PPTC’s 2024 Black History Month No-Drop Run

Happy Black History Month! PPTC held its second annual Black History Month Run on Saturday, February 3, 2024. Like last year, it was also a no-drop run, with pacers available so that no runner would be left behind. This was apropos, since Black History Month is about being inclusive of all people, by celebrating the contributions of people of the African diaspora to the United States.

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Notes to Your PPTC Sole Mate 2024

I also garnered a new definition of love thanks to bell hooks’ reflection on an M. Scott Peck quote, “Love as ‘the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.’” If you find this to be true as I did, you can certainly apply this to running and general movement. I think for many, running is a part of spirituality.

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Member Spotlight: Prachi Gupta

My book is about those hidden costs and the psychic and social effects of those costs. My hope is that by having an honest conversation about some of these pressures, we can confront some of the things that are really stigmatized in our society, like mental illness, things that we internalize as failures, and we can begin to talk about trauma in a more compassionate way that enables us to deal with it.

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Thoughts From A Long Run

I wanted to reconnect to running. I had joined cross country in middle school and had been pretty casual about running. I always knew I liked something about it, the time to myself, the ability to be present, the opportunity to have a clear mind, maybe. I was never the fastest runner, and I knew that, but running was always something I could do for myself.

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New Member Spotlight, Member #2000: Brian Hansen

On July 10th, PPTC hit a milestone with our 2000th member! Some people in the club were watching intently and waiting for us to reach 2000 members. With a few clicks on a keyboard, Brian Hansen (he/him) became PPTC’s 2000th member. If you’ve been a member for a while, then you may remember that we hit 1000 members only a few years ago in February 2020. Did Brian know that he could be member #2000?

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Discord Survival Guide

You may have seen the words "Join Discord!" flying around for the last couple years. You are once again faced with the cheery beckoning of the instruction-to join Discord. We’re here to break down discord for anyone new to the platform or who gets cold feet when thinking about posting. 

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Rachael DePalmaComment
Blame It on the Ice Age

We have the last ice age to blame—or thank, if yours is a generous spirit—for the hills of Brooklyn. Through the Pleistocene Epoch, continental ice sheets expanded and retreated dozens of times, carrying and smoothing rocks and eventually depositing them miles from where they had been picked up. The Laurentide ice sheet, which covered much of Canada and the northern United States, reached its greatest extent in the most recent glacial period about 20,000 years ago. Its southernmost boundary crossed Brooklyn.

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Volunteer Spotlight: Sonia Weiser and Virginia Ofer

April was Volunteer Appreciation Month and while this post comes a little late for Volunteer Appreciation Month, we always appreciate our volunteers. Volunteers help make PPTC what it is. With Volunteer Appreciation Month just behind us and volunteer opportunities for PPTC’s Al Goldstein Speed Series opening soon, we are turning the spotlight on two members who are dedicated volunteers and often volunteering at PPTC’s Al Goldstein Speed Series.

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A group of runners discussing football

Flat overcast light seeps into the recessed confines of a vegetarian joint in Chinatown, the deuteragonist destination of the Lunar Year dim sum run to the protagonist meaty option. We’re about 10 sweaty runners seated at a large circular table forming our own little microcosm of Athleticism within the greater universe of normie patrons at this brunch hour.

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Notes to Your Sole Mates 2023

So, today on this eve of Valentine’s Day, we would like to thank you all for the love and community. PPTC, these past few years have been made easier by knowing each of you. To express their gratitude, PPTC members have written notes to their PPTC running buddies commemorating the familial, platonic love that composes our club’s fabric.

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Congratulations NYC Marathoners

Running by PPTC’s cheer station at mile 7 and finding PPTC members cheering them on throughout the course, many of our finishers closed out their race day by going to PPTC’s post-race reunion. Here each finisher was greeted with applause, cow bells, hugs, and smiles. As tired as they were, these runners indulged me with a smile for some finisher portraits with their medals. Here are some of our valiant finishers and some other photos from race day taken by some of PPTC’s many volunteer photographers.

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Linda Chan Comment