Saturday, Sept. 22: Marlborough, Town #138

Back before we had refrigerators, we had libraries. In the early days, some private libraries charged user fees. But if a town set up a library open to all residents, it was a "free" library, and often identified as such.

This explains the presence of the oddly named "Frost Free Library" in Marlborough, N.H., where I ran a 5K this morning in pretty much ideal conditions: cool but not cold, low overcast but dry, an occasional light breeze but not really any wind. (No frost, although I'm not sure the library had anything to do with that.)

All in all, not too shabby for the first day of fall (today at 10:49 a.m.), and for Town #138 in my quest to run in all of New Hampshire's cities, towns, and unincorporated places.

Marlborough was something of a milestone, too, as it completes the set of seven Granite State communities in which I've lived. (Nashua, Claremont, Keene, Marlborough, Milford, Manchester, and Bedford.) As of today, I've run a road race in all of them. I've also run a race in more than half of the Granite State's "cigarette" communities: besides Marlborough, I've done Salem and Newport. Still need Winchester and Chesterfield, however.

Time? A fairly acceptable 31:40, not bad considering the up-and-down nature of the course and relative lack of steady running in recent months. (The picturesque cemeteries we passed were a reminder.) Pace was 10:12, and I came in 59 out of 94 finishers.

On hand for Town #138 were Dave and Patsy Beffa, friends from Nelson, N.H. I worked with Dave at PC Connection some years back, and we were all part of a 10-day trek to Annapurna Base Camp (Elevation 13,500 feet) in Nepal in 2011.

I usually run by myself, and I've never quite understood how people can hold conversations while running. How do you manage your breathing and pacing? But I found while running alongside David, my inability to keep my mouth shut revealed an upside to it: the adrenaline that comes from interacting with people while you're on the course seems to push you through that, or at least it did with Dave.

Best line of the run was me to Dave about mid-day through: "My problem is that I only really kick in after Mile 4 or so."

Well, that's the best I could do. Perhaps I should check out a good joke book from the Frost Free Library.

Great Minds Department: After eating two apples on the way up here, I find the post-race snack supply to consist solely of—apples! All I can say is, thank God for the Peterborough Diner on the way home!