Finishing the month (May 2013) strong

Last day of the month. What's the verdict?

Well, it finished with a good week for outside activities.

• Monday, May 27: My annual Memorial Day weekend bike loop from Bedford through New Boston and Goffstown. Little more than two hours. Nice to finally have dry weather and sunshine after five days of rain.

• Wednesday, May 29: Took dogs for hour-long run on humid night. Felt strong all the way along five-mile loop until turning ankle right at the very end. No serious damage, though.

• Friday, May 31: Up early and biked to Nashua to pick up my mother's mail, then back home on the other side of the Merrimack River. Six towns, about 35 miles, two hours and 17 minutes.

One note is that Thursday night I stayed late at work to try to get things done prior to a weekend visit to Chicago to see one nephew receive Confirmation and another graduate from high school. By late, I mean until after midnight, and then was up for another hour at home before finally getting into bed.

And then I tried rising at 5 a.m. to hop on the bike for a lengthy ride. Uck! Maybe I used to be able to pull that off, but not anymore. Nothing complicated about it. I need sleep, or I feel like a piece of garbage and have no fun. 

• Looking ahead: The trick will be to keep up this pace through June and the rest of the summer, making the most of the long days that will be with us from now until mid-August.

That means it's prime mountain-climbing time, and also prime lake swimming time. And that means it's time to make progress on climbing all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000-foot peaks, and to try to get into the water and work up to doing better at a triathalon this season.

There's one coming up in June, right in my own backyard. The Greater Nashua Triathalon, parts of which cover the exact same roads I just biked this morning to my mother's house. Maybe, maybe not. Not sure if I'll be up to a third-mile swim in just three weeks.

Still, need to stay focused on keeping the momentum going, with larger or longer events every other day or so.

Back on the local running circuit: Coming in nearly last in Bedford, N.H.

When you run what seems to be a strong race and still come in 238 out of 255, you're clearly not in it for the glory.

That's what I thought after completing the Bedford (N.H.) Rotary Club's 12K race, which was held under sunny morning skies on Saturday, May 18.

My time? 1 hour, 21 minutes, 31 seconds, giving me a pace of 10:56. Pretty good for me!

The good news? I wasn't absolute dead last. The bad news? I was 47 out of 47 people in my age group.

But still, I can take some solace that I finished ahead of 17 people. It would have been only 16 if not for my last-minute sprint right before the finish line, which enabled me to finally power past a guy I'd been chasing pratically the whole race. Nothing like a strong finish! (My wife pointed out that I should be proud of outrunning a 65-year-old guy.)

The Bedford Rotary 12K was a consolation race for me. What happened was, I got up too late to make it up to the small town of Hill, N.H., where they were running a rare 5K that started at 8 a.m.

Since Hill was out, I figured I'd run the Bedford race, which starts and finishes a short walk from my driveway. How often is that possible?

Even so, I didn't get to the registration table until about 10 minutes prior to the gun—cutting it close as usual. Just enough time to stretch out a bit and get to the starting line.

It's weird to run a race in the town where you live, and on roads you know so well. For one thing, it's very stress-free. I knew exactly where the hills were and how long they were, what kind of shade was present (or not), and so on. No surprises there.

But I did experience things I'd never encountered before. At the start, the bagpiper sent us off with a bagpipe version of 'Chariots of Fire.' And on Patten Road, a small band of elderly folks were manning an unofficial water stop, handing out cups of water filled from a garden hose while a sound system boomed Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance' March.

In local news, I saw that a long-time town resident's house is sale, so the race helped me keep up with neighborhood scuttlebutt.

The race seemed short in part because I thought the mile markers were kilometers. This delusion was in effect until about Mile 5, when it became clear that we were more than half-way through, so the numbers couldn't be kilometers. This might be why the whole thing seemed relatively easy, even though I was running continuously for more than an hour. :)

Physical deterioration department: I was pleased to find that I survived the whole course pretty much without developing serious problems. The only part of me that felt like it was taking a beating was the feet. About two-thirds through the race, both felt like someone had taken a ball peen hammer to them. Just stress on the tissues and bones, I think. But no muscle cramping, chafing, or other complaints. Guess I'm starting to build up my tolerance and resistance.

So that's primed the pump for more road races or independent runs in the next few months.

Three more states added and some notes for May

Since the middle of last month, I've added three new states (Texas, Ohio, and West Virginia) to my quest to run at least a 10K in all 50. I haven't had time to write up the runs in detail, but will soon, as each had its own profile and there's a lot that I want to record for future reference.

For now, the page that tracks progress in this pursuit (see the link at right) is updated with basic info. After a little more than a year, I'm already up to 14 states, and not just easy close-by ones, either. Just three more, and I'll be more than one-third done!

