A Look Back and a Look Forward: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In June, Northeast Track Club (NETC) turns three years old. One of my favorite things to ask our runners is for their version of how NETC started. I think the best so far is that we launched in Boston – so far from true, but hey! People are talking!
No, we didn’t start in Boston. We started with 5 people meeting at KIPP track in *Northeast* DC in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic. We jumped fences to run together as gyms closed. Each week someone brought a friend who brought a friend. @jmajewski threw up an Instagram account (capriciously calling it *Northeast* Track Club) and runners came out of all corners of the city to be together. Safely. Outdoors. Often in masks. In an underground, competitive way. Since then, the world has opened back up, and our numbers are stronger than ever. There was never a plan to start this team, but it felt like a responsibility we owed to the city when we saw how much people needed it. How much they love it. Now we have ~300 runners showing up weekly to run on Track Tuesdays. And ~100 on Saturday mornings at coffee shops around the city. We’ve carefully trained a leadership team of 13 (3 founders, 4 captains, 6 pacers) to keep our sessions streamlined, organized, and to always be respectful of the spaces we use to run. Brands have come to us asking for help to bring events to DC and we have knocked it out of the park every time, with requests for an encore after each event.
As for me, I will always be proud to say NETC is my first born. This year, Track Dad and I had our second born baby – Charlie Grace—which has really been a test of how much this team means to us. We get a babysitter twice a week to be with the team at our sessions. Even before Charlie, we were juggling. Matt and I both have demanding jobs we love at law firms (which help fund our athleisure and donut obsession). On top of it all, we each dedicate at least 20 hours to NETC (planning sessions, events, managing administrative tasks related to the website, social media, our team communication channel, meeting with brands and vendors, meeting with the community, and frequent meetings with the leadership team, etc). 2,080 hours per year between the two of us. For almost three years—at which we will have dedicated over 6,000 hours to this passion project (and I know James gives as much– if not more– to create all of our incredible content). I’d never change a minute of it—though there have been times I’ve wanted to throw it all away. There have been times that have required a heavy dose of HR training. A clear PR lens. A financial acumen. The organizational skills of Marie Kondo. A loud cry for thoughtful and strategic leadership. Each time, we have risen to the occasion and I have personally learned more from leading this team that I have through many other experiences in life.
With great ‘power’ comes great responsibility. It would be a miss to write a piece on NETC’s past without mentioning that with the good, we have battled the bad and the ugly. Three times in three years we have had to make difficult decisions about our leadership to respond to unacceptable behavior towards women in our community. Each time we did the diligence to understand the implications towards our runners and responded swiftly. And each time, it was incredibly difficult. We have written community guidelines, pledged no tolerance policies, and shared our views with our runners, making it clear that when you seek a safe space in running, you can find it here.
Looking forward, as a woman leader in sports, I plan to be loud about facing these issues. I am no longer ashamed that we have had to tackle these – I am proud that each time we rose to the occasion and did what was really hard to do what was right. We will work with coaches of other run clubs, athletic communities, and brands that align with our views to come together to protect this collective space. The space runners have come for safety since NETC’s beginning that day in June 2020. A space that should exist globally, anywhere you go to run.
NETC will never be just a run club. There are plenty of those in DC and beyond. To be memorable, to have a reason to exist, one must always be different. We are a community. That word gets thrown around by so many organizations – and it wasn’t until I experienced it myself among our runners that I saw the difference. Need someone to bake cookies with for a community service project? Someone to help you move? Just moved to town and need to learn the city? Find a job? Watch the Super Bowl? A roommate? A buddy to run with on your trip to LA? Call us. Call any one of us. That’s the continued vision for our future. Never just a run club.
Beyond that, we’re dreaming big. A clubhouse. More unsanctioned events and activations to keep the city moving. Stronger ties with other run crews in DC (and globally), building off of the incredible momentum and friends we have made over the past few years. A renewed focus on community service projects, including with Special Olympics DC. An affiliate program to help our runners access brands and organizations we support, and to share our platform with those that can benefit our community. Strategic partnerships with brands that have reciprocal benefit for us and the brands we work with. More swag—gear that keeps us standing out as we show out. And above all, to continue challenging those who offer running in any form– to make it about more than running; build a home. Build something people are proud to be part of.
Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to be an expert. So here’s +1 to my hours banked so far for sharing this piece with you, and a promise to keep chipping away to 10,000 and well beyond. Towards embracing chaos and not shying away from the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’re moving on and up to focusing on strategic growth to give our people sweating with us here or watching from afar what they came for. Lifting the space in every sense of the word. Northeast Track Club– to the moon.