November, 2007

Teammates & Friends:

Many Mass Velocity members frequently ask me about the status of their dues. Up until now the process has been to have a person pay their $15 dues when they sign up for membership and have it run for 12 months from that point. I have encouraged folks to use the PayPal subscription service because PayPal will automatically re-bill annually. In many cases PayPal is not an option because they don't have a computer, a credit card or don't trust computers with their credit card. So often I receive a check.

Some of the problems include folks whose credit cards expire cannot be rebilled by PayPal and those who send checks wait for me to remind them to send another one a year later - and never receive the reminder. So I propose we change this system.

Just like your USATF dues that are good for each calendar year, I propose that MVTC dues run for each calendar year, payable on the first of each new year. This will make bookkeeping much easier and those who prefer to pay by credit card can still use PayPal, but it will be a one-time, each-time payment rather than an automatically-rebilled subscription payment so I won't have to worry about expired cards.

I have gone into my PayPal account and canceled all pending subscriptions which might explain the notice you received from NextGen Websites. In the January Newsletter you will all receive notice about paying the 2008 Mass Velocity Dues. You will have to option of mailing a check or using PayPal to make a one-time payment. Anyone who recently paid their dues will not be expected to pay again so soon.

We have used our dues for trophies, covering the cost of food for the Annual Gathering, entry fees for certain big meets (like the Milrose Games), banners, etc. Currently there is $680.73 in the account. There probably should be more but many dues for the past year were never received. I hope and expect this switch to the new dues system will be better for everyone. Naturally, if anyone has any problem, please get in touch with me so we can work it out.

- Larry

Indoor practice coordinator, Carroll Blake tells me that if you were signed-up for practices at The Reggie Lewis Center last year, they already have your information on file but if you are a new member or didn't join the practices, you'll need to get in touch with him. Carroll writes "I am going to talk to the manager to find out the cost. I am hoping that it is the same as last year - $90.00 for the season (track season) Nov-April. James and I are going to start next Tuesday (11/13) slowly." You can contact Carroll at cwblake@comcast.net.

It's hard to believe but the Indoor Season is about to begin. With the X-Country season still going, many colleges and clubs have yet to post their schedules or entry information. This is what I have right now, but please continue to check our web site at http://www.massvelocity.org/meet-in.htm because I will be constantly updating it.

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"Larry, Thanks for the great party you and Tucker & wife put on..it was an excellent time. What a great bunch of human beings and their spouses and friends are associated with our club.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank you for the award. That really meant a great deal to me, and I sincerely appreciate your thoughts for me in that respect. I should tell you I have been diagnosed with Lyme Tick disease a few weeks ago (I have had it twice before but caught it early). This time I got fooled and have probably had it for at least the past 4 months and it has been a struggle to even make it through the outdoor season. What with groin and ab issues complicated by Lyme, it was quite a struggle for me to gather strength enough to train most days.

Lyme causes all kinds of symptoms from aching joints and muscles to flu and anemia. In addition, it can cause serious heart and nervous system damage along with mental confusion and general apathy and depression. I am so relieved to have been diagnosed and am now in the process of treatment with antibiotics and anti inflammatories. I can't tell you how concerned I was and have been the past 4 months with my deteriorating physical condition!!!

I have not trained since Italy where I really got beaten up and am just now beginning to work out cautiously because I still have to get PT for the groin and ab strain-tears. That said, I will be back, and let's hope we all have a great indoor season. Thanks everyone for all the support. GodSpeed" - Roger

"Hi Larry, Thank you very much for the award. I'm honoured to be a member of Mass Velocity. In my opinion,the ‘Momentum’ award provides us with a definition of what our club represents. Take care and stay healthy." - Gail

[Editors Note: Roger Pierce and Gail Johns-Rees were the first annual award winners of the Momentum Award - "awarded to the athlete who leads by example at every practice, every meet, on and off the track and who represents the values of good sportsmanship"]

"Hi Larry, Thank you so much for the award and the recognition! I have enjoyed being part of the team. Just so you know, I have started scouting for a red outfit for the upcoming indoor season. - Susan [Editors Note: Susan Weimer is usually seen in a fashionable, all-black outfit]

"Wow! Great newsletter. Maybe the best yet. I really enjoyed having the team at our house. I especially enjoyed the informal sharing of stories
at the end. It showed real camaraderie." - Tuck

"Larry – A great newsletter! Roger’s article on Italy and the world games was superb, and his encouraging us all to consider competing in international competition was very compelling. The photos were also very helpful. Thank you for keeping us in the net – and inspired! Gratefully,"
- Dick Camp

"I was so impressed with the details of the Y-SPEED program that were in the last newsletter. I wish I lived closer so I could offer more personal support. I hope to make a lot of the Boston area meets this winter. The other thing I wanted to offer up is that if I am going to an indoor meet I would be happy to herd a couple kids around to their events. Hope all is well." - Kim Williams [Editors Note: James Morton and I will be at a number of Boston-area meets this winter with lots of kids, many of whom could use some herding and hand-holding. So look for us and lots of kids in red and white (what, you thought we would use some other color combination?) and offer some assistance if you can.]

