Banned by Race Director

[skwcm80]

Just catching up on the your most recent interactions with the race director. I'm so sorry you were left in that position, and that he lacks the maturity to correct and learn from his mistakes

[runblondie26]

Apr 25, 2015 7:23:37 GMT -5 runblondie26 said:

Nknkillpohioiuhjhjnnm
Y I max

Haha, I was wondering why everyone as liking a post I made I this thread. Better close the app before I give my kids the phone.

[blndsnbrdr]

Random update...

-- the race went off without any lost or missing runners
-- two people finished, both were with the group last weekend and two great guys who's finish I'm really excited about
-- SO didn't go run, he worked instead
-- I got pulled off the email updates about the race because the RD pulled me off the roster, but a few people did reach out and say they were bummed I wouldn't make it/wondered what was up -- I answered honestly with "John has asked that I no longer attend HPRS events...so that's why I won't be there". Pretty much every follow up to that was "wow, that got blown way out of proportion". Yup...
-- chatted with a friend at the race I volunteered at [since I wasn't racing Niwot's anymore] and he had a similar experience with John going completely off the deep end and blowing everything out of proportion. He took it public -- 303trailrunner.com/2014/12/15/an-open-letter-to-hprs-race-director-john-sherpa-lacroix/ << basically the way he handled emails with me...emails that HE initiated.

Ultimately, I'm walking away from it from a social media stand point...I honestly don't have the energy to deal with it. Social media is my job both 9-5 and with my freelance so I'm not willing to burn any of my own bridges to take him down. Instead I'll willingly talk about it to anyone who asks and pull all of the correspondence [including text messages from last November when he initially got pissed off at me] into a Google Doc and have them readily available if anyone really wants a reason for why I'm "no longer allowed to attend HPRS events". With his series of races and the small ultra/trail running community in Colorado I'll be presented with way too many opportunities to say "I'd love to crew/pace/spectate at your race! Which one? Oh, it's HPRS? Sorry...John won't allow me at his races...".

Thanks for all the input + support + WTF's! I'll share the link to the screen shots later if anyone is interested...at the very least it's entertainment for a Monday...

[reginaphalange72]

I'm glad you're comfortable with your decision. You're totally right - you will have plenty of opportunities to explain what happened and word will get around. It's a small community, and this kind of situation is so tricky to navigate, because you don't want to end up being "that girl" (and you are totally NOT "that girl"). I will do the same. If someone asks me if I'm doing a HPRS event, my answer will be "No. I don't support HPRS events." And then let the conversation happen of its own accord.

That doesn't mean I don't still want to rip him a new one, but I can contain myself. Now I mostly just worry about anyone who volunteers to help him with anything in the future, since he CLEARLY cares so much about those who are helping him.

What a douche.

[foundmylazybum]

This whole thing is incredibly weird. I mean...why were you giving him so much feedback lol?


How did you get into a position to where you *thought* you might be spending the night out on a trail? What were the directions? Because you obviously thought that otherwise you wouldn't have been so prepared. Were you lost? Why exactly did you think that he should have stayed to look for you if you had all the gear to potentially stay over night anyways?

I mean, I'm totally on your side b/c I think banning you from races is completely ridiculous, but it seems like this relationship was over the top on both sides of the fence. All these emails and texts? It's just..a lot of feelings from a volunteer running relationship.

[blndsnbrdr]

Apr 27, 2015 16:18:50 GMT -5 foundmylazybum said:

This whole thing is incredibly weird. I mean...why were you giving him so much feedback lol?


How did you get into a position to where you *thought* you might be spending the night out on a trail? What were the directions? Because you obviously thought that otherwise you wouldn't have been so prepared. Were you lost? Why exactly did you think that he should have stayed to look for you if you had all the gear to potentially stay over night anyways?

I mean, I'm totally on your side b/c I think banning you from races is completely ridiculous, but it seems like this relationship was over the top on both sides of the fence. All these emails and texts? It's just..a lot of feelings from a volunteer running relationship.

When you're headed into the backcountry on an off trail adventure of any sort you should always plan for the worst -- I was more so planning for a crappy day of rainy/snowy weather and had the warm food/clothes necessary for that but they'd also come in super handy if we were stuck on the trail side all night. The originally plan was 8-10 hours in the backcountry, off trail. With the new snow [we got 2 feet in the days prior] we bumped it up to "10ish hours" and I added gear accordingly. And that said -- staying over night wasn't the issue...it was the fact that if one of us did get hurt and have to spend the night we were on rocky mountain side that averaged about a 40 degree angle, soaking wet in sleeting weather with temperatures that dropped into the 20's.

We were not necessarily lost...but we were NOT on a trail -- we were had been off trail since a few hundred feet after leaving the trailhead. I expected him to at least wait for our arrival or give a shit about our survival because 1) we were volunteering for his race setup, 2) we'd spent the better half of the morning talking about building our friendship back up [he's really good friends with my SO so there is more at stake than just seeing each other on races] and 3) the last time he saw us we were on a sheer, snow covered rock fast a few hundred feet directly above a mountain lake...not on a trail just lollygagging around. Ultimately, I was extremely disappointed in his complete disregard of our overall situation.

Yes, we survived and no one got hurt...but he asked me for my input in a "debrief" . So I gave him my overall input on the events of the day with input from the other runner I was with and another friend who wasn't part of the situation to make sure I wasn't being too bitchy or emotional in my response.


And yea, it was more than just a RD/volunteer situation...we have known each other for almost two years and I spent the better part of 6 months working for the race organization's social media/web development [as a volunteer as there was no payment]. There is a lot of history, even without SO involved...which is probably why it got so ridiculously blown out of proportion. Even so, when he pulls his business into this [which he did when he decided to ban me from them] I expect some level of professionalism, but got raw emotion [and I admit, I did deliver some raw emotion myself but I tried to keep it in check].

Ultimately, it is what it is...and we're all moving on...hopefully.