Top 3 New Races in 2011

Run for your lives!!!

Halloween will get your running for your lives!!!

Here are three scary runs that will keep you running into the night...

Enjoy yourselves this Halloween!

I will see you out there running...

Go Get'em!!

Racemates Running Club, RCC

Racemates Running Club, RCC is moving to three days a week!

It does not matter if you are aiming to get in shape, shed some lbs, run a 5km, a 10km, a Half Marathon or even the Full Marathon, Racemates Running Club, RCC will get you there!!!

Here are the days and times that we will be meeting to get super fit!

1.) Every Tuesday, 6:26 p.m., Riverwood Track.

    5900 Raider Drive NW
    Sandy Springs, Georgia 30328

2.) Every Thursday, 6:26 p.m., Cochran Shoals on the Chattahoochee River, I-285 Side.

     Please click on the link below for the exact location:

     http://www.meetup.com/Racemates-Running-Club/venue/1033433/?eventId=15187512&popup=true

3.) Every Sunday, 8:30 A.M., Kennesaw Mountain Visitor's Center.

     900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive
     Kennesaw, GA 30144
     (770) 427-4686

If any of you have any questions about our locations or anything else, please call me at 843-813-3825 or email me at cawood@racemates.com

Looking forward to seeing you out there!!

Go Get'Em!!!

Dick joins Racemates

There has been a delightful development over the last couple of weeks that I need to push out to the Racemates Blog readers, family and friends. The Racemates Team has decided that there was something that needed to be added to the Racemates Family to ensure that their quest for world domination was accomplished. They have searched far and wide for this unique ingredient and on many occasions have come up empty handed, exhausted and in many cases broken hearted.

The mission to find that unique touch, that ever so subtle burst of enthusiasm and fire from within almost came to a devastating conclusion, until now…

Enter – Joshua C. Dickinson~! AKA: The Athens Bullet (TAB), Runaway Turkey Train (RTT) and/or Amusing Dick (AD).

This gift from the Gods, this Legend from the Heavens, and this Man with a mission was just what the Racemates Team have been looking for!

He was just the Dick they needed!

Now, there was only a couple of very important questions between him joining the team and him disappearing into the African mountain mist…And of course! Just as the Racemates Team had expected he answered the questions with vigor, precision, and energy.

Dick will be joining me as the Co-Author of the Racemates Running Blog from here on out!

Dick running in a full Turkey suit during the San Diego Half Marathon.

