An open letter to the NCRunners community:
I've been incredibly blessed to have TWO careers that I love and can pursue with a passion: teaching and sports. Early in my career, it was coaching that was my "second job," and if truth be told it was often first in my heart. Over time, I grew to love teaching even more, and a time came when I was unable to do both without sacrificing the quality of one or the other.
Five years ago this past December, NCRunners had a similar sign on its front page: it said "Webmaster Wanted." That headline grabbed hold of me, and I knew that I was the one for the job. I was ready to give up coaching, ready to focus more on my teaching, but I didn't want to leave the sport - and here was the perfect way to stay involved. Apparently the higher-ups at MileSplit could sense that, too, because they gave me this incredible opportunity. I've loved every minute of it since, even when it has frustrated and exhausted me or even (occasionally) defeated me, and I'm proud of what NCRunners has become.
Just as surely as I knew then that I was right for NCRunners and it was right for me, I know now that it is time for me to pass the torch. As the website has grown, it has required more and more care and feeding, and despite the capable help of the best staff on the MileSplit network, I now find myself in the same place I was in 2010-2011. I can no longer pursue both my teaching career and my webmaster duties at the level that I expect from myself, and I'm ready to take a step back and refocus my priorities. To some degree this has already been happening this season.
I'm writing this letter to say thank you.
Thank you to Ben Hovis, my predecessor and the founder of the website that I inherited, who gave me a strong foundation on which to build.
Thank you to Don Rich, Jason Byrne, and Ryan Fenton, who built MileSplit, hired me, let me do my thing, and put up with my occasional outraged outbursts.
Thank you to my fellow state webmasters like John Olson (SC), Alan Versaw (CO), Tim Loreman (AL), Jonathan Grooms (KY), Nolan Jez (VA), and that force of nature they call Brandon Miles, who founded MileStat in Virginia and now runs the Maryland site. My colleagues have advised me, supported me, and occasionally talked me off the ledge, and I appreciate it.
Thank you to my staff of dedicated contibutors, without whom I could never have succeeded: Jeff Sides, Jason Creasy, Jentzen Jones, Abby Brooks, Lexa Grasz, Paul Lockwood, and Doug Hague right now, and the others who have already gone their separate ways.
Thank you to all the coaches who have been so supportive, who have worked so hard to prepare results and run meets, as well as developing the outstanding talent that has given me so much to report on over the years.
Thank you to all the athletes who have been so open to me, sharing their successes and failures with grace. It has truly been an honor to play even a small part in all of your careers.
Thank you to the parents who have offered information, offered suggestions, paid for subscriptions that funded our coverage, and simply shared your outstanding sons and daughters.
MileSplitNC will go on, and will continue to be great, because it is the whole North Carolina running community that makes it so. I will also keep hosting and promoting the NCRunners Elite invitationals, the Frosh/Soph Championship, the Eastern Tour, and the Border Clash, and indeed I hope to put even more work into them in the immediate future.
I'm not going away either! After all, I have all this great camera equipment that I've invested in, and I find that I really like using it. So, you'll still see me from time to time at the bigger meets, helping to promote our sport and the athletes that sacrifice so much to participate in it. I've now spent well over half of my life deeply involved with cross country and track & field, and I could no more leave it behind than I could simply decide to stop breathing.
Thank you all for making the last 5 years so special.
If you are interested in being the next webmaster of MileSplitNC, please don't hesitate to contact me - you know how to reach me. Applicants can also contact Don Rich by email: don.rich@flosports.tv.