Fall 2016 Draft 3
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ARTICLE<br />
WE are wrapping up <strong>2016</strong> about as fast as we’ll be wrapping<br />
holiday gifts in less than a month. Our next newsletter<br />
will be dated 2017, and so we spend this issue on a full recap<br />
of the fall racing calendar and cataloging our <strong>2016</strong> accomplishments<br />
as runners—and in life. Since so many club members<br />
and friends and even our county executive have<br />
graciously shared the highlights of their personal running<br />
histories for all to peruse, I want to take the opportunity to<br />
share my greatest accomplishment as a runner right here.<br />
Like many of you, I have been blessed and cursed with a lot<br />
of energy and a strong drive to achieve. With those qualities<br />
comes a high-strung, verging-on-type-A disposition that—at<br />
least in my case—can lead to a desire to shut off one’s brain<br />
in order to get a break every now and then. That said, my<br />
greatest accomplishment as a runner is discovering running<br />
and implementing it to my advantage to produce a state of<br />
balance, perspective, and calm that I can take refuge in when<br />
the need arises. I took the fall racing season off altogether<br />
this year, and instead of feeling as though I missed out on<br />
something important, my relationship with running feels<br />
renewed and rejuvenated and as committed as ever.<br />
Running for fun and to heal reminded me of why I run in the<br />
first place. I run because I am always looking to recapture<br />
what happens in my mind and my body when I run. The<br />
internal and external chaos melts away with each footfall on<br />
the pavement. I breathe. I observe nature. I see coyotes and<br />
bald eagles and the majesty of our Hudson Valley landscape,<br />
and I slowly stop fretting about muscling my way through<br />
my to-do list and whether or not I’m doing a good job as a<br />
mother, a sister, a wife, a friend, a daughter, an editor, an<br />
educator, a volunteer, a neighbor—the list goes on. A few<br />
miles in, my mind is quiet, and there is just my heart beating<br />
and the sound of my footsteps and the sensation of my chest<br />
rising and falling with each breath. In that moment, I find<br />
perspective; only that moment matters, and when the run has<br />
ended, I can take that special moment of peace and wisdom<br />
with me back into the messy discord of life, which is full of<br />
many moments over which I have no control. Now THAT is<br />
something to be thankful for.<br />
In closing, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to<br />
the MHRRC newsletter. I also want to offer up a special<br />
shout-out to Polly Sparling for her<br />
phenomenal proofreading. Every<br />
issue, we inevitably endeavor to<br />
incorporate last-minute submissions,<br />
and Polly has earned yet<br />
another PR for her turnaround<br />
time. Her editorial eye far surpasses<br />
the scope of my own, and I want<br />
to thank her for being so generous<br />
with her time and talent and especially<br />
for making all of my clunky<br />
sentences roll off the tongue.<br />
Happy holidays! See you in 2017!<br />
Margaret<br />
Wentworth<br />
newsletter@<br />
mhrrc.org<br />
Contributors<br />
BD<br />
MD<br />
JF<br />
JG<br />
SO<br />
DS<br />
MW<br />
Beverly<br />
DeAngelis<br />
Meghan<br />
Dillon-Mellen<br />
Justin<br />
Feldman<br />
Janet<br />
Geary<br />
Susanne<br />
O‘Neil<br />
Deborah<br />
Schwartz<br />
Margaret<br />
Wentworth<br />
THE MID-HUDSON ROAD RUNNER PAGE 4
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