Letter from the PresidentDear Fellow Indy Runners,

This is my first newsletter as President of Indy Runners. I’m super excited to be taking over Indiana’s best running club! Former President Leslie Bonacker did a fantastic job and left the club in great shape. It will be tough to fill her shoes. Thank you, Leslie, for everything you have done and will continue to do for Indy Runners.

For those of you who do not know me, here is a brief history of my time with Indy Runners. Since I moved to Indianapolis in 2008, I have felt a deep connection to the running community. Joining the Indy Runners board was a way I felt I could give back a little of the joy all of you have brought to me over the years. My first position on the board was as Membership Director from 2014-2017. In 2015 I added Vice President to my responsibilities, and in June of this year I took over as President. In addition to my responsibilities as President, I will be taking over as Race Di-rector for the Groundhog 7 this upcoming February. If none of that is ringing any bells then maybe you know me as the guy who provides the bagels and coffee after the Saturday morning runs.

Going forward I want to help continue the growth of the club. We have some amazing members who are doing some incredible things. My mission is to shine a spotlight on them and help them succeed in any way I can. Here are a few upcoming projects that I am really excited about. (1) We have raised enough funds to put a water fountain on the Towpath and are moving into the next phase of the project. (2) We will be awarding the Erika Wells Memorial Scholarship, providing two area high school kids with $500 each for the second year in a row. (3) Indy Runners’ premier race, Sam Costa, will be celebrating its 49th anniversary on March 25, 2018 and the Groundhog 7 just keeps getting bigger and better every year.

On a final note, to all my friends at Indy Runners, thank you for your vote of confidence selecting me as your new President. For those of you that I do not know yet, please reach out to me at president@indyrunners.org and let me know your thoughts on how we can continue to make this the best running club in Indiana!

More info on our club runs, walks, races and social events online at www.indyrunners.org

footprints NewsletterForIndyrunners,walkers&racers

Fall2017

We Want to hear from you! Tell us about your latest race & we’ll publish it our next issue. Submit all copy and photos to newsletter@indyrunners.org.

I’m super excited to be taking over Indiana’s best running club!

Jesse

Partnerships available. Visit www.indyrunners.org for more information.Or send an email to our president Leslie Teskey Bonacker at president@indyrunners.org.

A big thanks to our sponsors!

Jesse Davis Indy Runners; President

Often when we hear advice on running injury free, it starts out with the old adage of “listening to our bodies”. Which is great advice. But what does it actually mean? And what are we supposed to do with the information we gather by listening? What is a big deal and what can we largely ignore? Let’s explore a bit.

If we are training our bodies beyond what they have done in the past, we are going to experi-ence some aches and pains and soreness along the way. That’s just the way it works. The most com-mon aches we will experience are “soreness” after a run, or the next morning. We can think of this as our body’s acknowledgement of the work we’ve done, and a cue that it is rebuilding itself. Typically this lasts just a few hours the fol-lowing day and works its way out. We can run again on this type of soreness, but best to take it easy on a day following a harder day that produced this soreness – long run, workout, hills, etc.

Sometimes we will have little pains pop up during a run itself. This is where the listening comes in – maybe we can run through it, may-be we should stop and be smart and not run ourselves into a bigger injury. “Tightness” in a muscle group (Hamstrings maybe? Calf?) will come on gradually, sometimes

level off or even go away as we go. Pain that is worsening will eventu-ally force us to change our stride, maybe just subtly. If we notice this happening, this is a good time to back things down and treat things properly. Best not to let one potentially small thing lead to an-other or another potentially larger thing that could derail our training.

Sharp stabbing pains should not be ignored, run through, or compen-sated for. Sharp pains and limping are our bodies last ditch efforts to get our attention. We should definitely listen to them.

Another plug here for having a proper base before launching to longer racing. If we are confident in our base, we shouldn’t worry about taking an extra day or two to recover from something pop-ping up. A key to any good training program is flexibility – sometimes we have good days, sometimes we have bad days (sometimes, it rains). We shouldn’t panic about taking a few days to let a potential

injury calm down if we have built a solid base on which we are loading this training volume.

This worry about “getting behind” is one element that will often keep us from acting prudently on what our body is telling us. It is certainly common for me to have patients that had pain coming on for several weeks before it really blew up on them. And of course they “heard” their body talking to them, they just didn’t really “listen”.

A subtle change in our progres-sion with a few days down with proper treatment can keep a small problem from blowing up. Of course, if pains are persisting, we might need to consult one of our friendly sports medicine profes-sionals. Rest assured, our job is not to tell you to stop, but to find a way for you to smartly continue so that you can meet your goals in as healthy way as possible.

Hope that makes sense. Please feel free to write with any ques-tions you might have about things popping up as we move through our training season. medical@indyrunners.org.

Listening to Our Bodies

Brian Schuetter, PT, DPT, OCS

Indy Runners Medical Liaison; Coordinator, Saturday runs and Summer/Fall Training Program

Best not to let one potentially small thing lead to another or another potentially larger thing that could derail our training.

Jesse

The 2017 Indy Racers competition is heating up! In just 10 events, our members have raced a total of 9,735 miles!

With four remaining events in our 2017 Grand Prix Challenge, Brian Rayl has taken the lead, followed closely by Jen Knife and Denton McClintic:

October 5 : Ripple Effect: 5k

October 7 : Indianapolis Half Marathon : 13.1 miles, 5k

November 4 : CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon : 26.2 miles, 13.1 miles, 5k

November 23 : Drumstick Dash : 2.75 miles, 4.5 miles

View the interactive leaderboard and Indy Racers info @ http://indyrunners.org/view-content.aspx?sectionID=106

Indy Runners is proud to announce that for a second year in a row, they have awarded two $500.00 scholar-ships to local high school graduates moving on to college in the fall.

