resist

 

Fight the Future

Coronavirus Chronicles

Volume 1?

see the May 1 issue here (opens in a new window)

When the time came to start pulling together the latest issue of the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club's newsletter, The Sugarloaf Sun, we had just started to shut everything down due to COVID-19 (is that officially all caps? I haven't been able to tell for sure). Races were cancelled and all group gatherings were called off, and I wasn't sure that there was actually going to be enough material to fill out an issue. Well, aren't I a fool. The SMAC members came through, as they always do. This new issue features all sorts of terrific articles and artwork about the crazy times we're in, all from the perspective of local runners. I'm so pleased with how it turned out; enjoy some good reading!

Happy Leap Day

Hard to believe that it’s been a full four years since my last leaper post, but it’s true!

For your leapin’ amusement, here's my full 2020 Leap Year photo gallery: https://northeastracephoto.smugmug.com/2020-Races/Leapers-2

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.”
— Cynthia Heimel

  

the joy of the leap

“Enthusiasm is the leaping lightning, not to be measured by the horse-power of the understanding.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Athletes have studied how to leap and how to survive the leap some of the time and return to the ground. They don't always do it well. But they are our philosophers of actual moments and the body and soul in them, and of our maneuvers in our emergencies and longings.”
— Harold Brodkey

Reckoning Time: Closing Out the Past Decade / Beginning Anew

Ten years ago this month the world wasn’t so different. The first iPads appeared; they’re a dime a dozen today. In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper opened and became the tallest building in the world; it still is. Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga were really popular; same. I was living in Concord, NH, pretty deep into a triathlon training phase; now I run, bike, and swim as often as I can (though admittedly there are fewer Half-Ironmans and such on my schedule these days). 

As a member of a local multisport club back then (Capital Multisport), I raced a fun winter triathlon at Gunstock Mountain. In a pleasant surprise, I won the short course race! True, my young-punk friend Ryan Kelly won the long course in about the same amount of time, but still... I hadn’t come in first in a long, long time, and it felt pretty darn good :o) The course was a hilly, 4K trail run on snow, a very tough 3.5K mountain bike route (also on snow), and a 3K XC ski loop (on snow, obviously). With fairly soft snow conditions, the bike part was terrifically hard, and I took one fall on the first hill where my front tire sunk in a deep drift; I pitched over the handlebars and the bike landed ON me. It was hard for everyone though, and while it all sounds pretty absurd (which it was) it really was absurdly fun! Just remembering and writing about it here makes me want to pop on my running snowshoes and hit a race in the Dion series soon. Or dust off the ol’ Nordic planks for some kickgliding miles at Northfield Mountain or Notchview. 

I came into triathlons by accident when a stress fracture at the 2007 Clarence Demar Marathon forced me to drop at mile 19 and pushed me into the pool for a few months. A friend gave me an old bike and by mid-2008 I’d completed my first sprint tri; the injury was such a gift in disguise. The multisport training left me better balanced, and all-around stronger. Since that time, I moved to the Valley and shifted my then very regular hiking jaunts in the White Mountains to more local exploratory trail runs, and you probably know what that led to (this). Today I find myself running about half roads and half trails, with plenty of other activities mixed in. I’m happy with the variety, and hope to keep going strong in 2020. 

There’s certainly plenty enough to do; there's lots of upcoming local snowshoe races and Winter Wild type events on deck for the next few months. Winter won’t slow me down and I plan to start the new decade off right today with runs like the annual Sawmill River 10K in Montague. 

The past few months have been busy too. Smaller events like the 9K for K9 and Gorge Apres Gorge races, and a Hoka demo day on the icy trails at Mt. Warner, were heartwarmingly very well attended despite unseasonably frigid temps for November/December. Girls on the Run hosted a successful event in November. And our local claim to trail running infamy, the Seven Sisters Trail Race, sold out for 2020 in just under 24 hours a few weeks ago; that’s 500 spots snatched up for a race that’s still over four months away! 

While my local running club (SMAC) doesn’t have any regular planned group runs lined up for this winter, hill workouts are scheduled return in the spring. In the meantime, Marathon Sports in Northampton offers weekly social runs every Thursday evening at 6:30. Led by Jeff Hansen, around 20 people or so start at the store and run a 4 to 5 mile route around downtown. Camaraderie generally ensues. Neither speed nor experience are required; the runs will often break up by paces into small groups and no one gets left behind. Bonus: no purchase necessary! 

As we say sayonara to the 2010s (with their Westeros, Thanos, and Skywalkers; their Hokas, Pipers, Pelotons, goops, reboots, serials, snaps, and tweets; their culture bubbles, Boston Bombings, sub-2-hour marathons, and Flanagan and Linden victories), let’s all aim to be as awesome and strong as we wanna be in the New Roaring Twenties to come.