Member Spotlight: Danielle Fagenblat
This past Wednesday, I met up with Danielle Fagenblat at the Pub Run, or in our case the Pub Walk. Though we had only met briefly once before, as injured members, we shared a kinship. Walking downhill on Brooklyn’s streets as the sun lowered, cars, trucks, and e-bikes rolled past, we navigated to Chilo’s and I learned about Danielle. Not only is she a member of Race Committee, but is the Chair of the recently formed Volunteer Committee. A volunteer committee that formed during volunteer appreciation month?! How fitting! Thank you volunteers!!
For as much as she does for the club, Danielle has passions and a boss job outside of PPTC too. This is your formal invitation to join our walk and learn more about Danielle and the Volunteer Committee. I assure you, it’ll be time well spent.
*This piece was edited for length and clarity. *
Name: Danielle Fagenblat
Pronouns: She/her
Rachael: How did you start running?
Danielle:
I started running when I was traveling a lot for work. I was on a project for 3 months in San Diego and I was still waking up on New York hours. Someone I worked with was a runner and she said, “You should try to run along the waterfront. It’s really nice, you’re already up at that time.” So I tried it and thought, “Oh, this isn’t so bad.” I used to just do classes at the gym and stuff like that.
Over the course of that following year, I started running on the weekends and a year in I ran my first race which was at the time the Rock ’N Roll Half Marathon in Brooklyn and I loved it. Then someone convinced me to enter the lottery for the NYC Marathon the following year and somehow, I got in and then I had to really start running. I looked at a training plan and couldn’t fathom how I was going to do those long runs by myself. So I did what half of the members of PPTC did, and Googled “running clubs in Brooklyn” and found PPTC and the rest is history.
R: You’re currently injured, how did that happen and how’s the recovery going?
D: I had an injury which was severe tendonitis, that came about during my first marathon and after the marathon I had to take 6 months off from running. Came back, ended up getting a PR in a half marathon which was awesome and then I got injured again- same sort of issue. Then, fast forward a few years, running exacerbated an issue that I’ve had my whole life with the joints in my toes and some nerve issues. I also have another condition where I don’t get a lot of blood flow to my feet and all of that combined and exacerbated through running meant that I had to bite the bullet last year. I was actually training last year for two marathons, Berlin and New York, and I got to my 17 mile long run for Berlin and it was really, really painful the whole time. I had actually been in pain the whole time training, but just ignoring it as we tend to do. After that 17 miles of agony I went to this new doctor that I found and he took X-rays and said, “Yeah, I think it’s going to be a surgery.” I tried going an alternate route and went through physical therapy, which didn’t solve the problem, the pain was still there and I was having pain just walking. So, I had surgery on my left foot at the end of January this year and on my right foot at the end of February. It’s been a long 3 months recovery. I will say I’m very grateful to PPTC as members have quite genuinely been my biggest support, including in-person support, that I’ve had throughout. From deciding to get the surgery and then preparing me for it and then just helping me out, whether it’s getting prescriptions for me or just keeping me company when I couldn’t leave my apartment, it was all my PPTC people. So while running may have exacerbated the problem, running brought me support from the club- I could not have gotten through my recovery without the support from the club.
“So while running may have exacerbated the problem, running brought me support from the club- I could not have gotten through my recovery without the support from the club.”
R: You are in a new role now of a new committee within the club, the Volunteer Committee. So do you want to talk first about the committee and then about your role?
D : Yeah, so I guess I’ll talk about how I started volunteering. My first year with the club when I was training for the marathon, all I did was Saturday runs. I didn’t participate in any other way. Then when I was injured after the marathon, I still wanted to stay connected to the club so I started volunteering. So, Eric asked if I wanted to join Race Committee. I said “Sure.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but I’ll join. Apparently that meant that I would be interning as a junior race director. I still didn’t know what that meant, but I went along with it. So now I’m a race director, because that’s what happens when you’re in PPTC and you don’t know what’s happening and you join a committee. I love Race Committee because you really get to see so much of the inner workings of putting on a race, which is pretty huge and it makes you empathetic to all the other races that you participate in and in the end when things go wrong you’re like, “Oh you know, things go wrong, it happens.” And then last year, we were preparing for Al Goldstein, and Eric, who was our fearless volunteer coordinator for so long, had a lot of family obligations and wasn’t going to be able to take on that work for the series so I volunteered to temporarily cover as the volunteer coordinator for AGSS. I did not know how much work is involved, but that’s okay. So I took that on and after Al Goldstein ends, we basically get right into the swing of things for Turkey Trot. I was one of the Turkey Trot race directors, so I was race directing Turkey Trot and coordinating all the volunteers for the Turkey Trot. They’re two very different jobs with a lot of different responsibilities. We got through it all. It was a lot of work. At the end of the Turkey Trot, I realized I love race directing the Turkey Trot, but I can’t do that and all the volunteer coordinating as well. So I discussed getting more people to help me, so that it's not just on one person. Now, I’m the Chair of Volunteer Committee.