Our fleet-footed friend from the Adirondacks, Mike Fortunato, writes "Do you have a contingent going to WMA Indoor Worlds in Clermont-Ferrand, FR, next March? I am selfishly curious about whether the US will have a men's M55 4x2, something we have not had for years at this meet. Bennie Jamies, Horace Hudson, Bobby Davis and I ran a 1:44 point at Syracuse a couple of years ago -- and that time would have won gold in some world meets, so the competition is not out of reach. Horace is badly hurt and Bennie is not old enough and Bobby is now in the M60. Tom Gillen and Greg McBride are too young, but ponies like Carroll Blake, Tucker Taft, Lee Hess and Dennis Pelkey now in your stable could make it happen. Bill Collins usually shows but has no team -- although I don't have first hand knowledge of his interest in running a leg. I plan to be there and will run the 60 and 200, and would plan to stay until the end of the meet for the relay if there was a team. Even without Collins, we can surely put up three 26 points on the fly and a 27 to open up -- so that's 1:46. Check old results -- I think we medal in most or all scenarios.

Anyway, if there is interest early on, I might commit to being on the track in Clermont-Ferrand on the 22nd; otherwise, I would plan to leave the meet earlier to travel around before heading home."

It's not too early to start making plans. If anyone is interested, MVTC or not, you can contact Mike at Michael.Fortunato@esc.edu.

A month or two back I took a survey about whether or not to include All-American status as part of the "About Us" page. The consensus was to include it under your name, if so requested. Only a few have made the request but I suspect that many either forgot or didn't know they could. I also suspect that a good number of our members have attained the "Standard of Excellence" (Men's & Women's Standards, Application for Certificate) and it should be noted on our site. Your listing would look something like this (but perhaps with a better-looking photo)

As a reminder, the symbol indicates you are a member of the club, the symbol indicates you are USATF, officially attached to the club and the red indicates you have supplied a mini-bio which is available by clicking on your photo. The white indicates that only your hometown and current age will be shown if your photo is clicked on. The All-American circle indicates that you have certified you have attained such status. This is self-certification, I will take you at your word. No need to supply meet date, location or FAT time.

If you would like to update your Mini-Bio, you can do so at any time. The link is at http://www.massvelocity.org/minibio.html.

This newsletter is a bit short on news so here's something that might interest you. The MassVelocity.org web site has had 15,446 visits during the first 10 months of 2007 from 7,225 unique visitors. That resulted in 39,594 pages viewed, an average of 2.56 pages viewed per visit. Obviously, someone besides me is looking at our team's web site!

Over 35,000 of those pages were viewed from within the United States but the following numbers came from the following countries:
Canada - 667 pages viewed;
Sweden - 318;
Australia - 266;
Great Britain - 222;
Germany - 174;
and with lesser numbers from the Netherlands, China, Romania, Switzerland, Japan, France, Spain, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Austria, Italy, Indonesia, Brazil, Norway, and the Russian Federation.

The average visitor stays on the site for about 3 minutes, but 5% have stayed on somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour.

The Home Page is the most-viewed page, but close behind are the About Us page, Meet-In, Meet-Out and Newsletter pages.

About 80% of visitors come directly to the site by typing in the web address or having it bookmarked. Slightly over 15% find the site on Search Engines, with Google the most popular and in descending order, Yahoo, MSN, Windows Live, AOL, Ask, Dogpile, Netscape, Earthlink, Lycos, Infospace and many others. Finally, the remainder of visitors get to our site from external links with MastersTrack.com by far, the best source and USATFNE.org, USATF.org, Track-and-Field.net, MaineCorporateTrack.org along with many other sites also providing inbound visitors.

Most search phrases have to do with the name of the club, like "Mass Velocity," "MassVelocity" or "Mass Velocity Track." Don't ask me why but many of our members names are also being searched for. Just about everyone on the team has been searched for at least once but the winner(?) is John Saxelby with 25 searches on his name. I feel downright unloved with only 4 searches.

So there you have it - everything you always wanted to know about what makes our web site tick.

I don't know if it gets to you the way it gets to me but every time there is coverage of a track meet - and the meets covered are usually world-class events - it seems that the only athletes that get any mention, any coverage, any consideration at all are the ones that are expected to win. Considering the level of competition at this past summer's World Championships, it would have been nice to offer even a sentence or two after someone's name, especially if they were representing the USA. But no! If an athlete wasn't expected to come in first, they weren't worthy of even a moment of air time.

Is this obsession with winning a reflection of our society's attitude or is the media shaping what we perceive as important with their own myopic view of what's the most important aspect of sport - and our sport in particular? I've always thought that those who participated in and enjoyed watching track & field, and all running sports in general, were a more enlightened group. We know how difficult the sport is, we know how rarefied the air is at the top and how much talent and hard work it takes to get to get near the top.

Some words of encouragement before a race, a pat on the back after a race or a personal best time are often the only things that have kept all of us going since we started running when we were in our teens. And we haven't kept on competing all these years because that first place medal, or the number one ranking was just beyond our grasp. We've kept with it because we can and because it feels good and because we, unlike the media, have our priorities in order and our egos in check.

“Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.”

Peace, speed and good health,

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