2025 Capital Striders Board of Directors Election
Hello Striders!!! Our annual Board of Directors Election will be held online from 03/21/25 through 03/31/25. This year we have seven openings. Below is information on the candidates that are standing for election:
Existing Directors Standing for Reelection:
Lindsey Andrews:
1. What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? Some examples are: membership, scholarship, equipment, club races, newsletter/social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping/financials, volunteer coordination, training runs, etc.
I currently head up the scholarship committee, which is so much fun! I love getting to take part in seeing what amazing students apply for our scholarships and be a part of that decision. I also help coordinate the Saturday training runs year round! Additionally, I am the board Secretary.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board?
Years of experience working in the running industry, and a unique perspective as a club sponsor.
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past?
see above. I’ve also been a member for nearly 10 years and regularly attend our group runs and events.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know.
I have been running for over 20 years and ran throughout high school and college. I was part of the NCAA Div I National Champion XC team at the University of New Mexico. Since then, I enjoy occasionally training and running competitively, but mostly run for fun and leisure. I have two kids, Layla (7) and Kauffman (6) who keep me plenty busy, and recently added a dog to our family who loves to run! I am the owner of Fitness Sports Running & Walking stores, primarily focused on our coaching services, gait retraining, and race directing.
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to?
haha well in all honestly I usually don’t! I really enjoy lifting on those days as a form of cross training and an alternative with low impact. Now that we have a pup, I have a feeling those days will still involve some running and lots of walking! I think it’s always helpful to have some extra accountability. I do really enjoy attending the Striders and Fitness Sports group runs when I can!
Sandra Kromminga
What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? Some examples are: membership, scholarship, equipment, club races, newsletter/social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping/financials, volunteer coordination, training runs, etc.
I have previously helped out with the scholarship committee, social media, and I helped plan last year's annual dinner. I've loved being a part of each of these things, as it lets me see all sides of our club! I'd like to continue helping out wherever is needed, and continue to help grow our club.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board?
I am currently on two other boards. I volunteer often, and I have a lifelong love for running. I hope to utilize my experience from other boards to help make this board even better.
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past?
I have been involved with Capital Striders since I was in High School. I started coming with my dad, and I'd run with him and his friends during our off season from track or cross county. In just the last 10-15 years, I have seen this club change significantly. We've continued to grow, and bring in new runners into our club. I've loved being a Striders Member.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know.
doing cross training when I'm not running.
I am a family law attorney in Des Moines, Iowa. I got married last September and my husband and I currently have two greyhounds that we love. I enjoy spending time with my family, reading, and in the past year we have fostered 3 different greyhounds in our home.
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to? My biggest motivation is my dad. He got me into running at 12 years old. He helped me run my first 5k. I have seen him get up early almost every day to run, as well as every Saturday to get his long run in. He's always running, even when we are on vacation! His hard work and dedication are what got me into the sport initially, and now, it is what keeps me motivated on the days that it's hard to get out the door.
Chuck Snyder:
1. What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? I enjoy making the routes and assisting with the training run and summer track support. Moving forward, I would like to assist with the newsletter and as membership chair.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board? My education is in story-telling, communication and strategic leadership. I have been working within non-profit groups for over 30 years and have been an a avid runner since I was 7 years of age.
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past? As soon as I moved to Des Moines in 2022, I joined the Capital Striders. I joined the board in 2023. I supported the afternoon summer track series in 2024 at Hoover, provided support for winter and summer training runs and volunteered at Capital Striders races. I have attended all but two board meetings.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know. I started running when I was 7 with my dad as he transitioned to a healthy lifestyle. I ran for my high school and the University of West Florida in NAIA competition. We have moved around a bit and chose Des Moines as our home in 2022. Here, my family and I found communities that fits our personalities and lifestyles. The running community was a big reason for my decision to move to DSM. I have 3 adult children and 3 grandkids with 1 on the way.
