THIS SATURDAY AT-A-GLANCE
Mileage: 14
*download revised training schedule for 2009 LA Marathon at www.RunVentura.com
December Volunteers:
Set-up – Denise Ellison (Dec. 6), Mira Reverente (Dec. 13, 20 & 27)
Breakdown – June Muller (Dec. 6, 13 & 27), Naomi Kress
Supplies – Tom McKiernan, Mike Miskel
Aid station/s – Tom Santangelo
TRAINING CORNER
By George Arita, Training Committee Chair
Georgerunvta@aol.com
LSD Run
We’re still in our holding pattern for another month (please be patient) – good news for me: I’m starting my running comeback so I might be able to join all of you at LAM in May. Saturday’s LSD is for 14 miles, 7 out and 7 back. We will have one water station near the turnaround to refill your water bottles.
Weather
The forecast is for cold weather on the weekend but hopefully no rain. Watch the latest weather reports and dress accordingly. The heavy rains earlier in the week might have caused mud to pile up at the usual places along the course. Avoid running through the mud as best you can.
Also the winter storms might initiate high surf. Coupled with high tides, large waves might come over the seawall and cause sea water to accumulate on PCH. Salt water is not good for running shoes (any kind of shoes for that matter), so do your best to run around the puddles. But be careful of the south bound traffic on PCH if you run in the traffic lane to avoid the puddles.
Another New Race
The Dole Great Race of Agoura added the Pacific Half Marathon to their 5K and 10K list for March 28, 2009. Information: www.greatraceofagourahills.com .
Essay: Eco-Mindedness
Back in the 1960s, when I was in grad school at UCSB, the keyword was “Ecology.” From the 1970s through the early 2000s, during my tenure at Ventura College, the term became “Environmental Awareness.” Today, the word is “Green.”
Although the terminology has changed, the concept is still the same: We must be aware of and do our best to lessen our impact on the world’s environment. Every living thing, be it microbe, plant or animal, consumes resources from, and releases wastes to, the environment. However because of the Balance of Nature, all resources come from other organisms and all wastes are consumed by other organisms. Should any group of living things consume more resources than is available in the environment, their numbers eventually become reduced as a result of the resource limitation.
We humans, early in our history, were also subjected to these rules of Nature. However, because of our manipulative hands and our well-developed brain, we were able to develop a technology that enabled us to free ourselves from these rules. The Balance of Nature no longer applied to humans. As a result, we were able to quickly increase our numbers (there are almost 7 billion of us today!), consume all the resources we needed or wanted, and produce as much waste with no regards to consequences. Well folks, those days are over.
At VC, I wanted my students to be aware of these environmental issues. On the issue of trash, I pointed out to my classes that the solid wastes (trash) that we generated mostly ended up at a landfill. A landfill eventually reaches its capacity (usually in about 20 years). It is then covered with soil and a new landfill must be located. There is only so much land area available for landfills.
A temporary solution to this problem, I felt, was to reduce the amount of trash that we produced. To this end, I had my classes evaluate their weekly household trash production in terms of amount (weight) and kinds of materials (paper, glass, metals, plastics, etc.). Then I asked them to suggest means by which they could reduce the amount of each item going to the local landfill. After analyzing their reports, I presented the numbers back to the classes and gave them my recommendations for reducing their household trash production.
The State government, in 1990, finally saw the light and passed a bill that required all counties, cities and municipalities to develop programs to reduce the trash headed for the landfills by 50% by the year 2000. This is the reason why most of us today have curbside pickup of recyclables, green wastes and trash. But still, to my disappointment, many households fail to earnestly participate in this waste-reduction program. How about your household?
Now what has the above presentation got to do with running and racing? We runners and walkers consume a lot of resources and generate a lot of wastes in performing our activities. Everything from our running apparel (including shoes) to our performance nutrients to our driving to and from running venues puts a heavy toll on our resources and landfills. We at Run Ventura are trying to mitigate our impact by asking our members to make some sacrifices, such as carrying our own bottles or cups for water and sports drink, depositing our post-run wastes into the appropriate boxes (compost, recycle or trash) for proper disposal, and reading our newsletters electronically.
We all must do our part today for the sake of our children, their children and their children, and so on.
NEEDED: JANUARY VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for a few people to help us out in January. Yes, that’s next month!
We are in need of a:
*Purchaser – preferably someone with a Costco membership card; to purchase bananas
*Bagel Pick-up person – can pick up bagels from Noah’s Bagels in Camarillo or Ventura
*Plus the usual set-up, breakdown and water station people….
Contact: Naomi Kress at nukress@yahoo.com if you have any questions or would like to volunteer
CLUB NEWS
*There is a Run Ventura group on Facebook that everyone is welcome to join. You can post pictures, add events, share race stories or just stay in touch with the group. Join now!
*Birthday greetings
Dec. 9 – Eduardo
*Anniversary greetings
Dec. 26 – George and Harriett (44th!!!)
Dec. 30 – Mira and Jimbo (12th)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!
