As many SRC folks are aware, Win Van Pelt succeeded me as SRC president this past November. Win was a founding member of the SRC and has talked with many of you at various trail runs and races. But for those who don’t yet know him, or who wish to know more of the story behind the perpetual Van Pelt smile, I thought it would be useful to (re-)introduce him here on this blog. So without further ado, here is a small window into Win’s World, provided by Win himself.
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I was training for my first marathon, running up to 16 miles on the pavement. My knees hurt, my hips hurt, everything hurt. I liked hiking; what about training on trails? Hmmmmm….
After 3 weeks of running on the trails and feeling much better, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice to run with some others on the trails?” I was running up Wilderness Peak and ran into an enthusiastic group coming down the hill. Wow — I’m not alone! “Hey, do you run trails very often?” The curly blond hair leader, Scott, said yes! Awesome!!! Ever since I have been hooked on running trails.
I kept hearing this word “ultra,” so I asked, what is an ultra? I was very inspired by these ultra runners who took me under their wings. I was thinking to myself, how do they take all this time to run and compete locally and nationally? I called Scott McCoubrey (the founder of the Seattle Running Company) and shared my thoughts on starting a nonprofit. Scott said that he had been thinking the same thing. We worked together (Scott did most of the work), and the Seattle Running Club was born.
One fall Scott asked me if I would run cross country — they needed another male runner. The race was that week. Crazy! I hadn’t run cross country since high school. Cross country was great. It made me a faster ultrarunner and the team spirit is so much fun.
I am thankful for this fun and enthusiastic group who want to live large and be out there enjoying God’s creation. We are lucky — lucky to live in this beautiful part of the planet with lots of trails and adventures to explore. If you haven’t, I hope you will come out and experience this warm, welcoming community of runners.
Win Van Pelt
President, Seattle Running Club