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to? I make two run per week can’t miss. These are typically social runs and find that fun of a group helps me make them happen when I may not be feeling my best. I also try to pick something hard to do at least once a year to help keep my training on track.
New Candidate Standing for Election:
Ellen Bennett
1. What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? Some examples are: membership, scholarship, equipment, club races, newsletter/social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping/financials, volunteer coordination, training runs, etc.
I'd be happy to help with a variety of functions, but have an interest in membership, scholarship, newsletter and media, merchandise (it'd be great to have the striders name out to a wider audience), training runs and social functions. I've been a member of the running community most of my life and was first aware of Capital Striders through the Capital Pursuit 10 mile race that I did several times as a high schooler. I was excited to join the group after moving back to Des Moines, but I believe there are a lot of runners that aren't aware of Capital Striders whom could benefit from this community. With the rise in popularity of running and run clubs, I think there are ways to think creatively to garner a larger membership and work towards common goals together.
I'd have interest in helping with sponsor relations as needed. I don't have experience in this area, but am on board to help make the connection between their support and our club.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board?
I believe I bring a care for this club and excitement for what the future of it can look like. I'm passionate about running for all the great things it brings to my life and I want to be a larger part of Capital Striders by putting in the work to continue on the legacy of a great group in Des Moines!
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past?
I've been an active runner for over half of my life and love the community that runners cultivate. When I first graduated college, I immediately found the striders group runs to be my consistent home on Saturday mornings, all over Des Moines. I met some of my best friends through the group and found the runs to be a great way to explore areas of Des Moines that I wasn't previously familiar with. I still consistently make it out to the training runs and add in the early morning track workouts at Roosevelt throughout the summer. I attended the social events and have participated in several races put on by Striders. I also would like to volunteer more at future events.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know.
I'm a Portfolio Analyst at Principal Financial Group where I've worked in commercial real estate on an investment fund for the last four years. I live and work downtown and love the community of runners in the area and easy access to our great trail system. I grew up in Johnston and made the move north to the Twin Cities when I attended college at the University of St. Thomas and majored in Accounting and Finance. I was also a member of the cross country team where I fell in love with the area on foot and found myself surrounded by a fantastic team of women. I've been a runner ever since joining the middle school team and continued to race in school for the next 10 years. After college, I immediately set my eyes on running my first marathon, IMT Des Moines, after dreaming my whole life of one day taking on that feat. Capital Striders runs became my support system as I trained the whole summer to take on the challenge and was grateful to have water stops provided and other knowledgeable and experienced runners to spend the many miles with. I've also done many triathlons in the past and while I'm no longer training for those, I still enjoy biking to this day to get me much further out on the trails than I can get on foot!
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to?
I always know that I'll feel better and most like myself once I get out the door. Even the days when that's not enough, having made plans to join others for the miles early in the morning, motivates me to get going and spend time improving myself with great company. Over the last year, I've also began setting goals and racing again after having a couple year period of being a casual runner. With specific races on the calendar, the pressure and desire to get better and best prepare myself for the starting line gets me out the door. Nothing quite like a deadline - fail to prepare then prepare to fail!
Rachel Black
1. What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? Some examples are: membership, scholarship, equipment, club races, newsletter/social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping/financials, volunteer coordination, training runs, etc.
I would be happy to assist in any of these areas. I have both personal and professional experience in membership, races, social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping, volunteer coordination and training runs.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board?
I am very much a multi-faceted person. I am a great planner, always looking for plan A,B, and C. I am detail oriented and personable. I am someone who keeps track of lots of things at one time and am usually busy with a few different projects at once, both in my professional and personal time.
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past?
I have participated in many of the striders events over the last few years as well as ran races. Capital Pursuit is my favorite! But Sycamore is a really close second.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know.