Will try to pick up North Carolina later this month; also Maine/Massachusetts/Vermont this summer if chances occur. In September, a silent film gig in Iola, Kansas provides the chance to pick up some combination of Iowa/South Dakota/Nebraska, and possibly Oklahoma as well. And a quick trip to Seattle at some point in the next months might add the state of Washington to the trophy list.

In terms of other quests: After a winter of no progress whatsoever, I intend to start adding conquests to my ongoing quest to run a minimum of a 5K in every city, town, or unincorporated place in New Hampshire. I have to keep reminding myself that my self-imposed deadline to finish this project is May 14, 2016. I have something like a hundred more to go, so I better get busy.

In terms of actual races, Hill and Brookline are coming up in the next month or so, but after that it looks like a pretty dry season for new towns. So all the more important to embark on 'do-it-yourself' 5K runs to start filling in the gaps. I expect this will be the first year 'do-it-yourself' towns will outnumber official race towns.

With the nicer weather, I've been out on the bike quite often, and also running with our dogs, so my fitness level is trending better, I think. I've also been going through a process of moving away from all processed foods and trying to limit my intake to whole foods high in nutrition and low in processing. While driving out to Ohio and back this last weekend, I noticed just how rare it is to find real food along the way, but that's a whole separate post.

Anyway, back to the bike: Feels good to ride again, and it's a necessary joint-friendly aerobic counter-balance to all the pounding from running. Speaking of which: all the two-leash running around the neighborhoods, with dogs pulling me in every direction, has made a noticeable difference in my upper body. Another incentive to keep doing it! :)

On the bike, I hope to do several long rides this season. 1. White Mountains loop up and over Kanc, Bear Notch, Crawford Notch, Franconia. 2. From York, Maine over new Memorial Bridge and all the way to my driveway in Bedford. 3. Lake Winnipesaukee loop, from my house. (That's about 120 miles. Doable but would take all day.) 4. More rides out through New Boston/Francestown to hill region of southwestern New Hampshire. Harrisville for lake swimming, or perhaps to my old stomping grounds of Charlestown/Claremont.

Swimming and biking will provide the base for at least one triathalon this summer: maybe a longer one rather that the "sprint" one I did last July, if my swimming allows for it.

And then there's the long-stalled challenge to run on every street in my hometown of Bedford. This remains about half-finished. One reason: I've always felt I should always start/finish at my home, and I've done all the reasonably close streets. So I might have to modify the rules to include remote starting points. We'll see.

My next physical is in June, about six weeks from now. We'll see if any progress has been made. :)

Looking ahead to April

Not much of this coming up in April, so time to take matters into my own hands—er, feet.

Okay, warmer weather is moving into our part of the world. That, and a personal vow to get more active just this one month, means more action on the fitness front, including progress on both of the long-term challenges to run in every New Hampshire community and every state in the union.

In the first instance, no races are being held this month in any Granite State places I need, so it's time to start freelancing. The biggest problem on that score is my schedule, which is pretty packed with other commitments. However, my equally important commitment to health must prevail sometime, and that sometime is now.

So, what's the schedule look like? Let's see...it looks like every Saturday this month, the mornings are open for me to get out and bag two towns by means of the "5K on either side of the border" method. So that's April 6, 13, 20, and 27 for a total of eight towns, if I complete the set. Seems doable, so let's commit to it.

But which towns? Well, I don't have my state map in front of me right now, but when I get back to my home office, I'll figure out which pairs make the most sense and then come up with a plan. Let's hope for some nice Saturdays so this doesn't become an ordeal.

And then on the "50 states" challenge, I might be able to bag Texas during a business trip on Tuesday, April 16. Other than that, not sure. Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine are still open so maybe one of those, depending on the schedule. (I can always double up Maine for a business trip as well.)

The real jackpot for the "50 states" challenge will come during the first week of May, when I should be able to bag Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and perhaps a few others during a road trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. We shall see. Depends on how fast a start I can get on Wednesday, May 1. Right now the schedule calls for Pennsylvania on the morning of Thursday, May 2; Ohio on the morning of Friday, May 3; Indiana on the morning of Saturday, May, 4, and we'll go from there. Could also bag Kentucky, Michigan, or West Virginia, depending on the route back and how I feel.

By the time I get back to home base in New Hampshire, I should feel great! Or dead.

State No. 11: Connecticut, Wednesday, March 13

Evidence: the crumpled notepaper with my hastily scrawled route notes.

Okay, so it was almost a week ago and I'm only writing this out now. But I surprised even myself last Wednesday when I put on the running shoes in the bathroom of a McDonald's restaurant in Windsor Locks, Conn. And I surprised myself even further by running 8.1 miles though some varied end-of-winter New England landscapes.

