 in dues! Think about that and realize what we all, working together, are able to provide to each other and the running community at large.

Ed