[ARETE] Review of To Imogene

[Duncan Jamieson]

All
Please find below and attached Bruce Pratt's*To Imogene: A Flagstaff Love
Letter** One town’s long-distance romance with an iconic trail run. *Edited
by Myles Schrag and Julie Hammonds.
Thanks
Duncan

*To Imogene: A Flagstaff Love Letter*

*One town’s long-distance romance with an iconic trail run.*

Edited by Myles Schrag and Julie Hammonds

Soulstice Publishing LLC

2019 Flagstaff AZ

Reviewed by Bruce Pratt



*To Imogene: A Flagstaff Love Letter,* edited by Myles Schrag and Julie
Hammonds is a beautifully presented work of visual art and an inspiring
collection of personal essays and reminiscences by a group of Arizona
runners who share a unique relationship with the Imogene Pass Race—an
annual trail run that begins in Ouray Colorado at a point just below 8000
feet, climbs above 13,000 feet, then descends to 8700 feet at the finish in
Telluride. The book, unique in my experience, is well described by these
words from the frontispiece:

*This book was created to celebrate the Flagstaff running community through
the lens of our town’s unique relationship with the Imogene Pass Run. *



And a wide and telescopic lens it is—nearly 200 pages of text, photography,
and art skillfully imagined and contextualized to bring the reader as close
to the race as words and pictures can. (One caution, reading this book may
inspire carb-loading or a sudden urge to drive to Colorado)



*To Imogene* began with a call for stories and memories from Flagstaff
participants in the Imogene Pass Race, or IPR as it is known, in 2016 in
“High Country Running” Myles Schrag’s weekly column in the *Arizona Daily
Sun*, Flagstaff’s paper. Though he expected sufficient responses, he was
overwhelmed by the reaction, and the proposed book grew in scope and
purpose. The call also attracted an offer from Julie Hammonds to join the
project. Not only did she and Schrag garner ample anecdotes and tributes
detailing the almost mystical connection between Flagstaff’s running
community and the IPR but enhanced their effect by adding stunning art and
photography.



Though track and cross country coaches send their athletes out on runs
together, distance running is for most a solitary pursuit. This is because
the most talented and motivated runners chafe when forced to adhere to a
slower pace by the pack that does not challenge them. Yet in Flagstaff
distance running has become a more communal endeavor, as evidenced in this
collective narrative, which does not simply recount the running of the
race, but illuminates the joy of running, the importance of community, and
highlights the resilience of the human spirit. Flagstaff IPR runners
actively recruit friends to train to become part of this annual pilgrimage
to which they carpool, share rented condos and motel rooms, bring potluck
meals, and encourage their compatriots all the while maintaining a
competitive purpose and attitude. As a result, the reader is drawn again
and again into the lives of people they will recognize as being like their
own neighbors and friends.



*To Imogene* is about the willingness to face, and the benefits derived
from meeting, a stiff challenge. The IPR is not for the casual weekend
runner, and those who train for it do so with an intense commitment to
finishing. In fact, runners must reach the checkpoint at the top of the
pass by a certain time or retire from the race. Veteran Flagstaff runners
of all levels introduce those new to the race their best strategies and
alpine training practices, because they take great pride in having more
finishers than any other community. (In 2017, 151 runners from Flagstaff
finished the race as compared to 123 from Denver.  (Schrag and Hammonds 36)
Flagstaff’s 2017 population was 71,975, Denver’s more than 617,000.)



The race conditions can be brutal. The IPR has been run in intense heat and
through every form of precipitation, because, as anyone familiar with the
Rocky Mountains knows, even slight changes in altitude can cause wild
swings in the weather. As a result of the likelihood of cold and wet
conditions, all racers are required to carry certain gear with them, which
adds to the challenge. As noted, the racecourse rises nearly 5300 feet in
the ten miles between Ouray and the summit of the pass. For perspective, if
you ran from the lowest point in southeast Kansas located on the Verdigris
River to the state’s greatest elevation near the Colorado border, a
distance of over 200 miles, the rise would be only 3,360 feet.  As one
Flagstaff IPR runner noted, “As I neared the pass it was so steep, we were
nearly walking on our toes.” (Schrag and Hammonds 117).



The book’s stories and photographs are divided into eight sections, each
focusing on a different aspect of the race and Flagstaff’s relation to it.
One of the most interesting pages contains the advice offered to people
considering taking on the IPR for the first time by Nat White a veteran
participant that begins with him addressing each runners motivation. His
training suggestions are customized for those who wish to compete for the
top prizes, those who simply want to see how well they can do against the
field, and for those whose sole desire is to finish. This, too, echoes the
book’s main theme—It’s the individual stories in a collective history.



The end result of Schrag and Hammond’s diligent, inspiring, and thoughtful
work is a book as beautiful to leaf through as it is to savor.















Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past
Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.
Professor of History
Book Review Editor
*AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature*
Ashland University
Ashland, OH  44805
USA
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