Founder’s Newsletter: Seeing the Loop Through Tony’s Eyes

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Every time I started to compose a note to send to you the words “The World is too much with us” (from the Wordsworth poem) came to mind. So I revisited the poem to try and figure out what it had to do with the Loop. Here are my thoughts.

Rather than merely a challenging trail race, I now see the Leatherman’s Loop more as “a celebratory gathering in nature which includes trail running.” It took thirty years to get to that point and it continues to evolve. From a fairly conventional trail race (with a somewhat unique course) that attracted hundreds of runners into an “event” that attracts thousands. Why did this happen?

I believe that it happened because the world that is “too much with us” can be left behind for one spring morning every year. A brief respite from all of the business in our lives. As a poet working in the Romantic tradition, Wordsworth was sounding an alarm and calling us back to our natural place. He says that in “getting and spending, we lay waste our powers” and that “Little we see in nature that is ours”. He follows with “We have given our hearts away.”

So come to the “Rez.” with an open heart and mind and a determination to help fuel the beautiful spirit of the Loop. Take a couple of minutes to watch the video that is linked below. It is the best race preparation advice that I have to offer.

Blessings to all,

              …Tony

Further reading in the Founder’s Newsletter series, published at uncertain dates with a flexible schedule not known in advance…

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