<div dir="ltr">All<br><div><div>Please find below and attached Bruce Pratt's<i>To Imogene: A
Flagstaff Love Letter<span></span></i><i> One town’s
long-distance romance with an iconic trail run. </i>Edited by Myles
Schrag and Julie Hammonds. <br></div><div>Thanks</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center"><i>To Imogene: A
Flagstaff Love Letter<span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center"><i>One town’s
long-distance romance with an iconic trail run.<span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center">Edited by Myles
Schrag and Julie Hammonds<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center">Soulstice Publishing
LLC <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center">2019 Flagstaff AZ<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center">Reviewed by Bruce
Pratt<span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i>To Imogene: A Flagstaff Love
Letter,</i> 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: <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i>This book was created to
celebrate the Flagstaff running community through the lens of our town’s unique
relationship with the Imogene Pass Run. <span></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">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)<span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i>To Imogene</i> 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 <i>Arizona Daily Sun</i>, 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. <span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">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.<span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i>To Imogene</i> 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. <span> </span>(Schrag and Hammonds 36)<span> </span>Flagstaff’s 2017 population was 71,975, Denver’s
more than 617,000.) <span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">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.<span> </span>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). <span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">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.<span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">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. <span></span></p>
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</div><div><br></div><div>
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</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div></div>