For the Love of Running
Tom Storey began his tenure at the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club (MHRRC) lugging 80-gallon water jugs at four in the morning.
“I started lingering around the finish line to talk with the people who planned the races and they indicated that there was a need for volunteers,” he said. “I worked my way to water stop director, timekeeper and finally president.”
The MHRRC is a non-profit organization that works to foster the community’s love of running and racing. Based in Poughkeepsie, all runs are kept local and are scheduled around Dutchess County in a 20-minute radius. MHRRC plans races and partners with local organizations, such as Angels of Light and the Marathon Project to raise money or awareness for various causes.
Still, Linda Stow, one of the founding members, emphasized how MHRRC was created for runners to share their adoration for the sport. Another running club was folding and a few members that Stow knew, including Ed Erichson, decided to start the MHRRC in its place. Stow was a beginner runner at the time, so it took some convincing to get her involved.
“Eventually they talked me into it and we helped set up races,” Stow said. “More and more runners joined us and some events became larger, but we still had our little hometown races. As the years passed, the club members became very close, and we became almost like a family.”
Erichson pushed for the MHRRC’s first club-sponsored Inaugural Run which began and ended at Dutchess Community College in 1979. When Erichson was killed in a car accident in 1984, the club decided to establish an annual memorial race in his honor. Such a gesture is further evidence of the connections built through the MHRRC.
Membership has now grown to 293 runners of all ages. Members help to recruit volunteers or volunteer themselves to set up traffic control, mark the course or register runners. Membership is $15 a year and includes race discounts, monthly group fun runs and gear discounts. There are generally 12 official races yearly and track practice every Tuesday or Sunday for club members. Members are also provided with cross-training opportunities through connections to the local cyclers and swimmers.
The MHRRC gained members not only because of the mental and physical benefits of running, but because it gave members an excuse to escape their everyday stressors.
“It is important that the club is just about running,” Storey said. “If you read the newspapers today, people are mad about this or that, but to be together for the love of running is enough.”
Storey fell in love with running from the friendships he has built and the conversations he has had with people on long runs. He dislikes anything as short as a 5K because he runs too fast to hold a meaningful conversation. He loved the idea of being in shape and gaining the mental discipline built by running.
Storey has cut back on the number of miles he runs each week. He is also on the hunt for younger board members and volunteers because those who supervise the club are beginning to slow down.
“Over the years, people have moved on or passed on, and there aren’t too many of us ‘originals’ left,” Stow said. “That part is very sad, but Mid Hudson Road Runners Club and its spirit and life of running still remain.”