What brought me to Connecticut? A sales call on Namco, a potential customer of our business. The sales call didn't last long, and I wasn't due in Syracuse, N.Y. until 9 p.m. So I had time for a run in Connecticut, a state I needed—but where?

I looked at the map. A quick swing up Interstate 91 would put me at Bradley International Airport, which serves the Hartford/Springfield area. I have a thing for running near airports, so all right, let's see what might happen. Thanks to Google maps, I quickly created a nice 8.1-mile triangle on local roads through Windsor Locks and Suffield, two towns on the airport's eastern perimeter. There was even some railroad track action involved, so it seemed promising.

And then there was the weather. It was a sunny afternoon and in the low 50s, well above my 40-degree limit for shorts/t-shirt. But a brisk wind from the west/northwest was blowing, and clouds were building in, making that breeze feel mighty cold in the shade. Still, it was mid-afternoon, and we'd just set our clocks ahead one hour, so I thought the run was doable with minimal gear.

The next thing I knew, I was changing in the bathroom of the McDonalds in Windsor Locks, emerging just in time to see a Delta Airlines MD-88 come coasting in on Runway 15-33. Nice. Then, clutching a piece of notepaper on which I'd hastily scrawled my route, I set off to the east on Elm Street to conquer yet another state in the union.



To my surprise, Elm Street had sidewalks all the way into town—about two miles! But then that shouldn't be surprising because Windsor Locks was no airport suburb, but an old New England community with a long history of manufacturing and industry that preceded the airport's presence. I found myself running through neigborhoods of stately old homes, with many looking quite handsome in the late winter late.

Elm Street sloped gradually downhill, which wasn't surprising, as I was headed for the Connecticut River. Knowing that I would have to regain that altitude, and also that I hadn't been running consistently all winter, I took things extra slowly. So I still felt quite strong by the time I reached my first milestone: Route 159, a north-south byway that served as Main Street. A railroad line parallels it here, and as I approached, a southbound Amtrak "Springfield Shuttle" train bombed through at speed, making for downtown Hartford. Nice!


I passed this building, now a bombed-out shell, on Main Street.

Turning left, I made my way through the most congested part of the route: shopping plazas, busy streets, multiple curbcuts, etc. But still, things were pretty quiet and I had no trouble. And sidewalks continued, even as I left the business district and headed northwest for what would be a looooong stretch on Suffield Street. Residential neighborhoods continued for about a mile, as did the sidewalk, to the point where I was beginning to believe that the entire route would be blessed with sidewalks.

No sooner did I think that then the neighborhoods stopped, as did the sidewalk, and I was quite suddenly pointed into open country, the road continuing ramrod straight through an undulating brown landscape off to a distant horizon. Yes, it was sunny, but the wind was blowing, and clouds were increasing, so it was feeling cold. And with all due respect to the glories of the New England countryside, in mid-March it's at its most barren and foreboding: no critters, tired leafless trees, dead grass, and mud everywhere. But I plodded on, not completely sure that the route I had planned would work out or was even a good idea at that point.

Somewhere in there I crossed the border into Suffield, which seemed to be a town without people. Traffic was scarce. The distance seemed more than it should. I began to wonder. Off to the west, just barren country, with absolutely no sign of the airport or the industrial area that fringed it, or the highway that I would make my way back on. Where was everything? What time was it? Was it getting late? Where was the railroad line that I should have crossed by now? If I did see it, should I turn left on it and use it as a shortcut back to where I started?


After a period of increasing self-doubt and an increasingly sore Achilles tendon in my right leg, I was just about ready to stop at the next house and confirm where the heck I was going before Ichabod Crane started chasing me. Before that happened, however, there it was: the railroad crossing, up ahead. That gave me enough of a boost to discard the railroad return option as unworkable (the trackbed was too rough) and forge ahead with my original plan.

And soon came the big left turn on Austin Street, a short stretch that would take me back west to Highway 75. As I turned onto it, my heart dropped: the road went on forever, and seemingly to nowhere. With no other option, I plodded ahead, grateful at least for the good pavement, the sun, and the sparse traffic. However, as I progressed, I realized what I was seeing was in part an optical illusion. The road was straight, but it also began a steady upgrade to a fairly high point that seemed a lot farther off than it really was. And the high point was none other than a signaled intersection for what had to be the highway I was seeking!

As I approached the highway, the landscape began changing again, with large corporate office complexes nestled among the barren junk forest. Weirdly, many of these were identified as "marketing" companies, although it wasn't clear at all what they could be marketing. I recall one of them actually had a pirate flag out front!

Turning left on the highway, I became alarmed to see not only no sidewalk, but really no breakdown lane nor any other space to run safely. And traffic would come in high-speed bunches released by sets of lights somewhere uproad. So it became this game of using the road as much as possible, and then jumping onto the soggy embankment to let traffic pass.

