This issue of the UVRC newsletter represents a farewell of sorts. Amanda Kievet and I have been editors of the newsletter since November 2018 (with a big assist from Lauro Petto during that period). We’ll be stepping down as of this issue, but we’ve got a great team coming in to take the reins. Nicole Losavio, Anne Farrell, and Joffrey Peters are going to be doing the newsletter assembly, and Hannah Taska and Robert “RJ” Jones are taking over on article collection. And never fear, myself and Amanda are still around for backup if needed.

So, with that in mind, I had the thought to reminisce about the UVRC newsletter and its history. Thanks Gramps! (Note: not actually a grandparent yet; my kids are still a little young for that.) You can find the archive of the UVRC newsletter here if you want to look back, as well:

https://uppervalleyrunningclub.org/all-newsletters

The older issues are in PDF, and not quite as pretty and formatted as the newer issues, but still there. Actually now that I look closer, two issues, January and February 2012 aren’t actually on the website, but I’ve got them on my hard drive. Better upload those soon before I forget!

UVRC was formed in early 2011, coming out of an existing but disorganized running community. One of our early goals was to have a newsletter, but we didn’t actually get going until January 2012. Steve Andrews and myself served as the first newsletter editors, with myself doing article collection and Steve putting the newsletter together. Steve was really passionate about getting the newsletter up, as he was previously in a running club that really affected him. He felt like a good newsletter really gave a running club a personal touch. Great work Steve!

One thing that plagues looking back on newsletter history is the lack of much commentary or attribution. So, in November 2012, with no announcement, we switched from a PDF format to just publishing the newsletter as a WordPress article. (These old newsletters still show up as PDFs in our current website). There is no tagline of who edited the newsletter, but it seems to still be myself and Steve Andrews.

In January 2013, I became president of the UVRC and around then, I seem to have stopped co-editing the newsletter (with no announcement in the newsletter). Steve was then solo editor for around a year.

In April 2014 Steve announced that he was stepping down as editor, in the interest of balance in his life. Being solo editor of the newsletter takes a toll on folks, and we’ve always done better as a club, when it is a shared task. Steve moved to Colorado some time after that and is no longer in the club, but deserves a ton of credit for the newsletter in those early years.

At this point, the newsletter went on hiatus for a little over a year. In July 2015 the newsletter returned with a vengeance, with Susannah Gravel (then Colby) as editor. Dave Sullivan became involved soon after that as well, sadly not noted anywhere _in_ the newsletter. Susannah put in a good two years as editor, and did a great job. However, the toll of solo editing eventually got to her, ending that era of newsletter with the April 2017 issue.

In June 2017, a familiar face returned to edit the newsletter after we skipped one month. The new editor, same as the old editor, was myself. This time, I led the newsletter article off indicating that I was taking over, and announcing plans for such things as “Letter from a Board Member”, “Ask the Coaches”, and “Things I See when I am Running.” In December 2017, Laura Petto came on as co-editor, as we took turns collecting articles and doing actual newsletter assembly.

November 2018 is the first mention I can find of Amanda Kievet coming in to help with the newsletter. An expert web developer, we put her to work on newsletter assembly, while Laura and I continued to do article collection. Towards the end of 2019, Laura moved (part time) out of the area, and stepped down from her role. The three of us put together some good newsletters during that time!

At this point, starting 2020, Amanda and I were feeling a bit stale and hoping to recruit some new helpers. Maybe even step down from our role altogether. And then, pow! Pandemic! We decided that recruiting folks to help with a newsletter, for a running club that wasn’t meeting in person, was a tall order. So, to keep our community together, we decided to keep the newsletter going through the pandemic, with the intention of finding some new folks when things were back to “normal”.

That brings us to the present. Maybe things aren’t as “normal” as we could hope, but we’ve got a good team coming in. I look forward to seeing what they do, and the new voices that come into the running club. Over the years, the newsletter has been a vital resource to our club. A way to get to know our fellow runners beyond, “How far do you want to run today?” Go UVRC!