Coming up in August: More races plus I attempt to bike the Kanc

It's Saturday, Aug. 4 and I've been going through a busy period with little room for running, biking, or anything else that keeps me sane. That's a shame because I was doing so well through mid-July. So I need to pick things up again.

Every year this seems to happen: I get halfway through the summer, and something seems to interrupt it.

Last year, I developed problems with my left Achilles tendon and that shut things down in August. In 2009, I was hiking to one or more 4,000-foot summits every weekend until my company unexpectedly started a newspaper in July.

Well, it's now August, and I need to break the pattern, even though I'm as busy as ever and it's now getting dark as early as 8 p.m. But whatever. I'll find ways to fit it in. I'll have to.

So here's a list of what I plan to accomplish before the month is out:

- Bike the Kanc: a 64-mile round-trip up and down a mountain pass both ways, on a road with no services. Done in two segments: Lincoln to Conway, rest and restock, then reverse. First leg starts with 12-mile climb up about 1,700 feet to Kancamaugus Pass, with last three miles at average 9 percent grade. Piece of cake! Very tough cake, that is.

To do this, I need to make at least one more longish preliminary run, and then have my bike serviced. The tires are well beyond their expected life, and the last thing I want is a blowout on the Kanc.

So if the weather is good tomorrow (Sunday, Aug. 5), I may go for the big prelim ride in the morning. I'll take the bike in for service on Monday, Aug. 6, and get that out of the way. And then, I have a 5K race scheduled up north (in Rumney) early on Saturday, Aug. 11, so that might be the day to try the Kanc, if the weather holds.

So tomorrow, I might try getting down to Nashua early, and then going over to Lowell, then following Route 28 back up to Manchester. We'll see...

- Add six towns: One casualty of July was the quest to run a 5K or better in all 234 New Hampshire communities. I only did one, and that's not going to cut it if I'm going to make my self-imposed deadline of May 14, 2016.

So this month I resolve to complete at least six towns. I have road races in two of them: Rumney and Boscawen. So that leaves four others to do. If I complete them in pairs, then that means two days of 10Ks somewhere on the map, filling in back-to-back communities.

- Get back on the 50 states wagon: I haven't done a "state" run since Maryland back in June. So I better get cracking and figure out a way to fit in one more state this month. I think a likely candidate is Connecticut, as I'll be driving down there for a meeting at some point. Just gotta bring a change of clothes. (September will bring Arkansas and Oklahoma and Missouri as possibilities.)

- Another triathlon? I really enjoyed my first-ever triathlon last month, and so doing another isn't too crazy. There's a good one tomorrow in Concord, N.H. (the swim portion is in the Merrimack River!, but I'm not ready for it.

To prepare for more of these, I really need to start swimming regularly, something I don't do. So I need to start looking at options to do that, other than driving up to Harrisville and swimming in the pond.

- Keep at it in general: I need to make time during the day for some activity somewhere. A good way (until recently) has been biking to my mother's house in Nashua (to get rents, etc.) and then back, a 25-mile round-trip or so. Each day should have enough room for some kind of activity, even if it's hitting the gym for an hour. I could get some reading done there, too!

This weekend: State #4 (Maryland) out of 50

This weekend I head off to Silver Spring, Maryland for the premiere of a new score for the silent film 'The Wind' (1928), put together by a fellow accompanist and composer, Andrew Simpson. And I'll use the occasion to do a 90-minute run through the suburbs of Washington, D.C., thus adding Maryland to the list of states in which I'm completed a major run. (For me, "major" is anything 90 minutes or longer.)

Right now, the weather is looking hot, with Saturday's highs expected to be in the 90s. So we'll see how I do.

I'm a little disappointed because May came and went without adding a state to the list -- the first time since I launched this quest. Well, that's what happens when you have too much going on. I'll try to add one of the close-by states in the next couple of weeks (in addition to Maryland), which would make June a two-state month.

Massachusetts, here I come!

State No. 3: California, April 1, 2012

Today notched another in my 50-state running quest: California! We're in San Francisco this weekend for a screening of 'Napolean' (1927), so took the chance to get in an eight-mile run prior to spending eight hours in a movie theater.

Bright, breezy Sunday morning for an eight-mile jaunt (give or take) through the streets of San Bruno and Millbrae, and along the perimeter of San Francisco International Airport.

Headed out of our hotel at 6:50 a.m., sun just coming up. Bright, breezy morning, wore just shorts but two t-shirts just to be sure. Right decision. Worried about sore right Achilles tendon but didn't prove a problem.

Headed north on El Camino Real in San Bruno, then east on San Bruno Avenue, over Highway 101 and onto grounds of San Francisco International Airport. Followed McDonnell Avenue south, underneath spaghetti junction of concrete overpasses leading into terminal area, then continued south down to Millbrae Avenue. Recrossed 101 to hook up with El Camino Real again, then headed north back to hotel.

Time in: 8:30. So that's 100 minutes to do about eight miles. Nothing to write home about, but enough to cross California off my list.

Preparing for the 'California' run on Sunday, April 1

A sore Achilles tendon had me lay off running this week, but I'm heading out today (Thursday, March 29) for a brief warm-up prior to the next "Running in 50 States" challenge. This one takes place on Sunday, April 1 in the streets and by-ways of San Francisco, where I'm heading this weekend to take in the once-in-a-life time chance to see the restored silent film epic 'Napoleon' (1927) in a theater with a live orchestra.

While I'm there, why not cross California off the running list? And so I will, I hope. I've mapped out an 8-mile route that follows the perimeter of San Francisco International Aiport, which is near where I'll be staying. The plan is to rise early on Sunday and get out on the streets before traffic materializes. Some of the roads look like they don't have sidewalks or even a lot of room for running, so Sunday morning is probably the best time to tackle this route.

If I complete the loop and stay out on the roads for at least 90 minutes, then I'll be able to count California as State #3! Only 47 left to go...

Another state, and another season

This year's race season starts tomorrow for me with a 5K in Epping, one of the closer towns (about 30 minutes from my front door) that I've yet to complete a race in. Thanks to the winter without snow, I'm in a pretty good place, I think. We'll see tomorrow.

But last Sunday I did an 8.3-mile run in Syracuse, New York, which makes the Empire State No. 2 in my quest to log a minimum 90-minute run in all 50 states. (The first was Kansas, which I got last month.)

I was in Syracuse for a Cinfest, a vintage film convention (see www.jeffrapsis.com about that) and took advantage of freakily warm and dry weather on Saturday, March 17 to go on a long steady run from my hotel out the Syracuse Airport and back.

Airport action: Kinda quiet on a Saturday afternoon. A couple jets on final approach, that's all.

A big loop, several bad intersections, but nothing terrible. Surprisingly strong late afternoon sun for St. Patrick's Day. Kind of nice to plod around the outer edges of a strange town with only my hotel key and a hand-drawn reference map to guide me. But it worked.

Which state will be next? Well, a quick trip to San Francisco next weekend will provide an opportunity. And if I do one a month, I can pick up the six New England states this summer...