Flying Pigs in Northfield!

Finally after a few weeks (vacation is SO over), I get to color in another little pink square: the town of Northfield. I headed down there this morning to run in the 34th Annual Flying Pig 5K, a race I have often been interested in doing but never managed to get to. The 5K is part of a weekend of Labor Day events that includes a street fair in the town square. The smell of fried dough was in the air, hardcore bingo players were at it, and kids were shooting the puck with Norwich U. hockey players. I came close to buying a used Nordic Track ("make an offer") at the firehouse flea market. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of myself with the large inflatable pig.
Today I was sleep deprived and mentally and emotionally drained from my first week of nursing school (among other things), but I am so glad I went. Feeling strong and accomplishing a good 5K effort on a beautiful sunny day was just what I needed. Friendly faces were there from the minute I pulled into the parking lot (thanks, Russ, for finding me a space!) and it was great to see everyone having a good time. There was an older man who ran wearing the same 1981 Green Mountain Marathon t-shirt that I claimed at my Dad's great 70th birthday t-shirt giveaway last year. Honestly, I don't think going to a running race has ever been a bad experience. Even when I've had a bad race or been sick (or unconscious), I've taken something good from the event. To any of my MEPN classmates reading this, the moment I realized I wanted to go to nursing school was when I was in an ice bath with a temp of 104 after finishing a 10K (of which I can't remember the last mile, although the photos show me stopping my watch at the finish line).
Anyway, today I was psyched that I atypically responded to Megan Valentine's encouragement at Mile 1 with a crazy burst of speed (the "yes I can" that is increasingly replacing the "nope, I can't"), and it was fitting that Megan later gutted it out to pull out the win! At Mile 2, I spotted former MHS XC skiing teammate Kathy Reed, who lives nearby. We met up after the race and she graciously offered me use of her shower, which was very sweatily needed. Kathy told me (as I struggled to keep pace with her walking back to her house: Note to my kids, I have found a faster walker than myself!) about how her neighborhood had been flooded by Hurricane Irene, just over a year ago. Their house suffered significant damage and they were unable to live there for many months while making repairs. Sadly, numerous houses in the neighborhood have been abandoned. But, judging from the event today, the town of Northfield has a strong spirit and has rebounded well. I'm grateful that I got to run there today.

Running Camp!

Ethan and I are doing "Running Camp" this week, since BHS football preseason has started for his brothers. This way, the start of the middle school XC season won't be such a shock to the system! It should be a good XC season for Ethan; the last couple of years (4th and 5th grades), he's been a lot younger than most of the competitors. Ethan's been running a couple times a week all summer and this week we are checking out some trails in Chittenden County. Yesterday we went out to Catamount and did the Pink and Blue courses, him running the Cadet loops and me the whole loops. Today, same kind of thing at Red Rocks Park: we did the two loops of the 5K course, him once for about 2 miles, me twice for about 4 miles. He is getting pretty speedy, but I still beat him in the final sprint to the car, even though he tried to trick me! Tomorrow is a 20-miler for me, with E joining me for a couple miles, probably at the end. If it's nice weather, I might be able to get him to ride his bike the whole way. I do like running with a lead biker!

Acadian Rhapsody

What a day! Foggy early morning trail run, sunny midday climb over two of Acadia's pink granite summits and along the Ocean Path, and later pink-biking the carriage roads on probably the most stunning route I've ever biked... OK, no Vermont towns this time, but one of my best-ever days from a scenic and athletic perspective. And all week, I had thought it was going to rain today!
The run, at 6:30 a.m., was about 9 miles, from the village green in Bar Harbor out Ledgewood Rd. to the Great Meadow trail, branching off onto a new trail that was signed "under construction. but you are welcome to check it out" then the Jessup Trail and back into town. Cool fog, very few people (just a pair of runners who said "Holy crap!" when they encountered me on the new trail and a woman whose dog was swimming in the Tarn), one deer.
The hike was so great! I waited for the morning fog to burn off and couldn't decide which peak to hike, kind of leaning toward one I had never hiked before (eliminating Cadillac and Dorr). A ranger helped me map a point-to-point route from Sieur du Monts over Champlain Mt. to Sand Beach. The fog blew in and out and there were stunning vistas constantly, first of Cadillac, then later of Schoodic Head and Great Head and the ocean. As I descended Champlain, I realized the hike was going to be pretty short, so I hiked partway up the Beehive (as far as the warning sign!) and ate lunch with a gorgeous view above the Bowl, then continued up and over Gorham Mt. and along the Ocean Path around to Otter Cliffs, a total of about 6 miles. There were blueberries, blackberries, red squirrels and an amazing moth (I thought someone had dropped an earring until I took a closer look).
I took the bus back to town and got my bike; bused back out to Jordan Pond and fueled up with popovers and ice coffee. I wanted to bike some roads I didn't do yesterday, so set out on a more western loop back up to Eagle Lake and into town. I stumbled upon the most amazing scenery! The Around Mountain road offers edge-of-the-cliff views that took my breath away. I ran into a man (who thought my pink bike was "awesome") who says he rides this loop 3 or 4 times a week! Unbelievable. And the mostly downhill second half of the ride, including Duck Brook back into town, was exhilarating.

