Hello UVRC Fam New and Old!

As I mentioned in the News and Announcements, we are up to over 300 members (303 to be precise)! This is incredible and I sincerely hope I get to meet you all! I imagine a good portion of you might be new to the club and might be feeling a little lost. We don’t really do a new member orientation since people can join at any time so in lieu of that I wanted to do a quick primer for the Upper Valley Running Club that you are now a part of. What we do and what we can do for you!

Who We Are

The Upper Valley Running Club is a community lead running club committed to supporting running and running-related activities as part of a healthy lifestyle in the Upper Valley. The running club is organized and orchestrated by a volunteer Board which you can learn more about in our previous newsletter article. I, Robert (RJ) Jones, am proud to serve as the current President of the UVRC though I would be remiss if I did not mention that I am simply carrying on a legacy that was started and maintained by my predecessors (many of whom are still in the club!)

As I mentioned we are 303 members strong and growing! We come from diverse backgrounds and make up a lovely spectrum of humans. Check out the stats in the attached graphics; our mean age of club members is 41, we come from all over (but mostly Leb and Hanover), and we have an almost even split between male-identifying and female-identifying members (we do not have an option outside of the binary yet, but we’ll get there!). Most importantly we all have a shared passion for running and the running community!

UVRC Racing

We also compete in local races; The New Hampshire Grand Prix, and we host our local racing series, The Upper Valley Racing Series. The New Hampshire Grand Prix is a road racing series with multiple races across the Granite State. We compete against the other NH running clubs like the Gate City Striders and the Greater Derry Track Club to be the #1 club in NH! Our Upper Valley Racing Series is a showcase of local races across the Upper Valley that include both roads and trails. If you participate and complete the series you are eligible to win prizes and entry into the highly competitive Covered Bridges Half Marathon!

Our Activities

Our main schedule of activities includes the following:

Tuesday Night Track (TNT)

Every Tuesday, rain or shine, we meet at a local track (Hanover High School or Dartmouth, right now it is Hanover) at 5:30 for a workout planned by one of our coaches. The workouts are typically distance based and our coaches break down the workouts to different running levels based on your weekly mileage. For example; this week we did 1000-meter repeats with a 400-meter rest, which is two and a half laps around the track at our challenge pace (the pace at which you are huffing and puffing but you can maintain it) and then one lap at a rest pace. People who typically get in 20 miles a week did this 3 times, 20-30 miles a week did it 5 times, and over 40 miles a week around 7 times. But these are guidelines! You can do as much or as little as you want. We break into pace groups so we can find camaraderie and also it makes it more enjoyable to run, and the more people that come, the more pace groups we have! The workout is open to all and we will happily explain anything that doesn’t make sense!

ALSO, the second Tuesday of every month the club sponsors a pizza night at the Brick and Brew in Hanover! After TNT we head over and hang out as a club and eat free pizza! The next one will be on 13 June (around 630pm if you can’t make the workout but want to come to hang).

Thursday Night Trails

We have been partnering with our sister club The Upper Valley Trail Runners to also offer trail runs on one of the many local trails we have available! These are meant to be entry-level group trail runs with no drop i.e. no one gets left behind to find their way in the wilderness (unless they want to). The trail leaders are also great at navigating their way to little hidden gems in the trail systems so you’re always in for a treat! They meet at 530 at a trailhead (TBD weekly) on Thursday evenings but have done Boston Lot, Velvet Rocks, and Parcel 5 in the past as examples.

Saturday Morning Group Runs

On the more social-run side, we meet on Saturday mornings in front of Omer and Bob’s in Lebanon for a group run. This is a great time to meet and talk to other members while you run. We’ll organize into groups based on the routes, mileage, and paces people are interested in doing and split. Again the more people that come, the more diversity of pace groups and mileage we’ll have. Afterwards, we typically go to Lucky’s Coffee Shop for breakfast and treats!

Couch to 5K

If you’re just getting into running and are working on building your base we also have an incredible Couch to 5K program designed to help you gradually build up your running chops over 12 weeks and finish with a 5K. This program is offered seasonally but a great majority of the members of the program continue to meet in the off-season to maintain the progress they’ve built over the program. We are midway through our Spring season but there will be a Fall season program soon after! The program is led by a team of coaches and volunteers and is designed to build endurance across the spectrum; whether you are at a stage where you are mainly walking, doing a mix of walking and running, or predominantly running!

What Your Membership Gets You

• Omer & Bob’s here in Lebanon, NH, has been a strong supporter of the club since its beginning. We meet there on Saturday mornings for group runs. They also provide members with 15% off shoes, apparel, & other running-related gear discounts.
• We also have a 10% discount with Stateline Sports in West Lebanon, NH and they can offer 10% discount on all regular-priced running shoes, socks, insoles, and running accessories.
• A monthly newsletter featuring articles written by club members and board members. If you would like to share an article you can visit here for newsletter article guidelines and then send an e-mail to newsletter@uppervalleyrunningclub.org.
• We also have partnerships with some of the local athletic facilities such as the CCBA, UVAC, and Dartmouth Gym and can get discounted memberships! Please reach out to find out more!

We are an active, living, and breathing club so we’re always open to new ideas and changes to help make the club better! You can always reach out to contact@uppervalleyrunningclub.org if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hi (I love those messages). Especially if you are new to the club and maybe even new to the area, drop us a line so we can meet and you can get properly brought into the club! Again welcome and I hope to see you around!

-RJ (UVRC President)