PPTC Monthly Meeting Recap: August 2020
(Apologies in advance for any misspelled/misheard names. We’ll happily correct any errors).
The Prospect Park Track Club has members-only meetings the first Monday of the month. Since April 2020, instead of gathering at our usual place, Da Nonna Rosa on 7th Avenue in Brooklyn, we’ve had virtual meetings. The meetings have followed the same format we used in The Before Times.
Opening Statements
President Tom kicked things off as usual, celebrating how club members have continued to support each other even though we can’t all be in the same place. No new members offered to introduce themselves, so Tom skipped that segment and moved on to announcements.
Announcements
Captain Adam started.
“We’ve gotten more inquiries about when we can start group runs again,” Adam said. “We don’t know.”
He said the club leadership is keeping tabs on how other city clubs are choosing to start up group runs (or not) and that PPTC will continue to plan to be on the trailing edge of movements to return to multi-person gatherings.
Or, in other words, “The world’s on fire. What do you want. Good luck.”
“That’s a beautiful thought. Thank you for sharing that with us, Adam,” Tom said, confirming, “We’d rather be safer and be the last ones to jump in.”
Editor’s note: Since our August meeting, the club captains decided to start group runs on a sign-up basis, beginning 8/29. Sign up here if you’re interested.
Stuart followed with an announcement of the next club race: Run Together Apart, An Al Goldstein Virtual 5K. The race starts Wednesday, Aug. 19 and concludes Tuesday, Aug. 25 (tomorrow) at 11:59 ET. You can register here, and the registration fee is $8. All race fees support the Prospect Park Alliance, and the top three finishers in each gender category will win $25 gift cards to Bakline NYC. PPTC is buying the gift cards with club funds, so all registration fees will go to the Prospect Park Alliance.
Will gave an update on another beloved race: The PPTC Turkey Trot. The race committee is planning for the possibility of both a virtual race or a potentially smaller-than-usual field for an in-person race. Either way, there will be a 2020 version of the legendary PPTC Turkey Trot hats.
Crystal kicked off Social Committee announcements by introducing the follow-up event to the wildly successful pastry swap: #PlantPropagationTrackClub, led by Alexis. Jana V. and LMK are also leading a cooking challenge.
Linda, with the Wonder Wheel as her virtual backdrop, gave an update from the Diversity Committee, saying the group continues to meet monthly and has added related community events to the website. You can also find them in the club newsletter (The Speed Read). She added that the group is drafting updated Facebook posting guidelines, so keep an eye out for those, and as always, reach out if you wish to join the committee.
Guest Speaker
Lillian then introduced our guest speaker for the meeting, Jen A. Miller. Jen is a writer and runner based in southern New Jersey, wrote the book Running: A Love Story, and writes the weekly running column for The New York Times.
She shared that she became a runner during the last recession, and as a freelancer, the economic downturn led to her losing half her clients. She started running as a way to deal with the stress, and she trained to run her first 10 mile race. She has now run multiple marathons and ultramarathons.
Q: You mentioned in a recent column that this summer, with races canceled, you are reconsidering the role that the cycle of training and racing has in your life. Would you talk us through some of your thoughts on that?
A: I don’t know if I put this in that column, but I suffered a stress fracture on Valentine's Day [2019]. I haven’t written too much about what happened … I was overcoached … That was hard because I had to deal with losing this thing that was a big part of my life, and this coach blamed me for it. I ran again for the first time in May 2019. I ran the NYC Marathon with my mother [in] 7.5 hours. [Once I recovered from that] I started training again, but I didn’t have the oomph. And then the pandemic happened.
I tried to reach a good work/life balance but I was working about 60 hours a week covering death, and I was still trying to run and hit mileage marks. So I’m rethinking it. I can run for an hour in the morning and be fine. I don’t really enjoy racing all the time, getting anxious about races, and getting all upset about missing a training run.
Q: What kind of runner do you see yourself as?
A: I hate the term hobby jogger but I’m just not competitive at this moment, and I don’t know that I ever will be. That 50K where I PR’ed by over an hour—I think that really might have done me in. I’m a recreational runner who happens to get paid to write about it.
Q: What do you think the next big change or evolution in running will be?
A: I think we’re going to lose a lot of smaller races. I think the open aid stations aren’t going to be there for a while. I think people will continue to see the value of virtual races.
Race Recap
Following Jen’s Q&A, Michael R. had an update to share from the Achilles Hope & Possibility Virtual 10 Miler: “I did 12 loops of that oval (at Marine Park). I had negative splits and I was really happy with my time. It was hot, but I started at 6:30 in the morning.” Congrats, Michael!
That’s all from August’s meeting. The September meeting will be the second Monday of the month (Sept. 14) to accommodate Labor Day. We’re trying a different structure with a town hall format, so if you have topics you’d like to discuss, please fill out this survey.
Text by: Christine DiGangi
Edited by: Alison Kotch
Produced by: Alison Kotch