R: So you just created it out of that!
D: Accidentally, yes.
I love volunteering for a few reasons and that’s why I am interested in chairing the committee and sharing this with everyone else. There’s a few things:
1. Volunteering has been really great for me through my multiple injuries as a club member to stay connected with the club.
2. There’s a lot of giving back to the running committee. Everyone who runs feels like they’ve really gotten something from it whether it’s increased fitness, increased social circles, something. Volunteering is a way to give back.
3. We do a lot where we’re giving back directly to the community and to people in need across the community. So volunteering within the club can be a direct or indirect way of assisting. Whether we’re fundraising or at Al Goldstein we often have complimentary bibs that go out to lower income schools in the area. So there’s indirect ways to give back to the community and sharing the joy that running gives other people.
We’re a scrappy volunteer driven club. The volunteer program has been a little high level or a little vague and maybe it’s not promoted as much as it could be to newer members. We want to do a few things within the committee. One of those is to refresh the program. We want to make the point structure a little clearer. Maybe add to the redemption rewards, promote volunteering in a few different ways which may include actually hiring people who’ve volunteered a lot or have supported us in an exceptional way as a volunteer. That’s sort of more of the program related work that we’re going to be doing.
Danielle at this Wednesday’s Pub Run.
On the other side, we’re going to improve the system we use for the volunteers to register. That’s going to be a little more helpful on our end to be able to track points more officially, keep people updated with where they’re at in terms of points accumulation and whether they are close to getting a reward. It’s a little opaque right now, and that’s probably because the tracking is done manually. That’s fine when we were a smaller club, but now that we’re over 1500 members, that can be a little unwieldy. So we’re just trying to make it a little easier on the back end of the program, while also making everything more transparent for members and getting members more involved as volunteers. Joining a committee shouldn’t be the only way people can contribute, because that can be time consuming, demanding, and maybe there’s not a committee that speaks to you or you only want to do a few hours hereand a few hours there. It’s nice to have options for everyone. We have 1500 club members, not everyone is going to want to do the same things the same way at the same time.
R: You said the second part is related to your day job. What is your day job?
D: Ahh yes, my day job that’s often a night job and a weekend job. I lead HR systems at Peloton. Last year was very, very busy - this year is a little wild. So that’s what I do, I have a very awesome team. We manage the actual technology, data quality, security, lots and lots of different internal clients who all have very, very different perspectives and they’re all amazing. But it’s fun, I like it.
R: Back to the points system. I never understood that. How do you intend to make that clearer?
D: We haven’t figured that out yet. We had our very first meeting about a week ago. I have the first draft of that as an action item for me.
R: How many people are on your committee at this point?
D: I have five people on the committee plus Crystal who has joined us a little bit as well and she has such great ideas that as much as she’d like to join and contribute we’ll have her.
R: Why should members volunteer?
D: I don’t think anyone has to volunteer, but it will lead you to meet people that you possibly wouldn’t meet otherwise- if you don’t run at the same pace or you run on different days. I also think that as someone who is quite introverted - not shy, but is not always comfortable in large group social settings, I think the people who are similar to me in that respect, it’s a smaller way to meet people socially as well. Often at volunteer shifts there is down time and there is opportunity to just chat with everyone else. That’s something I’ve found as well. If I were to go by myself to any of our social events, you know like a pub run, I’m fine with chatting in the running component, where it’s just a handful of people, but in a large group setting I’m probably going to be quiet and in the back. It’s just another avenue for people to meet others and it can just be a little less intimidating than walking into a room full of strangers. You’ve got a little more structure and common ground because you’re all there doing the same thing. Whether you’re at a water table together or doing bib pick up together or anything like that, that’s a topic of conversation already. That’s something that’s always come to mind for me and something that when I started volunteering I found helpful as well.
