February 2022 Newsletter

Thank you to all the UVRC jounalists for writing the informative and fun stories.

Many of our running members are in essential jobs like health care.   

The photo of an ice THANKS is from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.  

"DH Strong" is written high up in the windows.  

Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver   

My country it is not a country, it is the winter, is a famous French-Canadian anthem.  

It is true here too.

Colored ice art is easy and fun. 

Recipe: water, food coloring and a little milk in any container.
Add cold. Add water to glue the ice together. 

Hi Club,

It is that time of year again for us all to decide if we want to throw our hats in the ring to run up the rockpile! This year's race returns to regular format with one race on Saturday June 18th.

The Club has agreed to provide 8 volunteers in exchange for 8 by-pass numbers. For this year, the Club will be responsible for assisting in parking cars on Saturday for the post-race activities. That means volunteers cannot be runners or drivers.

Are you potentially interested in running and like the idea of maybe having a backup should you not get into the lottery? Do you want to spend a beautiful afternoon in the mountains and give back to the running community? If you find yourself nodding your head, here's what you do:

Let me know what you plan on doing:

1. Are you going to enter the lottery but also want to be put on the bypass list if you don't get in? If so, you are committing to providing a volunteer (who is not you since you would be running) for Saturday June 18th
2. Do you just want to volunteer? You are a truly amazing human that keeps this club going!
3. Are you already set with an invitational/charity entry but still have a family/friend that would like to volunteer?
4. It is helpful to know in general all club members that are running so let me know if you plan to be there but are kind of a lonewolf.

Volunteering is a lot of fun, the race company has a great crew that are fun to work with, and there isn't much better than spending a few hours outside in the mountains.

I hope to see you there race weekend. Included is a photo of our volunteers from last year.

Cheers to the Rockpile,

Rebecca

December 5th, 2021, my son Joe and I were taking our first ski run of the season at Ragged Mt in Danbury New Hampshire. After our traditional selfie at the top (above), I leaned over to tighten the buckles on my boots and Joe launched down Blueberry Trail. The sky was blue, and the sun shone boldly on the groomed slopes. Despite arriving early, the trail was abuzz with family vacationers. I remember taking two smooth turns and the next thing I remember is opening my eyes and seeing a doctor staring into my face in what turned out to be the emergency room of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. I was very confused. I had no recollection of the past 3 hours. Gradually, I came to understand that I had been knocked down by another skier and had hit my head on the frozen slope. I was told that my helmet might have saved my life. A witness to the collision said I was unconscious for a couple of minutes but started moving and talking after that as the ski patrol arrived with a toboggan to transport me down to the base lodge where an ambulance was waiting. I had already received a CT scan that revealed a “small” subarachnoid hemorrhage, between my skull and brain. I was held for six hours until a second CT scan confirmed that the bleeding had stabilized and then I was released with instructions to take anti-seizure medication for a week as a precaution and to lay low. I was to report back for a follow-up CT scan in five weeks. As I write, it has been four weeks from the time of the accident, and I have recovered nearly 100%. I feel better and better with each passing day. Safely back at home, though I had trouble concentrating and focusing for a few days, I was very happy to rejoin our dog Mookie for our three daily walks. During the first week, I felt lightheaded when I got out of bed and a bit dizzy and disoriented when I moved around, but I was pleased to make measurable progress each day. I was extremely fortunate for a lot of reasons - I had a helmet on, the Ragged Mt ski patrol, the Danbury EMTS and the doctors and staff at DHMC all acted quickly and professionally, and I was in excellent physical health despite my age, 72, because I exercise regularly. If any one of those conditions were missing, the outcome might have been very different.

Why am I explaining all this to you in the New England 65+ Running Club? Because one of my first thoughts after I realized I had sustained a serious head injury was, will I be able to enjoy running again? Fear not, I now say! We runners are RESILIENT. We set long-term goals and plan ahead. We tend to have a positive attitude toward life in general and if one training method or technique doesn’t work for us, we don’t give up, we try something else. We are persistent. We are adaptive. We are patient. We have learned that running can be joyful at any pace.

As soon as I had my wits about me following my skiing accident, I started reading up on TBIs (traumatic brain injuries). I discovered the book, “The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience is Changing How We Think About PTSD”, George A. Bonanno, 2021. Bonanno is a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University. Soon after he started at Columbia, he witnessed the traumatic events of 9/11 firsthand and researched its victims. Surprisingly, he found that 2/3 of all victims of all varieties of trauma, including the events of 9/11, are able to cope with their trauma and heal themselves physically and mentally. Bonanno refers to the ability to cope as the resilience trajectory. This group tends to have a positive outlook on life and can move forward from a new lower baseline. They are flexible and try new ways to get better. They are socially active. They are RESILIENT. As we all know, exercise and a healthy diet are good for the body, the brain, and the soul. This gives runners like us a serious leg up on the general population when it comes to being resilient.

So going forward, let’s be smart. Continue to exercise (run, walk) regularly, fuel our bodies with nutritious foods and try to run with a group at least once a week. I am fortunate to have my faithful dog, Mookie as my trice-daily walking and running buddy. And, if you ski, bike, rock climb, or skydive…wear a good helmet.

The Incomplete Book of Running, by Peter Sagal

If you are an NPR fan and enjoy “Wait, Wait...” , then chances are you will like this book. It’s a light, quick read full of Peter Sagal’s personal accomplishments in running. I do have to say that I was expecting something a little more entertaining. The author is true to his word; it is incomplete.

The Story of Modern Skiing, by John Fry

The second is a comprehensive, sweeping account of skiing in the second half of the 20th century. I was reluctant to pick up this book, because the title sounded so encyclopedic. I had been looking for something a bit more like Jon Krakauer, but on a less ambitious scale. For lack of any other available options, I finally checked it out- and so glad I did! The sheer breadth of it had me wondering how long it took him to complete. He gives just enough detail to paint a picture, but does not indulge in lengthy, long-winded prose. His sense of when to move on to the next topic seemed intuitive; it figures that he had previously worked for many years as an editor. If you are at all curious about ski racing, the rise of the shaped ski, and why there has never been all that much ski racing aired on television, then this book is for you!

I haven't been running much lately. I tell myself a combination of the too-cold temperatures and dark nights and feeling not-quite-100 percent healthy around the holidays is to blame. I've managed a few short glides on our elliptical, and some very slow hikes in our woods. I wrestle with what this means -- for how long during a "pause" can I call myself a runner? When the length of the "pause" extends beyond the length of my prior years running consistently? How long will this slump last? I don't know.

I came across this old Wendell Berry poem today. It brought me a long sigh of not quite relief, but solace. It prompted a new perspective on these deep winter days, on how my running has become less of an accomplishment and more like an old friend I haven't seen in a while. And I texted a friend to see if she wanted to run (just a little) this weekend.

"Our Real Work" by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.