A Look Back at 2016

Friday, December 30, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning.

Grab your coffee and pull up a stool.

With less than 48 hours left in 2016, it seems fitting to look back over the soon to be past year. Yes, I know it is not an original idea.

2016 was certainly a year of transition for both No Finish Line Running and myself personally. The early part of the year so me spending a lot of time in the District of Columbia working at the Air National Guard Readiness Center. My absence from NFLR led to our IT guy (Doug Mackinnon), stepping into a role as our NFLR Winter Running group leader. I did not even realize this would be the beginning of a major transition for the future.

April came quickly and my attention turned too my retirement after 33-plus years from serving my country. While leaving, the military was sad, I was ready to enjoy the dream we had built in North Carolina. Coach Jen Miller and Doug were now taking the lead of the NFLR-NH and we also added Amy Spencer and Deanna Swallow to our team and they took over our Stonewall Kitchen training group. The NFLR team had grown to 6 people and then we added Julie Butterfield to the team to bring it to 7! Any fear that NFLR would diminish with me locating to the south, was not only incorrect, but NFLR-New Hampshire became stronger!

By mid-summer all our team had become Road Runner Club of America (RRCA) certified level I running coaches. NFLR now had the largest team of RRCA certified running coaches in the country! With this expanded staff of certified running coaches, we gained greater diversity in our ability to help runners. I was excited that the Seacoast now had the best possible running resource for their individual and group training.

Summer came and NFLR-NH unanimously voted to submit a proposal to the Dover Chamber of Commerce to direct the 2016 Apple Harvest 5K road race. Eventually our proposal was accepted and NFLR-NH was now further embedded in our local Dover community. This would be a unique challenge, but our we felt strongly that it was a perfect fit for our NFLR and our community.

Meanwhile, we also prepared for one of our favorite training groups; the White Mountain Milers Half Marathon and Half Marathon Relay.

Fall came and NFLR-NH was busier than ever before. with the White Mountain group training (our largest group ever), and preparation for the Apple Harvest 5K. I was bouncing back and forth between North Carolina and New Hampshire, but thankfully, the NH team was taking care of real work, so I only needed to check in. Around early fall it became apparent that our NFLR Resource Center in Dover was being under-utilized and when the opportunity to team up with Carrie Jose of C&J Physical Therapy in Portsmouth presented itself, we decided to move our resource center operations from Dover to Portsmouth. This was most bittersweet as we all loved the spot in Dover and it became a second home to us, but the opportunity to collaborate with Carrie was too good to pass up. So, our gait analysis and other resources moved to Portsmouth, while our group training hub moved to the Penny University Caffe just a few doors over from our former Dover resource center.

The Dover Apple Harvest 5K experience turned out to be wonderful and despite less than great weather, we produced a great event. NFLR added some new touches to the event that were well received and our team really had a great time being a part of it! The relationship with the Chamber of Commerce was great and introducing NFLR to the community was a lot fun. We hope that this becomes an annual event for us but, time will tell.

Through many NFLR meetings and individual conversations it became apparent that we needed an NFLR-NH team leader. My ability to lead the team from North Carolina was holding back their ability to take NFLR-NH to the next level. So, it became obvious that coach Amy Spencer had the desire, leadership skills and vision to take the reigns as the NFLR-NH team leader. Amy has proven to have many amazing qualities and more importantly, she has a team to work with that all share her vision. The NFLR-NH team already has a 2017 plan in place for the Seacoast and it should be an exciting year!

2016 included so many great things for NFLR, we conducted a healthy and fitness seminar over in Kittery at the Stonewall Kitchen headquarters, brought another large contingent up to North Conway for a great weekend, built a team of knowledgeable and experienced certified coaches, rolled out our new state of the art website and I transitioned my role to North Carolina. Not a quiet year but, a year that I am proud of and am thankful for all the blessings.

Sunday I will look ahead to 2017 and what NFLR has instore. Thanks for being a part of our 2016!

God Bless!

Mike