OPRC General Meeting May 1st, 2012

Spring weather has arrived and the heart of the running season is upon us! Representatives Wendy and Bryan from CARA (the Chicago Area Running Association) came to the OPRC general meeting this month to share new initiatives and remind us of current membership benefits. Whether you are an experienced runner familiar with CARA and the CARA circuit or a new member just getting your running shoes wet, there was something interesting to find out.

You may not have known that CARA is a non-profit organization devoted to the running community of Chicagoland with four areas of focus; membership, training, racing, and advocacy. Wendy and Brian reviewed some new CARA programs including their new greening initiative which offers “Green Certification” to area races that meet certain guidelines. Part of this initiative is a “virtual” goody bag for races that eliminates the paper waste of traditional race bags. The Youth Circuit is another new initiative to increase youth awareness and participation in running. The Beginning Running Program is an educational initiative to help brand-new runners become runners for life. CARA would like to partner with OPRC with this new initiative to help support new runners in our area get into running. CARA offers many benefits to members beyond discounts on races. Some great ideas about how to improve communication about benefits were shared. Our running community is about people – that includes all of us! We hope to see you out there at our next club run, CARA race or OPRC event!
Don’t forget to check out cararuns.org for more information about CARA membership and benefits!

Submitted by Laura Knotts
(22 members attending)