Ticklenaked Pond

I am loving this project! Another beautiful rural Vermont run today, traversing scenic places I never would have found if I hadn't been trying to run in some new towns. Today's criteria (a shortish run close to Rt. 302 on my way to the Kancamagus Highway) led me to a place that I'd only encountered previously in one of my favorite novels. Wallace Stegner writes about Ticklenaked Pond in Crossing to Safety, and I didn't think that it really existed. But there it was in the Vermont atlas, in Ryegate, a town on the New Hampshire border north of the village of Wells River. The name apparently comes from the Algonquin word "tickenecket," which translates "place for little beavers."

So I detoured up the very steep Bible Hill Road from Wells River, parked at the Ticklenaked Pond fishing access area (which had a cleanish portapotty) and ran a hilly 6-mile out-and-back route along the Bayley-Hazen Road back towards Wells River and into the town of Newbury, enjoying the stunning mountain views and lovely cool sunny weather. The Bayley-Hazen Road is a Revolutionary-era military road that still cuts its way through Vermont's Northeast Kingdom towards Canada. I look forward to exploring more of this road; I've come across it while driving before but didn't know much about it. In some places it's signed "Bayley-Hazen (or Bailey-Hazen) Road" and in others, differently named roads trace its original route. A good description and maps can be found at http://www.nvda.net/TopNavBars/documents/BayleyHazenIntro.pdf. The section I ran today was part dirt and part paved. Wildlife: lots of Canada geese at the pond, a big tom turkey in a field, a smallish hawk (kestrel?) and two loud but securely chained dogs.

Ticklenaked Pond Beach, Ryegate, Vermont

Creemees & Lemonade

What a great morning for an 18-miler! The upside to the deluge that made my drive back from Boston last night a little dicey was a sunny, breezy, low-humidity morning that felt amazing after days of humid, sticky runs.
Thanks to bumping into senior runner extraordinaire Norm Larson at the creemee stand last week (looking fit and skinny and holding a creemee in each hand) and having a little marathoning chat (look for him at the Twin Cities Marathon this fall), I had 18 pencilled onto my calendar for today and had enthusiastically carb-loaded at yesterday's Red Sox game (who knew they sold peanut-butter-filled pretzel nuggets at Fenway? my brother and I agreed that due to their addictive nature they are best saved for long hikes and long-run eves). After talking to Norm I had looked at my calendar and been flabbergasted to see that the Green Mountain Marathon is 10 weeks away! I hadn't even thought it was time to start a 16-week training plan yet. Luckily I feel like I have some pretty good residual fitness from VCM that has been bolstered by the everyday running (though somewhat countered by creemee intake).
The 18-miler went well and made it seem the marathon will be doable after all. It was a scenic, somewhat shady and pretty flat route (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5597171) that had some well-placed water stops (Overlook, Oakledge and Waterfront parks). I concentrated on running relaxed but maybe ran a little fast (2:16).
My lesson learned from today is to try to remember to always have a little cash in my pocket on a run: this one little boy at a lemonade stand had the most beautiful excited and anticipatory smile. He just knew this hot straggling runner coming towards him was going to want to buy a lemonade. But alas, I had no money. Not only did I feel horrible disappointing him, that lemonade would have been extremely refreshing right about then!
Next up is some therapeutic carriage-road biking and ocean swimming, with some short runs in a few different Vermont towns fitted in while traveling.

Chittenden County: Check!