“I don’t think anyone has to volunteer, but it will lead you to meet people that you possibly wouldn’t meet otherwise- if you don’t run at the same pace or you run on different days. ”
R: Are you looking for more members for the Volunteer Committee?
D: I will take everyone who wants to join. I would really love to have- and we already do have with our five committee members- a really diverse range of perspectives. We have a brand new member, we have Jimmy, we have people who have been with the club maybe a little less time than me but kind of similar. I think where we really have an opportunity is with getting newer members involved. One thing I’ve heard is that newer members aren’t really aware of the volunteering program and aren’t really aware of what the volunteer opportunities are. As so many new members have started in the past few years, there’s a real opportunity there for us to be more open about volunteering and not only what you can do but what you can get out of it. So thinking about a way to promote that without people thinking that they have to do it because it is optional, that would be great. I’m always a fan at work or otherwise, of having very diverse perspectives because I only know what I know and there’s a lot more in the world to know than that. Anyone who wants to join, I will happily have them and even if they want to see if it’s something they want to do that’s okay as well. There’s definitely no obligation. People are welcome to join the committee, see what it’s about and then step back. That’s totally fine. Joining the committee is volunteering as well.
R: We’ve talked a lot about the Volunteer Committee and your role as the Volunteer Committee Chair and your vision for it. I’m so excited to see where the committee goes. I’d love to hear more about you and who you are outside of running and PPTC.
D: I’m originally from Australia and I’ve lived here almost sixteen years. Outside of running and outside of my work and outside PPTC committees and outside of being injured, I am very passionate about the environment, sustainability, regenerative sustainability. I do a lot in my personal life to keep my footprint very, very low, sometimes it’s a challenge, but I’m always up for a challenge. That’s something I’m passionate about personally. It’s something I’ve started to try to get more involved with at a community level and also at work. I’m helping out our environmental sustainability group. They’re in the very early stages of implementing a system. I’ve offered some time to help them with that.
Pre-pandemic I used to love traveling, but I haven’t been doing a lot of that in the last two years. So hopefully the second half of this year, I’ll be able to get a little of that in.
“I would love to find other ways in my race committee role to start trends to make races less wasteful.”
R: Actually, talking about sustainability and lowering your footprint, one thing that bothers me is the amount of waste that races create.
D: Drives. Me. Up. A. Wall. I have submitted feedback to NYRR several times about the plastic bag filled with several things that I’m not going to eat or drink aside from the water or the orange, or whatever it is that they give you. I said, “Does it always have to be in a plastic bag? What am I going to do with the things that I don’t eat or I can’t eat?” They’ve never gotten back to me.
Actually one thing that I did and we tested this during the virtual Turkey Trot in 2020, was add an option to opt out of the hat and medal. Jennie and Will and I were shipping everything out for the Turkey Trot, and in the spirit of wanting to reduce waste and reducing the things that go to landfill, not to mention the expense for the club, I said, “What about people like me who maybe don’t want a medal or a hat?” Originally, I was thinking of an opt in, but Jennie brought up that most people would want the medal and hat, so an opt out would be more efficient. So that’s what we did. I think for those people we just sent them the bib, but it seemed like there was a pretty high percentage of people who opted out. We did it again last year, to opt out of the Turkey Trot hat and I think it was ten percent of people who chose to opt out, which is great because if you’re forcing someone to take a hat and they don’t want it, there’s a good chance that that’s going to end up in landfill and the hat’s covered in plastic and it’s more cost to the club. That feels pretty good, just doing something small. Ten percent of Turkey Trot is 250 people, so in our scale of things it’s a pretty significant number. I would love to find other ways in my race committee role to start trends to make races less wasteful.
R: Thanks so much for talking with me and walking with me.
Of course, thank you for walking with me.
Interviewee: Danielle Fagenblat
Interview by: Rachael DePalma (she/her)
Photo by: Linda Chan (she/her)
Edited by: Linda Chan
Produced by: Rachael DePalma
PPTC is a diverse and supportive team. We want to celebrate the diversity of our club and membership. We welcome and encourage everyone to share their stories with us.