About the Calhoun Beach Running Club
The CBRC was founded in 2000. A group of experienced runners and a long list of new recruits opened the first CBRC training season in preparation for the 2000 Twin Cities Marathon. The very next year, while part of the club trained for Grandma's, fifteen loyal runners started their workouts in January and ended them in Paris in April along the Champs Elysees. Not to be outdone, another dozen runners decided the London Marathon was the place to be the following year. Since then others have run Big Sur, Hood to Coast, Las Vegas, Seattle, Green Bay, Tulsa, Madison, and dozens more.
As a club, CBRC runners race distances ranging from 5K to half-marathon to 20-milers and of course the marathon, usually all within the framework of a marathon training season. And when the weather gets warm, after a tough long run, you might find some of our runners jumping into Lake Calhoun to cool off. We hope you will join us!
Calhoun Beach Running Club Leadership
Paul Donnelly - Head Coach
Paul has been a part of the CBRC since June 2005 when he moved to the Twin Cities and was looking for a fun running club to join. A few months after joining the club, he competed in the Twin Cities Marathon, his first marathon. He followed that race with Boston in 2007 and Chicago in 2009.
Paul graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2005. While there, he competed on the Wash U cross country and track teams. His main focus was the 8k and 5k. He claims to have been a runner his whole life, competing in his first race when he was 8 years old and running since. While he is slowly becoming a Minnesota fan, Paul still pledges allegiance to his hometown Buffalo Sabres and Bills.
Mike Mason – Communications
Mike joined the club in March of 2006. He has been a recreational runner since his late teens and ran his first marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, in 2006. He registered for TCM because his younger brother didn't think he could beat him. On race day, he proved his younger brother wrong. He has since run in two more Minnesota marathons, Run For The Lakes and Grandma's. His next marathon is the Arizona Rock & Roll Marathon.
Abby Dornbusch - Recruiting Lead
Abby joined CBRC in June 2008 out of desperation because registration had already closed for Twin Cities Marathon and she needed entry! Little did she know that years later she would still be running with this group and have made some lifelong friends.
Abby has run three marathons, Twin Cities Marathon in 2008 and 2009 and Grandma’s Marathon in 2010, and she sees no signs of stopping. Besides running, some of Abby’s loves are Starbucks, yoga, cooking, biking and Twins baseball!
Laura Oliver - Web Design
Laura joined the CBRC in summer 2009 because she needed a TCM entry after relocating to Minneapolis. Prior to summer 2009, the longest race Laura had ever run was a 6k, a distance she was very familiar with from her time as cross country and track athlete at St. Olaf College.
Laura admits that despite being a lifelong runner, she would have gone about marathon training all wrong without the expertise of Coach Paul. With the club’s help, Laura completed TCM in 3:22 and registered for Boston the same day. She achieved her personal best at Boston with a time of 3:17, ran NYC in 2011, and has set a goal to complete the four other World Majors (London, Berlin, Chicago) in the years to come.
Paul Donnelly
Mike Mason
Abby Dornbusch
Laura Oliver