Gotta love a summertime run that ends near a body of water (and a restroom at the parking area is very nice too)! The waters of Lake Iroquois sure felt good today after I completed a lovely 8.5-mile loop through the towns of Williston and St. George! St. George was the one remaining Chittenden County town that I'd never run in, so I've officially started my quest to run in all of Vermont's towns by finishing off my home county. St. George is the smallest town in the county, tucked in between Williston, Shelburne and Hinesburg. The loop was really beautiful and fun; I started and finished at the Lake Iroquois beach and incorporated a nice long downhill on Willow Brook Rd. (dirt and closed in the winter), then a challenging uphill on Butternut Rd (also dirt and peaceful and opening up to nice vistas at the top of the hill): http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5589429. Wildlife count: two bunnies, one chipmunk, many squirrels, tons of goldfinches (I think? Little yellow birds mostly in the meadows). Zero traffic on the two dirt roads. Oak Hill Rd. is shoulderless but speed limit 45 and since the morning commute was winding down as I was running, I was thankful to receive mostly nice clearance, several waves and no other hand gestures.

Pink on the Map!

So here's my map: pink = done. Looking at the map, I noticed a few more towns that I've run in (count is now 40), and learned some Vermont geography. For example, Quechee is not a town, but a village in the town of Hartford. Still a lot more white than pink, though!
My goal for this week is to finish off Chittenden County by running in the tiny town of St. George. Looks like a run out there might be good with a Lake Iroquois swim; I've never been to that beach...

Inspiration (?) at Lake Willoughby

Maybe because Day 259 in my quest to run every day for a year was kind of a boring number, my endorphin-high, oxygen-starved brain latched onto a road sign last Thursday as I crested a hill above Lake Willoughby, a few miles into the best run of my weeklong family lake vacation. Brownington.
A town in Vermont that I had never heard of, despite living here for most of my 44 years. I was running in Brownington, Vermont. And it was really beautiful. And there are 251 towns in Vermont, right?

So I dragged my son out to take this weird posed photo of me in front of this sign (which marks the line between the town of Westmore and the town of Brownington; Lake Willoughby in the background), and my next running quest began.

I love to run, but I also seem to need gimmicks, or lists, or peaks to bag in my running journey to keep me going. Training plans ripped from magazines, far-flung marathons to travel to, PRs listed in the back of my running log, membership in the U.S. Running Streak Association ... The running every day thing has been great for me since I started on 11/11/11. It has kept me going as I started adding college courses into my schedule this past year, fulfilling my prerequisites for the MSN (nurse practitioner) program I'm starting next month at UVM, and getting busier and busier. It erased all my excuses for not getting out the door: a late night studying Anatomy & Physiology was no reason not to set the alarm for 5:30 to squeeze in my run. I'm always happy once I get out the door. But, yeah, at Day 259 or so, I needed something else. And something that would keep me somewhat close to home in the next few years as I start this intensive grad school program.

It felt like I had run in half of Vermont in the last week: Chittenden County as usual, Saxtons River where I was spectating at the State Babe Ruth tournament, all around Lake Willoughby. So I found a list of Vermont towns and checked off just those I could definitely remember running in (not counting high school track... or field hockey). And my list totaled a wimpy 37 towns! I've got a long way to go.
I look forward to seeing many more beautiful places in my home state, and running at least a mile in each. I'm blogging in the hopes that some friends will join me on some of these runs and help me stick a few pins in my map, and also that maybe I'll hear from some Vermonters in some of these yet-to-be-run-in-by-me towns, who can tell me about their towns: running routes, swimming holes and refueling possibilities.

My list so far (my big map with pins is not up yet, so hopefully these are all official towns; I still need to do an official count, that 251 number may be too high):
1. Bolton
2. Brownington
3. Burlington
4. Calais
5. Cambridge
6. Charlotte
7. Chelsea
8. Colchester
9. Chester
10. Duxbury
11. East Montpelier
12. Essex
13. Glover
14. Grand Isle
15. Hinesburg
16. Huntington
17. Jericho
18. Lyndon
19. Milton
20. Montpelier
21. Quechee
22. Richmond
23. Rockingham
24. Shelburne
25. South Burlington
26. South Hero
27. Stowe
28. Thetford
29. Underhill
30. Warren
31. Washington
32. Waterbury
33. Westford
34. Westmore
35. Williamstown
36. Williston
37. Winooski