A Busy Time of Year
November is here which means there are only two events left in the 2025 season of the Platte River Fitness Series. The final two events are also special holiday events that bring family and friends together in a warm and wonderful way. I love them and look forward to both. I also look forward to the hectic final part of the year as a time of building something even better. I thought it might be interesting to learn more about what goes on during the final months of the year! It is anything but boring!
The race directors are setting their race dates for 2026. Every race is set except three, which means we are very close to releasing the 2026 schedule! I know many of you like to get those dates in your calendar as soon as possible. Sometimes races like the Lake to Lake have to wait on other dates, like the Husker football schedule! We are also trying to work through ways to hold the triathlon, which of course has a good deal to do with the Rec Center construction progress. Once all the dates are set, we will let you know! Please stay tuned for another great year of racing and family gatherings!
November and December are also spent preparing for our Night of Champions. The Night of Champions honors the top ten winners in the Points Competition by gender and age group and our men’s and women’s top three overall. We celebrate the ultimate athletes who finished every race and those who almost reached that prestigious goal. We also acknowledge our PRFS volunteers and sponsors, people and organizations essential to our community and our athletes. Our points guru Doris Davis will be finalizing the point standings following the Jingle Bell 5K. We like to give you a little time to review your points one last time to submit any corrections. Athletes will need to review their points as soon as possible once we’ve announced they are online. Doris will make any corrections needed, they will be made official, and e-invitations will be sent to the awardees. It is as busy as June and July, just busy in a different way! The date is set and the venue reserved for January 25, 2026, for the 2025 Night of Champions so please mark those calendars now!
A website refresh typically happens after the Jingle Bell 5K, and our website guru Sage Merritt usually completes it around the holidays. We will post the 2026 schedule in our newsletter and have paper copies for you at several locations until the website is ready to go. While the races slow down, we don’t want you to, so the Richard Deckert Virtual Challenge will be opening soon. We have had some great January and February in-person events over the years, which were fun for the athletes but hard on the race directors and their volunteers! Who can forget the New Year’s Eve 5K with midnight as the race start time! Oh, so fun, but oh, so cold! We had a huge race around Valentine’s Day in February called the Heart and Sole 5K. Again, very fun, but very cold for race directors and volunteers.
The virtual challenge is not dependent on the weather and provides almost unlimited ways to be active that support your goals in a motivational way. It gives people a chance to try new things and to track activities that are not measurable in miles. The format for January and February 2026 will remain the same as last year. You will track dedicated exercise of moderate to vigorous intensity. You will choose a goal based on the recommended number of minutes adults and kids should exercise each week. Of course, many in our community are very active, so we have higher levels of activity to make it a challenge for all abilities! Part of the purpose of the challenge is to re-enforce good habits and offer evidence-based practices that can move the needle when it comes to your fitness. Participants will report minutes of activity to me on a weekly basis. Having someone to be accountable to is a proven practice in creating a healthy lifestyle. It is also a wonderful way for me to get to know you better! Win-Win!
November is the time when our loyal Board of Directors meet to review the upcoming year and take a look back at this year. This year, they will also get to take a look at the really great work of our 14-person focus group. These athletes, race directors and sponsors came together several times this fall to co-create some new and fresh ways to fulfill our mission and honor our Four Foundations. Once the Board has a look at the refreshes, we will share them with you! Some things will be implemented for 2026 with others to be rolled out in subsequent years. This group also developed a thoughtful and comprehensive set of suggestions and creative ideas that will be offered to race directors to consider as they plan for 2026. The refreshes being planned will involve changes to the incentive structure to create more opportunity, the development of an incentive program for those who volunteer for the PRFS, the development of a program focused on sponsorship race credits and a plan for us to be able to support athletes and companion programs within the PRFS in a focused way. Rest assured that everything is designed with community in mind and with the goal of giving more back to our community.
I will also be taking some time to plan an additional gathering in 2026 for our entire PRFS community. It will probably take place in one of the more reliable weather months and will look something like one gigantic potluck dinner so that the entire fitness family can celebrate 25 years of sweat, smiles, triumph, disappointment, trying, improving and kinship…together! And as our races show, together really is the best place to be! More on the anniversary celebration to come! Rest assured, as 2025 winds down, a great deal is being done to continue to strengthen how the PRFS serves you, one footstep at a time!