That’s the lead story of the Empire Runners newsletter for May 2005 (no typo), so I thought I could just recycle the headline exactly 10 years later. The big news of 2005 was the newsletter going online, emailed in PDF format, with a $5 discount for those members who chose to not receive a printed, mailed copy. For the first time, we were able to join the club online, instead of using a paper form and snail mail, although electronic race registration was still a few years off. Other tidbits include: our bank balance was $5500, a proposal for chip timing at Kenwood, and the first Empire run at Lake Sonoma by yours truly and my middle school daughter. (For the full May 2005 newsletter, click the “Back in the day” tab on the left.)

While that issue of the newsletter provides a perspective of how far we’ve come as a successful, vibrant organization, this month marks another momentous leap forward. In an effort to improve communication and participation, we’re entering the 21st century by launching the new Empire Runners blog. A talented gang of four, Doug Murdoch, Dale Petersen, Chris Mason and Dave Abbott, have been working tirelessly since January on the look and feel of the user experience, and the results are impressive. I encourage you to just wander around the site, clicking on what interests you, and I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quickly. The logical links, bold photos and interesting content is sure to make us look back in 2025 and say “what took so long?”.