The Edge - by Paul Fiduccia

The Edge

By Paul Fiduccia

Winter in Western New York can put a damper on the desire to run for even the strong at heart. Given the shortened daylight hours, slippery road surfaces, and sometimes brutal winds, just getting out the door is a major accomplishment. Back in 1993, Marty, my neighbor and running partner, inspired the idea of publishing a running newsletter, which we later named The Edge. Marty's "At The Finish" column would report on a wide range of first hand observations and impressions within the world of running. As for myself, I started out with "The Psychologist's Corner" and used the self help angle to influence my readers to higher levels of the performance and self actualization. At times my space was taken up by Dr. P. who lent advice on a variety of running topics.

The Edge began with the circulation of 3. Besides Marty and myself, we delivered a copy each week to Brian, our neighbor across the street who also was a veteran of the running scene. Marty and I published the newsletter on our PCs. If things worked out well and nothing else came up in our regular lives The Edge would be rolled up and placed into the door handles of its eager subscribers before they left for work on Monday morning. After a while Brian started making contributions to The Edge. At times his wife complained that nothing was getting done around a house on weekends because he was spending too much time putting his articles together. Not to be deterred, Brian simply weaved his wife's opinions into his piece, something I thought was attempt to appeal to wider reading audience. Brian's "Shortsteps" articles forced The Edge to become a two-page newsletter. When the winter season had its firmest grip on us, I found myself anxiously awaiting the Monday morning delivery of The Edge. It's dependable publication symbolized Marty's, Brian's, and my own determination to run through the toughest part of the winter.

The ideas for the articles often were generated from our runs together. One had to be careful about what was said on these runs, for we editors often took broad liberties to embellish the facts in an effort to enhance the entertainment value of our work. Although some of the articles took on a philosophical quality, while others simply reported general running news, most contained humor, at least in the opinion of their writers. Often I became so pleased with some my articles that I would conspicuously place a copy for the reading pleasure of my wife. I often watched and waited with anticipation for her to burst forth with laughter in response to some witty remark, but typically there was only a disappointing silence and occasional look of confusion. Similar reactions to comments made about The Edge at social gatherings confirmed my impression that this was truly in insiders newsletter with a circulation that was not destined to grow in its current format.

The only opinions that really influenced our writers were those of our readers. Being one in the same we wrote about topics and held personal appeal or highlighted our experiences on a road in previous weeks. A popular topic was exacting revenge on those "wannabees" who went out of their way to verbally harass us from passing vehicles. We would occasionally study the running patterns of the runners in the neighborhood and assigned them such tags as "Morning Girl" and "Slow Poke", and commented on their thinning numbers as the winter season, also known as "separation time" approached. We expressed appreciation for our blessings around Thanksgiving, compiled the running wish list for Santa, and presented awards around New Year's. We also put out a special edition when Brian completed the New York City Marathon. Articles such as "Where Have All The Fat Men Gone" (a report on a race for runners weighing over 175 pounds), "Bump Bump Bump: It's the Spam Can" (commenting on our "50 mile ride to hell and back" in Marty's less-than-reliable jeep, and the ladies edition of The Edge, put together by our wives during Super Bowl weekend, kept us going throughout the winter.

All good things in life have to come to an end. It happened in March when the weather began to break. Marty's second child was born and work started to get hectic for Brian and myself. The good number of outdoor obligations other than running awaited all of us. However, we did emerge from the long winter intact and a good condition, thanks in part to support received from The Edge.

PS -- Six years later, we all continue to run. Our race times are a bit slower and it seems to take longer to recover from injuries. Marty now has three children, Brian's aorta implant is working just fine, and the the "Spam Can" amazingly continues to run.