Carl Sperber; Executive Director, New York Road Runners Foundation (l), Sherlynn Everly, National Coordinator, Running Rocks: Fun & Fitness Afterschool, and Della Cronin, Afterschool Alliance.

The chief purpose of any organization is to bring together people of similar interests and enable them to interact, share, build relationships and feel part of a strong community.

I just spent Feb. 3-5 at the Running USA 2005 National Conference in San Diego. What a blast! I wish I could bottle the energy and creativity that filled the air when 250 of the finest people in the running industry came together.

Though I'm no longer director of the Crim Festival of Races, Running USA remains important to me. The Crim was a founding member, and I have served on the organization's board for the last three years.

At this meeting, bylaws were amended to better reflect the industry and Running USA membership overall. As a result, notables such as Runner's World publisher Andy Hersam, Devine Racing's Gordon Kane and Atlanta Track Club-Peachtree Road Race director Julia Emmons are now members of the 17-seat board. Of special note, Running USA membership doubled in the last year.

The weekend was filled with great presentations and reports. Courtney Page Ferrell of PLAY kicked off the conference by challenging the audience to leave our preconceptions at the door, "look at more stuff and think about it harder." She urged us to look for the options, not just the solutions.

There were sessions on marketing, running for a cause, economic impact of running events, and sponsorship. We were given a wealth of information on recent road-racing trends, and ideas for keeping pace with it. Breakout sessions for specialty running stores, media and race production (including marketing, promotion and operations) were hugely popular.

Group runs were held every morning. I had no problem getting up early to walk around beautiful Mission Bay and enjoy the lush, green surroundings of the Paradise Point Resort and Spa. It's also great fun to catch up with race-industry friends whom I only see once or twice a year.

Friday's opening session was rather sobering: Melissa Johnson, Director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, shared frightening statistics on the obesity epidemic in our country. One particular stat stuck out in my mind: If we do not reverse the current trend, one of every three children born in the year 2000 will be afflicted with Type II diabetes. Fortunately, our sport offers a ready solution to this problem.

I served on a panel that discussed bringing running programs to school and after-school settings. I'm currently national coordinator for Running Rocks: Fun and Fitness Afterschool, a collaborative effort between Running USA and the national Afterschool Alliance. We have been creating partnerships between local races and afterschool programs around the country. I'm also pleased to be working with the New York Road Runners Foundation to provide seed money to school-based running programs, and help them attain self-sufficiency.

Another Running USA mission is to support Team USA athletes in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. At a banquet Friday evening, Olympic marathon silver-medalist Meb Keflezighi helped induct his coach, Bob Larson, into the National Sports Network Hall of Champions. Later live and reverse auctions raised more than $25,000 to support the effort. Among team members introduced were Jen Rhines and Ryan Shay of East Jordan, Mich.

Michigan running was well represented. I was delighted to find myself sharing a bungalow with Pat Dlugokinski and Barbara Bennage from the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Mike Burns of ChampionChip USA placed the winning bid on a limited-edition lithograph, signed by the late Fred Lebow of the New York Road Runners Club. Tom Silinski of DOITSPORTS and Molly MacDonald of Graphic Solutions were also in attendance. New Crim Foundation/ Festival of Races CEO Gerry Myers attended the final day of the conference.

My personal highlight occurred at the wrap-up luncheon Saturday. Not only did I get to deliver a humorous talk on the history of women's running, we awarded the first Her Sports Trailblazer Award to Elizabeth Phillips, manager of the Avon International Running Program in the '70s, '80s and '90s. She has also been volunteer chair of the Metropolitan Athletics Congress, MAC Women's LDR and USATF Women's LDR Committee.

Being a member of this committee was heady stuff. Not only was I seated at the head table with Phillips, my other lunch partners included Emmons, Leslie Jordan Apparel owner Leslie Jordan, active.com's Julie Lazarus, Spirit of St. Louis Marathon director Nancy Lieberman, Richmond (Va.) Sports Backers event director Tracey Russell, Her Sports magazine founder Dawna Stone, and New York Road Runners Club vice president Mary Wittenberg.

I walked away feeling awed and privileged to be part of this sport. The future of running in America is bright. Attendance in our events is growing. Our sport is gaining recognition as a means to reverse the national obesity epidemic. Our impact on charity fundraising is incredible. Who wouldn't want to be part of this? MR