This year’s recipients are Jean Car-son and William Reid who ran both cross country and track for Law-rence North High School.

Jean is enrolled at IUPUI, and Will is moving on to studies at The Univer-sity of Indianapolis.

The Indy Runners Board chooses the recipients based on the criteria that the applicants be involved in running either for their high school or by participating in local races of varying distances. Other criteria are

involvement in extracurricular activi-ties that involve the community, and a high GPA. The applicants have to submit an essay as well on how the sport of running has impacted their lives.

Jean’s essay was inspiring as she wrote about the story of suffering from a hip avulsion, which is the tearing of muscle away from the bone. She suffered that injury less than two weeks before her first ever State Meet. She fought her way back through rehab and was “reborn with a new internal hard drive” she states. Now she has been offered a spot on an NCAA Division 1 roster.

Will writes that “running is a life-style” and that he runs “because

running is what makes me, me”. Will also realizes that “running takes commitment, a good attitude, team-work and sacrifice”. He states that “I decided to join the cross country team and that was the day that changed my life”. “Cross country has helped me become more patient, and I’ve learned that with time and hard work the results I’m looking for will eventually come”.

This is the first year Indy Runners has awarded the scholarships under the newly renamed Erika Well Me-morial Scholarship Program.

The scholarship program will re-sume by March 1st of 2018, and ap-plications will be accepted through June 1st 2018.

Erika Wells Memorial Scholarship Recipients AwardedBy Kevin Caraher

A Twist on Our Saturday Morning Routine

What started as a celebration of Indy Runners’ 35th birth-day four years ago has turned into an annual tradition - the 35K-ish relay on the Canal. But this isn’t your typical relay. Runners and walkers registered individually rather than as a team. Instead of batons, teams handed off with a high-five.

To encourage camaraderie and a non-competitive atmo-sphere, teams were assigned based on runners’ submitted comfortable-5K paces, and all teams were projected to finish

together after completing a total of 6 laps – 2 per runner - around the Canal.

The looped course allowed runners to see and cheer for each other mid-loop and celebrate again as they started and finished a lap. No race would be complete without food, so in addition to the usual snacks at the ACSM Garden, the crew headed over to Burgerhaus to enjoy tasty treats, good conversation and – of course – air conditioning.

Special thanks to ACSM for the use of the garden space; to Jesse Davis for coordinating team assignments; to Brian Schuetter for the crazy idea and to everyone who took part in the 4th annual “Ish” Relay on the Canal.

Next up on the Special Events Calendar: Run the Monon.

This annual event marks the last long run of the fall training season. Runners hop on school busses for a ride to Carmel (marathoners) or Broad Ripple (half marathoners) and run 20 or 11 miles, respectively, back into downtown Indy where we come together for a picnic lunch at the ACSM Garden. Watch the weekly emails, Face-book and Twitter for registration information.

This year’s recipients are Jean Carson and William Reid

Why did YOU join/renew your membership with Indy Runners?I’m just starting as a runner, and wanted some additional support. My friend recommended finding a group like this, so here I am! –Jessica

The past three years I’ve been really focused on being a volunteer with Back on My Feet although I have main-tained my Indy Runners membership. I renewed this year and volunteered at the Groundhog 7 just to give back to the larger Indy running community. I started running in my late 30’s and still have so much to learn - I want to tap the collective intelligence and experience of Indy Runners - always a warm and welcoming group to run with! Thanks! –Peter

I really like the fact that there are many weekly runs on the calendar. The fact that they happen all of the time gives me a chance to always have somebody to run with. –George

Mayor Joe Joins Indy Runners for Global Running DayRunners around the city took to the streets on Wednesday, June 7 to mark Global Running Day, including at Indy Runners’ weekly run from the Athenaeum YMCA. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett kicked off the evening by pro-claiming the day Running Day in the City of Indianapolis and presenting a formal proclamation to the club.

In return, RRCA State Representative and Indy Runners member Rose Scovel presented the mayor with the 2016 RRCA Outstanding Runner Friendly Community of the Year award. Being named a Runner Friendly Community reflected the joint commitment from businesses, organizations, individuals and government to support running and walking locally.

After brief remarks and a quick photo, 2- and 4-legged runners enjoyed a few miles and lots of conversation along the Cultural Trail, the Canal and White River State Park before taking part in another Wednesday run tradition: a post-run social.

Our members also took part in group runs in Broad Ripple, Carmel, Fishers, Plainfield, Ft. Harrison and other favorite spots.

Thank you to the Mayor, Visit Indy, Indy Runners’ members and Board, Carmel Road Racing Group and Beyond Monumental for their contributions to the Runner Friendly Community nomination and award.

Jesse DavisPresident

Andrea Sneden Legal Counsel

Brian SchuetterMedical Liaison

Kelby Laughner Treasurer

Brian CakeWebmaster

Tom Ellefson Butler Volunteer

Coordinator

Joann ChambersSecretary

Dan HayIndy Racers

Sara SchulzGiving Back Coordinator

Leslie Teskey Bonacker

Sponsorships

Terry TownsendSam Costa

Race Director

Jaimee BiddleGiving Back Coordinator

Tracy Snider Social Director

Kevin CaraherClub Historian

Carole MillerIndy Walkers

Lead

Caitlin DempseySocial Director

TrenaRoudebush

VP/Communications

Sue MurrayIndy Walkers

Lead

Introducing Your 2017-2018 Indy Runners Board Members

To contact any of our board members, go to www.indyrunners.org and click on “About/Contact Us”.