Mileage: 14
*download revised training schedule for 2009 LA Marathon at www.RunVentura.com
December Volunteers:
Set-up – Denise Ellison (Dec. 6), Mira Reverente (Dec. 13, 20 & 27)
Breakdown – June Muller (Dec. 6, 13 & 27), Naomi Kress
Supplies – Tom McKiernan, Mike Miskel
Aid station/s – Tom Santangelo
TRAINING CORNER
By George Arita, Training Committee Chair
Georgerunvta@aol.com
LSD Run
We’re still in our holding pattern for another month (please be patient) – good news for me: I’m starting my running comeback so I might be able to join all of you at LAM in May. Saturday’s LSD is for 14 miles, 7 out and 7 back. We will have one water station near the turnaround to refill your water bottles.
Weather
The forecast is for cold weather on the weekend but hopefully no rain. Watch the latest weather reports and dress accordingly. The heavy rains earlier in the week might have caused mud to pile up at the usual places along the course. Avoid running through the mud as best you can.
Also the winter storms might initiate high surf. Coupled with high tides, large waves might come over the seawall and cause sea water to accumulate on PCH. Salt water is not good for running shoes (any kind of shoes for that matter), so do your best to run around the puddles. But be careful of the south bound traffic on PCH if you run in the traffic lane to avoid the puddles.
Another New Race
The Dole Great Race of Agoura added the Pacific Half Marathon to their 5K and 10K list for March 28, 2009. Information: www.greatraceofagourahills.com .
Essay: Eco-Mindedness
Back in the 1960s, when I was in grad school at UCSB, the keyword was “Ecology.” From the 1970s through the early 2000s, during my tenure at Ventura College, the term became “Environmental Awareness.” Today, the word is “Green.”
Although the terminology has changed, the concept is still the same: We must be aware of and do our best to lessen our impact on the world’s environment. Every living thing, be it microbe, plant or animal, consumes resources from, and releases wastes to, the environment. However because of the Balance of Nature, all resources come from other organisms and all wastes are consumed by other organisms. Should any group of living things consume more resources than is available in the environment, their numbers eventually become reduced as a result of the resource limitation.
We humans, early in our history, were also subjected to these rules of Nature. However, because of our manipulative hands and our well-developed brain, we were able to develop a technology that enabled us to free ourselves from these rules. The Balance of Nature no longer applied to humans. As a result, we were able to quickly increase our numbers (there are almost 7 billion of us today!), consume all the resources we needed or wanted, and produce as much waste with no regards to consequences. Well folks, those days are over.
At VC, I wanted my students to be aware of these environmental issues. On the issue of trash, I pointed out to my classes that the solid wastes (trash) that we generated mostly ended up at a landfill. A landfill eventually reaches its capacity (usually in about 20 years). It is then covered with soil and a new landfill must be located. There is only so much land area available for landfills.
A temporary solution to this problem, I felt, was to reduce the amount of trash that we produced. To this end, I had my classes evaluate their weekly household trash production in terms of amount (weight) and kinds of materials (paper, glass, metals, plastics, etc.). Then I asked them to suggest means by which they could reduce the amount of each item going to the local landfill. After analyzing their reports, I presented the numbers back to the classes and gave them my recommendations for reducing their household trash production.
The State government, in 1990, finally saw the light and passed a bill that required all counties, cities and municipalities to develop programs to reduce the trash headed for the landfills by 50% by the year 2000. This is the reason why most of us today have curbside pickup of recyclables, green wastes and trash. But still, to my disappointment, many households fail to earnestly participate in this waste-reduction program. How about your household?
Now what has the above presentation got to do with running and racing? We runners and walkers consume a lot of resources and generate a lot of wastes in performing our activities. Everything from our running apparel (including shoes) to our performance nutrients to our driving to and from running venues puts a heavy toll on our resources and landfills. We at Run Ventura are trying to mitigate our impact by asking our members to make some sacrifices, such as carrying our own bottles or cups for water and sports drink, depositing our post-run wastes into the appropriate boxes (compost, recycle or trash) for proper disposal, and reading our newsletters electronically.
We all must do our part today for the sake of our children, their children and their children, and so on.
NEEDED: JANUARY VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for a few people to help us out in January. Yes, that’s next month!
We are in need of a:
*Purchaser – preferably someone with a Costco membership card; to purchase bananas
*Bagel Pick-up person – can pick up bagels from Noah’s Bagels in Camarillo or Ventura
*Plus the usual set-up, breakdown and water station people….
Contact: Naomi Kress at nukress@yahoo.com if you have any questions or would like to volunteer
CLUB NEWS
*There is a Run Ventura group on Facebook that everyone is welcome to join. You can post pictures, add events, share race stories or just stay in touch with the group. Join now!
*Birthday greetings
Dec. 9 – Eduardo
*Anniversary greetings
Dec. 26 – George and Harriett (44th!!!)
Dec. 30 – Mira and Jimbo (12th)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!
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