Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktThe Race went really well yesterday, and was a tribute to all the hard work that the folks I recruited to help me last fall when I was asked to take over the whole thing did. For the first time ever I got to see the whole event from start to finish (before, when I was just in charge of the race part of it I was always setting something up or tearing something down while everything was going on) and I was floored. This is some good coverage from our local television news sponsor.
One of the more memorable moments of the day, though, was this:
GIRLFRIEND: Hi (to “Ask Me” volunteers)(just what it sounds like–they’re there to answer common questions)! How do I find my runner?
ASK ME VOL.: Well, do you have a cell phone?
G: Yes!
AMV: Does he?
G: No.
Me: Could he still be running? Have you gone to the finish line?
G: Oh, no! He’s really fast, he finished ‘way long ago.
AMV: Did you arrange a place to meet?
G: No
AMV: Well, did you just agree to meet somewhere after he went home and cleaned up?
G: No. You people really need to have a system to arrange for people to meet.
AMV: What do you mean?
G: Why can’t I find my runner? You people need a system!
(OK, at this point she’s pissed me off. I’ve been on my feet for two days straight, the volunteers have been answering questions for four hours, and the whole time she’s asking us for help she’s scrolling through her iPhone and not looking at any of us.)
Me: No, YOU need a system. I have 12,000 runners to keep track of, you have one. Go find him, or I’ll make a lost kid announcement from the stage in exactly 30 seconds. Then you can explain to him why I described him, by name, as a lost child. Your choice.
She huffs off.
I look at the two Ask Me guys and they’re standing there with perfectly straight faces. I said “Well. I think I may have made her a little upset.” They started laughing so hard that one of them had to sit down.
Yes, I can be petty, but that was fun.
Filed under: Komen | Tagged: Race for the Cure |
All Things in Moderation 
Congrats! Did you run? Also, how was the turnout vs last year?
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Thanks, McWing! No, I’ve never been able to run it since I took over the RD position 12 (?) years ago. . . although I swear I put in a 10K during the event going back and forth between places!
Registration was initially down about 15%, most likely due to the weather (we get around 25% of our registrations in the last two weeks before the race, and it has been cold and snowy up till Thursday), but I think we’ll end up a little higher than last year. It was crazy on Friday after the registration booth opened, and I’ve never seen it like it was yesterday morning right before the race.
Volunteer numbers were also initially down, but we ended up with more than we really needed yesterday, so I’m hoping that that mirrors the participant numbers.
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Hope it raises some good revenue. Any different or heightened security concerns as a result of Boston?
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Any different or heightened security concerns as a result of Boston?
No. Never even crossed my or the cops’ minds to worry about something like that.
I don’t know how to say it without sounding like I’m trivializing what they (the Tsarnaevs) did (and I’m not–their actions inflicted terrible injuries on people and Boston), but they were non-serious amateurs and the bombing proved it. I’m pretty sure I posted that at the time, as it turned out that both Scott and I were in Boston at the same time right afterwards.
Anyway, no, it wasn’t something that I gave even a passing thought to.
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12,000 people is a lot of people. It’s often said that America won World War II because of logistics. It does seem to be something we are good at.
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yello: and to think that I want to get it to 40K participants!
The Affiliate has asked me to continue as RD after I move (since most of what I do is online/phone and I have the contacts) and they’ll fly me back once a month for a few months for meetings. I’ve readily agreed to give it a try, since I want to maintain friendships here in SLC anyway, and there’s still only one one-day event bigger than the RFTC. . . the Days of ’47 Parade, celebrating the Mormons coming in to the Valley, and I’d love to eclipse it.
The police and I were joking on Saturday that the alternative was for me to take over one of the Maryland RFTC races and bring in the SLCPD to run the course for me.
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Congrats on another successful race Michi, I’m sure a lot of money was raised.
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Congrats.
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This Cincy IRS group that was tasked with investigating 501(c)(4)s certainly found them all on one side of the street. Apparently they did this under an R Commissioner, but investigating only R leaning (c) (4)s sucks.
Which leads to systemic questions.
Did they do too much by this investigation or too little?
My own view would be to repeal (c)(4) so that bureaucrats are not tasked with having to decide who is worthy of a tax break and who is not.
Maybe repeal all of 501 (c)?
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This Cincy IRS group that was tasked with investigating 501(c)(4)s certainly found them all on one side of the street.
I’m not sure that is a defensible statement. 1/3 of the groups had ‘Tea Party” or “Patriot” or “9-12” in their name. I have yet to see any characterization of the other 202 groups investigated. If one is looking for low-hanging fruit in ostensibly non-political groups violating the terms of their charter, those names sure would have been red flags.
The whole 501(c)(4) is a loophole Rove drove his Crossroads GPS semi through and which the newly renamed OFA is also hiding behind.
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YJ, thanks. It will be difficult to separate the facts from the spin from now on, I imagine. That doubles down on my thought there should be no (c)(4) exemption, at all.
What about the rest of 501 (c)? Think we can ditch it?
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Thanks, Lulu and jnc!
We’ll get the final participant numbers and $$$ raised at the end of the month, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I can’t remember if I posted it at the time, but earlier this year the Huntsman Cancer Institute here in SLC renamed the chemo waiting area in their hospital in honor of Susan G. Komen. At that point, Komen had donated $1M to the research institute, so we, as an affiliate, have been able to say that 100% of the money raised has stayed local. I think we’re the only one that can say that.
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