I soon regained the airport, which was comforting. But the airport is not small, and it took awhile to work my way through the National Guard portion, which included that railroad line I had seen earlier. (It was fenced off and part of a military installation where crossed Route 75, so I'm glad I didn't try to follow it in.)

Alas, I misjudged the remaining distance, which seemed a lot longer than it should have. Plus, with the clouds getting heavier and the wind coming off the open airport grounds, it was now getting seriously cold, and I was also worried about having enough time to get to Syracuse. I was able to keep going, however, and finally came within sight of the McDonalds starting point just as that same Delta MD-88 was taxiing out for take-off, presumably back to Atlanta.

Time? I started at 2:47 p.m. and ended at 4:36 p.m., so that's 1 hour and 49 minutes to run 8.1 miles. Not any kind of a record, but then I didn't expect to set one. It was more than enough for me to say that I've bagged yet another state: Connecticut, No. 11.

Now just 39 to go!

Getting the shoes laced up again

Zahnna, now 10. Too old to make it to the summit of all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000-footers?

We've just come through a February where my primary aerobic exercise has been shoveling snow.

Seriously. We haven't bothered to get a snowblower since the neighbors' kids outgrew the job, and so I tackle the 150-foot long driveway all by myself. By hand.

It's not too bad, actually. Takes about two hours, depending on the type of snow. And I feel great afterwards. So why not?

Skiing just hasn't happened much this season, and running isn't pleasant when temps are down, daylight is scarce, and streets are lined with snowbanks. So shoveling fills the gap, especially since it's a must-do chore if we don't want to be completely snowbound.

Ah, but all this will change (I hope) starting now. It's March. The driveway is clear. It's not terrible out. The dogs need exercise. So off we go, back in the swing of things, starting today, with a short run out and back to a local pond, a favorite doggie destination.

Looking ahead, I would like to make progress this year on three 'fitness projects,' for lack of a better term.

1. Running in New Hampshire: Keep adding towns in New Hampshire with the goal of finishing this by May 14, 2016, as previously stated. With a lack of towns with races, this year I'll have to ramp up the "do-it-yourself" quotient.

2. Running in all 50 states: Several trips planned that should allow at least a half-dozen to be completed: Pennsylvania in March; Ohio, Indianapolis, West Virginia in May; Texas, Oklahoma, maybe others in September. Would love to get to 20 this year.

3. Hiking all N.H.'s 4,000-footers: I've been stuck at 30 peaks since a couple of years ago, with no time lately to fit in big long hikes during my preferred (non-winter) season of May through about October. But there's no reason I can't bag all the rest this year. Most are fairly tame; the only real challenge would be to find a nice day to bag three northern presidentials (Madison, Adams, Jefferson) that I'm still lacking. I might even try to bring along Zahnna, our getting-older German Shepard (10 years this month) to complete her 48, if her hips will allow. We'll see.

Bonus project: Last year I did a surprising amoung of biking, including several longish trips (to Harrisville, to the seacoast, etc.) that were very satisfying. Maybe this year I'll try for Lake Winnipesaukee (just to Alton, or all around in a day?), or the Connecticut River. Last year also saw my first-ever triathalon, and I'd like to keep doing those, too.

A scarcity of towns...

Ah, the joys of winter running...

Now that it's February, I took a moment to check out the 2013 calendar at www.coolrunning.com to start getting organized.

All I can say is, wow! Out of dozens and dozens of races already scheduled, exactly one is in a New Hampshire community that I've yet to run in: Whitefield!

Of course more will be scheduled, but gone are the days when I could choose from several places each weekend. Now, with nearly 140 communities under my belt, it's much harder to find someplace where I haven't run.

So this reinforces the idea that I need to ramp up my quest by visiting "non-race" towns and running a minimum 5K. If I do two back-to-back, that's 10K. So I could net quite a few.

One problem is distance. Even in a relatively small state such as New Hampshire, some of the northern communities are a three-hour drive from where I live.

For those, I'll probably go up in the evening, do a "double run," then spend the overnight. Next morning, I'll get up and do another "double" before heading home.

And because I'm supposed to be training for a trek up the summmit of Mount Kilimanjaro, that might lead to a more aggressive schedule than in recent years.

What's a reasonable goal? Well, I'm going to Kilimajaro in September, so by then I should have done...let's say 25 more towns. Ambitious, but do-able.

This month, my main opportunities will come on Saturdays in the next two weekends. (The last weekend of the month, I'm out of town.)

So if I get going and the weather cooperates, I could have conceivably colored in four new communities by the end of month.

And that would be a great start to 2013. So stay tuned!