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RUNNING CLUB UPDATE

El Presidente Matt Riffle

It’s race week! Business as usual this Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., but we will be off Saturday to participate in Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend.This race, formerly the Elby’s Big Boy Classic 20k, has been a staple of the Wheeling running community for nearly 50 years. Not your standard local road race, its highly challenging course, prize money and proud history attracted some of the best American and international runners to the streets of Wheeling. There are far too many legendary runners to name them all, but here are a few that deserve our attention:

Joan Benoit Samuelson is arguably the most important, famous, and respected marathon runner in American history. Samuelson took runner up in the 1981 Elby’s Distance Race and then went on to become the first women’s marathon champion in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Her reps refuse to take my calls, but I feel confident reporting that she would have traded in that Olympic Gold for a Wheeling one. Samuelson’s Olympic victory, as well as first place finishes in World Majors of Boston & New York put American distance running on the map and majorly contributed to the running boom of the 1970’s & 1980’s.

Two of the men who most heavily contributed to that running boom - Frank Shorter & Bill Rodgers - also contributed in a unique way to the early success of the Elby’s Distance Race. Winning nearly every race a runner could dream about, Shorter won gold and silver medals at the 1972 & 1976 Olympic marathons and is the only American athlete with two Olympic marathon medals. Rodgers, meanwhile, dominated American distance running in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, winning both the New York City and Boston Marathons four times each and setting multiple American records. A great history of the race as well as insight as to how Shorter & Rodgers contributed can be found here: The Elby's Empire, Part 5​

Whether you're racing for a top finish, aiming for your course best time, or simply trying to cross the finish line, know that you are following in the footsteps of some of the best runners in history. Wheeling takes pride in hosting one of the most challenging courses in the country. It is a reflection of our City’s toughness and resilience. It is a reminder that we are capable of being on the National stage. Even if you aren’t a runner, I encourage you to cheer along from the sidelines. The community support at the top of 29th street hill, along National Road and at the finish line are a major part of what makes this race so special. There’s no community quite like the running community.

See you at the finish line.

From Dan

I wanted to take a minute to share some of important things I've learned form the book I'm listening to.

In case you haven't noticed, we're living in the middle of a vast emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis that is brutalizing and isolating. Yikes.

• From 1999 to 2019 - Suicide rates are up 33%
• The percentage of Americans who said they have no close friends has quadrupled.
• 54% of Americans reported that no one knows them well.
• 36% of Americans said they felt lonely frequently or almost all the time - including 61% of young adults and 51% of young mothers.
• In 2013 we spent 6.5 hours a week with friends. In 2021 we were spending 2.75 hours a week with friends.

There has been a catastrophic decline in relationships. It just so happens that the thing we need most is relationships. And what do you know, the thing we suck at most is relationships.

When people feel unseen, the shut down socially. They become afraid of the the thing they need most - intimacy with other people. Loneliness makes things cloudy and unclear - it becomes a deceiving filter and makes us more vulnerable to rejection.

When will feel invisible, we fall to pieces. This can turn into bitterness, feelings of being treated unjustly, and eventually a personality of meanness. Do we see meanness in our society? Nah, haven't noticed.

This social breakdown is a crisis of distrust. Two generations ago, nearly 60% of people said strangers could be trusted. By 2014, only 33% did. Only 19% of millennials thought so.

You know some of the reasons why:

• Social Media
• Widening Inequality
• Declining Participation in Community Life
• Declining Spiritual Life
• Rising Populism and Bigotry
• Vicious Demagoguery of regular people from elites and news media

In his book How to Know a Person, the author David Brooks argues there's a deeper issue. But what's deeper?

His theory is that as society we have failed for 50 years to teach the skills and cultivate the desire teach one another with kindness, generosity and respect.

In 1966, nearly 90% of people said their highest goal was to develop a philosophy of life.

In 2018, the Pew Research Center asked Americans what gives them meaning. Only 7% said helping other people. Only 11% said learning was a source of meaning.

Ways we can fix this:

1. Restrain the selfishness that lives within us all.
2. Help others find purpose.
3. Exemplify and constantly improve your own basic emotional skills so you can be kinder, more generous, and respectful.

We ask that you launch your campaign to heal our society at Waterfront Hall this week. And more to come on this book in the weeks to come.

With kindness, generosity, and respect,

Dan

Sources:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40070350/#:~:text=Results%3A%20Between%201999%20and%202019,increases%20affected%20nearly%20all%20groups.
​​https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-state-of-american-friendship-change-challenges-and-loss/
​​https://fortune.com/2017/08/07/loneliness-public-health/
​​https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/11/20/where-americans-find-meaning-in-life/​

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