NIRCA is a mouthful.

We love running. In fact, that’s how we met. Surprised?

Ben went to IU, and I went to Ohio State (“OSU” or “Ohio State” -- not to be confused with Ohio University - OU!). We are on the board of directors for NIRCA, the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association. I have been involved from the inception, when I was a leader of the Ohio State running club. We met when Ben joined the Executive Council in January 2007.

There's no short way to explain NIRCA, let alone say the full org name! NIRCA is a national governing body that promotes competition and communication between college running clubs. College running clubs are usually a student activity or a club sport –practice isn’t mandatory, everyone runs (no cuts!), and there are generally no coaches. NIRCA (www.clubrunning.org) has a full Fall cross country season, including Regional and National Championship cross country meets.

At NIRCA, each volunteer on the Executive Council has specific responsibilities. As the Event Director, I work on coordinating the season schedule and planning the logistics of Regional & National Championships (read: I get really busy around October and November). Ben, Mr. Merchandise Director, gets us NICE gear and handles all of our merchandise sales.

We're mostly a group of friends who "do" running. This is the gang in Philly last January.

Skip to November 13, NIRCA Nationals. It went FLAWLESSLY. Nationals is jam-packed with a Friday night alumni social, the big meet, a Saturday night social activity, and a group run Sunday morning. 

These photos should give you an idea of what we do at NIRCA, and how Nationals went this year.

The big draw:  Men's 8k and Women's 6k. Over 700 runners competed at the IU cross country course. Zach Hetrick took these meet photos -is he not amazing??

Below - End of the women's race. Ben was in charge of timing -- another one of our running pursuits.

Below - Overseeing the event. There's our friend Amara volunteering in the background!

Yeah, people get really into team spirit at these things. Please accept my apologies for the M*ch*g*n shirt Julia's wearing. Don't you love the radio-hanging-out-of-the-pocket look?

And last, the after party: Hartzell's ice cream sundae bar, sumo wrestling, Wii games, and cornhole. 

Scott & Emily, center, say it was definitely worth the 30-minute wait for ice cream.

So there you have it... that's NIRCA and what we did all Fall!