I’ve been running for about 4 years and have done probably 20ish races, some of them out is state. My biggest accomplishment would have been my first half marathon, in the mountains of Utah starting at 9pm. Super fun and really challenging. I have four kiddos and my partner is a runner/ultramarathoner and triathlete and an Ironman.
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to?
The way I feel after accomplishing my run for the day. Even a short distance run is so great to check off the list. I generally have small time goals, but my biggest goals are getting out to run.
Seth Kilborn
I would like to focus on group runs, volunteer coordination, and social functions. My are of strength is group runs.
I have been in the running community for over 13 years and during those times I have seen a lot of different sides of the community. I have also race directed a successful 5k in the Ames Turkey Trot. We had 320 participants the first year, and it went very well. I also am the store manager at Fitness Sports - Clive so I have a lot of influence on the running community on a daily basis. Before managing Clive, I was the store manager at our Ames location. During that time, I started a grew many different group runs to over 20 regular participants.
With my job at Fitness Sports, I have attended around 10 Capital Striders group runs over the years, and I always have a great time. I also have attended Capital Pursuit twice and raced once.
Running has been my hobby since I was in 5th grade! I love the running community and want to be involved in any way I can. I was the race director of the Ames Turkey Trot this year which I oversaw from start to finish. I learned a lot about directing a race and look forward to doing it again!
My primary motivation is to be the best I can be. I hate the feeling of being lazy at the end of a day and the best way to combat that is to get outside!
Megan Slattery
1. What area(s) of the club would you focus on as a Board Member? Some examples are: membership, scholarship, equipment, club races, newsletter/social media, merchandise, social functions, bookkeeping/financials, volunteer coordination, training runs, etc.
I think I would enjoy focusing on any of the following areas: training runs, volunteer coordination, club races, scholarship, membership.
2. What special skills or experience would you bring to the Board?
I bring strong organization and communication skills, efficiency, and time management. I also bring enthusiasm and a passion for running. (Though in a club of runners I know I am not the only one bringing those!)
3. How have you been involved with the Capital Striders in the past?
I have mostly been attending Saturday runs, and used to attend Wednesday workouts as well. I would like to get more involved as this group has provided a fun atmosphere, camaraderie for a hobby and passion of mine.
4. Tell us about yourself - work, family, running experience, civic activities - anything you would like people to know.
I am currently a 2nd year resident doctor in the family medicine program at Broadlawns Medical Center - I hope to someday be a rural family physician in the midwest, providing full-scope care. I have been an avid runner since I was 15–I ran competitively in high school, and running has continued to be a favorite way for me to be active, unwind, enjoy community, and explore my surroundings. When not running I also enjoy walking my dog, reading, hiking and biking.
5. What is your biggest motivation to get out the door for a run, on the days you just don’t want to?
My biggest motivation is knowing no matter how far I run that I will feel good, both physically and mentally, after my run. More often than not, on days I am finding it challenging to lace up my shoes, I will set out with a goal to run just one mile. This helps me get over any mental hurdle typically, and I will often tack on a few more once I hit that first mile. The opportunity to spend time outside after working inside all day is often a great motivator too.
Tyson Wieland
Club Races would be my main focus, but I have interest in the training runs.
I've been the race director for The Blazing 5k for the last 5 years and assisted with Capital Pursuit this year. I also am the team director of Runablaze Iowa which has over 40 members.
I've made it to a few Saturday runs over the years and routinely hit at least 2-3 of the races per year. I also have attended two of the mittens runs. Capital Pursuit 10 mile race 2024 assistant director, attended a few board meetings.
I'm a design engineer for John Deere, a professional triathlete, race director of The Blazing 5k, owner of Wieland Racing LLC who organizes events/is a coaching platform, a racer for Runablaze Iowa for the last 6 years, team diector of Runablaze since 2020, father to 3 beautiful kitties, and a lucky husband to another avid runner Elise Wieland.
Running creates balance in my life and gives me the opportunity to meet some great people and help them chase their goals!