1.) This is a three part question:
a. Why do you want to write for RM?  In short, it combines several aspects of my life I’d like to spend more time with.  Writing, Running (and to a larger extent, sport in general) and friends.  I expect that my relationship with tripod of current Racemates will grow in new and interesting ways as the four of us collaborate to marry our collective love of running with the entrepreneurship of starting RM.  I’m excited to be a part of that.
b. Why do you love running?  Running is many things for me.  I was lucky in that running came naturally to me as a kid, and I was faster than most of my friends.  Naturally I enjoyed that.  Time has since found a way of equalizing my talent as against my peers, though I’ve found plenty of new ways to enjoy it.  Now, running acts as my primary fitness activity.  I’ve yet to find another activity that I feel gives me the same feeling of accomplishment, euphoria and mental discipline.
c. Who is your absolute favorite Racemates Super Hero (Member)?  Am I choosing from all the members, or just the original tripod?  Assuming the latter, I have to go with Moose, and not just because he helped drive me out to San Diego.  For the rest of our group, running comes much more naturally.  Granted, Moose has always been an athlete, but his large frame works against him in ways that we smaller folk are want to understand.  Despite that, he continues to make the running effort because of his love for fitness and camaraderie.
2.) This is a 4 part question:  
a. Why become a Lawyer?  I’d say this was the first question was asked of me in 75% of my job interviews coming out of law school.  It’s a legitimate question from you, but a total crap question when asked by an interviewer-lawyer.  In interviews, I always had to feign enthusiasm for the legal profession because, in truth, I was never that psyched about “lawyering.”  Coming out of college, “I’m (eventually) going to law school” was a really nice thing to say to adults when pressed the issue of post-graduate planning.  I eventually decided to do it based on the idea that, in the end, a law degree would make me more marketable in a variety of industries.  The reality since then hasn’t quite been on par with that notion, but I don’t regret attending.  I still enjoy law as a subject matter; I just didn’t care for the traditional practice of it.
b. Why UGA?  I spent four years of high school telling myself (and others I’m sure) that I wasn’t sure where I’d end up for college, but I would be playing soccer, and it wouldn’t be in Georgia.  Soccer was my life back then, and I wanted to be out-of-state – see something new.  I entertained offers from a variety of schools on the east coast, and came relatively close to ending up at Vandy, but ultimately they didn’t have any scholarship cash to offer (or so they said) and I wasn’t prepared to pay the $30k/yr price tag.  My grades in high school were good enough (along with most incoming UGA freshmen) for the HOPE Scholarship, which made tuition free for state universities within Georgia.  That, combined with an apathetic approach to applications and decision making at the time resulted in me “ending up” at UGA rather than “choosing” it.  Luckily for me, there are worse places to spend four…and a half…years of your life.
c. What made you choose Chimicles & Tikelis?  How did you know about this?  Is that on LinkedIn or something?  Do people actually use LinkedIn?  This was my job between the 2nd and 3rd years of law school.  Taking that job was a result of the following:  (1) a desperate need for cash – the pay was good and my loans were are sizeable, (2) proximity to my place – I walked to work quite a bit that summer, (3) failure to obtain opportunities in Austin or Chicago or Atlanta or wherever the heck my lady-friend at the time was living, and (4) did I say “the cash” already?
d. Why Villanova University School of Law?  You’re digging deep here, and I like it.  Prior to law school, I worked at a small firm as a legal assistant performing such vital tasks as coffee-making, driving the boss’ car from the back lot to the front lot so it would be closer to the door when said boss was ready to leave, and, of course, internet-surfing.  I asked one of the partners where I should apply to law school and he looked at me, straight-faced, and said, “Well, where do you want to practice?”  It implied a very disconcerting finality, as if wherever I applied would be the last place I would ever live, work or see.  I was 24 at the time.  I didn’t know where I was going to eat lunch that afternoon.  So, when I applied I spread applications to schools all over the country – UGA (home-base), Colorado (dude…Boulder), Montana (Missoula is fantastic), Virginia (can’t remember why I chose William & Mary), Ohio (Dad was a Buckeye), Missouri (Dad is now a KC resident), and Pennsylvania (which, for those that don’t follow basketball, is where ‘Nova finds itself).  I’m sure there were others I’m forgetting.  VU ended up being the best combination of the following factors:  (1) getting accepted, (2) graduate reputation, and (3) somewhere I thought I could be happy living for at least 3 years.  If I had to do it again, I’d just go in-state somewhere, save tens of thousands of dollars and get the same education…or maybe an MFA in creative writing.  
3.) This is a 2 part question:
a. What is The Gobbler, Inc?  Gobbler, Inc. is the corporate face of an idea that will reshape the landscape of the currently maligned residential housing market.  The idea is based on the premise that buying a home is a notoriously obscure, tense and sweat-inducing process for most people.  I’m convinced it doesn’t need to be that way, and Gobbler, Inc. is the solution.  When it’s fully functional, our company will provide a platform for the average person to invest in and own their home incrementally, and without the need to “sign your life away” as is so often heard.  You might think of it as a hybrid between renting, owning and investing in your future home.  As a parallel, it’s not unlike the way Racemates provides a platform to let the average person experience a road race in a less expensive (sponsorships available) and less traumatic (group running, technical advice, support) way.
b. Do you have a business partner?  I do.  The core idea came from my roommate and best friend here in San Diego.  My background is in real estate law and his expertise is on the investment side.  Together we are finalizing the framework of the operation and expect to have a full web-presence by the end of 2010.  At that point we’ll begin actively soliciting new partners (read: investors).    
4.) After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in?  Boxes.  However, since they usually ship all breakable stuff in Styrofoam, I can only assume that, when shipping the product of Styrofoam, the manufacturers surround it with a potpourri of breakables (tea cups, glass slides, and those little Christmas ornaments that always end up in tiny chards at the bottom of the box that you stuffed in the attic the year before.
5.) How is your Daily Dick going to spice up Racemates?  I reserve the right to change this without notice, but my vision at this point is to provide witty commentary and substance that borders on the outskirts of what’s relevant to the concepts of running and athleticism.  I hope to entertain current readers and entice new readers with a bit of variety from the already excellent content.

Welcome aboard Dick!

I will see you all at the Racemates Running Club on Wednesday nights at the River and on Sunday mornings at Kennesaw Mountain.

Go Get'em!