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02/23/2012
I have made the decision to no longer maintain the Florida Race
Calendar and Florida Race Results. I am extremely grateful for the
encouragement and kind words I have received from many people
through the years. It is this encouragement and the perceived need
for these listings, that have made this an enjoyable endeavor. It
has also made the decision to stop, very difficult.
For many years, I would spend weekends scouring the internet for
results of races and for upcoming races. I kept wondering why there
was no single place to go for this information. I eventually made
the decision to do it myself. I thought things were going to be
easier by limiting my task to the state of Florida. I soon found out
why nobody has accomplished a truly, complete and comprehensive
listing of races and results for Florida. It is a lot of work!
All of the various calendars and results listings rely on
submissions, and some do a limited search for races. To have truly
complete and comprehensive listings, you have to go look for the
races and results. That is what I have tried to accomplish. While
maintaining the listings, I visited over 100 websites in a week
(most of them multiple times in a week), and spent an average of
15-20 hours a week on the listings.
All of this is based in a passionate love for our sport. I have
always looked at maintaining the listings as a hobby, that was a
service to the running community. I have wanted to keep things
simple. I have declined to sell anything on the listings. It has
been a bit frustrating to constantly find and deal with people who
copy the listings. What has been even more frustrating is when those
who copy the listings use them to make money for themselves.
Nevertheless, the main reason I have decided to stop maintaining the
listings is simply time. I have come to the realization that 20
hours a week is much better spent on other things. The majority of
that time is going to my family. The rest will be spent on my own
running. It is ironic that my own running and racing have suffered
since starting the listings.
The vast majority of upcoming races can be found by visiting just a
few websites:
http://www.active.com/
http://runningintheusa.com/
http://www.trifind.com/
Thank you for your support of my listings. Now, go for a run!
Sincerely,
Jacob Smith |
