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!

Tuesday, Jan. 29: Adding Florida, or thank God for Merry Weather Avenue

The Embassy Suites hotel and conference center that we called home in Orlando, Fla.

On the final morning of a four-day printing conference in Orlando, I fell out of bed at 4:45 a.m. and logged 7.3 miles on the roads and byways west of the Embassy Suites, where we're staying. It was enough to add Florida to the "Running in All 50 States" list as No. 10, pushing me into digits. I'm one fifth of the way there!

I suppose if you're going to add Florida, then January is the time to do it. New Hampshire had been in the grip of a prolonged spell of sub-zero Arctic weather when we left last Friday. Meanwhile, Orlando has enjoyed daytime highs about 80 and overnight lows in the (gasp) upper 50s!

So on Tuesday, Jan. 29, I ventured into the predawn darkness, but only after two "practice" runs earlier in the conference. The area we're staying is a commercial zone near the airport -- a land of hotels, chain restaurants, warehouses, rental car storage lots, and the occasional gated community. The bad news is that it embodies the worst in disconnected sprawl development. But the good news is that it's all so bright shiny new and filled with coconut and palm trees!

Seriously, while it's nothing like an authentic place ("This is not the retail district," said the clerk at the hotel when I asked about renting a bicycle), it does boast sidewalks (unbroken by frost heaves!) and some really elaborate landscaping. Alas, the sidewalks often wind their way through the elaborate landscaping, zig-zagging back and forth instead of in a straight line, which can be kind of a pain when you're on an extended run.

Still, that's no reason to complain. However, what is a reason to complain is that the sidewalks sometimes just give out altogether, forcing a runner (or walker) onto the road. Apparently it's up to developers to include sidewalks and landscaping, and some properties didn't get them or haven't yet been developed.

Here's the route I scratched out on a piece of hotel stationery, with the help of Google Maps.

Anyway, it was cool and calm when I set out into the pre-dawn void, first circling an Orwellian office development next to our hotel, then heading east on Hazeltine National Drive, which is all office parks, and then north on TCP Drive, which is all warehouses. Up ahead loomed my first big road, Lee Vista Boulevard, and even from a distance I could see I was in for trouble. The road was a wide, four-lane divided highway with a 45 mph speed limit, and busy, even at 5:20 a.m.

Really! I reached it during a lull in traffic and so crossed over to a sidewalk, but after that cars were pretty much constant, as Lee Vista is apparently a major east-west route. This wasn't a problem until the sidewalk ran out. With uneven turf lining the road and it still being dark, I really had no choice to run in a narrow bike lane, with cars and trucks whizzing by at top speed mere inches from my side.

This was not fun.

I began passing gated communities with names like "Crescent Vista Estates," with Semona Boulevard, a big north-south road, with its chain hotels and lit-up restaurant signs looming in the distance. The sidewalk resumed, but now included occasional sprinklers with nozzles pointing over the sidewalk. A ground fog had formed, giving the whole scene a certain Steven King ambiance, with pairs of car headlights tracing beams through the gray gloom.

I lucked out at Semona, crossing the busy street when no vehicles were approaching. But then the run got really interesting, as the road narrowed to a curvy two-lane highway with no sidewalks and no bike lanes, either.

For awhile, I thought I was screwed. It didn't feel safe, and with Lee Vista Road heading into undeveloped country, I didn't expect things to get any better. I was just beginning to formulate 'Plan B' for my run when I noticed that yes, across the road was an actual sidewalk.

The first break in the traffic, I scooted over, got on that, and kept going. Yes, the sidewalk soon disappeared, but there was enough of a shoulder for me to feel comfortable, and I was facing the eastbound traffic, which wasn't nearly so heavy. So my moment of crisis has passed.

Lee Vista Boulevard soon turned into Judge Road, and I stayed with it through open country -- westward, ever westward. To the south, jets were taking off from Orlando Airport, swooping overhead and sounding like a leaf blower and whistling tea kettle at the same time.

Conway Road was my next landmark, and the sidewalks started up again a few hundred yards before I reach it. Traffic on this north-south thoroughfare wasn't nearly so heavy, so I got across and continued west on Judge. For the next quarter-mile, the sidewalk ran alongside a brick wall, which I later found was a gated community, one of several that I would trudge by in this area.

After about a mile of this, I was getting kind of tired of brick walls and big iron gates. Good think I hadn't planned to run on any of the streets inside! I began yearning to see just one driveway or front door or chainlink fence. And then, just in time, I turned onto Merry Weather Drive.

Holy cripe! A perfectly ordinary street -- one lined with modest single-story homes! Through shrouded in pre-dawn darkness, the outlines were plain enough: the garbage cans along the sidewalk, the 'Beware of Dog' signs, the lawn ornaments. It felt like a real place! Even the slightly down market name (Merry Weather instead of the more uppity 'Meriwether' or something like that) felt right, like I was among real people who lived real Florida lives, even though most of them were sleeping just now.

About a half-mile of this was all I needed to feel refreshed. Turning onto Conway Drive to begin the trek back, I reentered the anonymous suburban sprawl. Well, at least Conway had generous sidewalks. In fact, for a short stretch, the sidewalks themselves had sidewalks! Seems like a recent rebuild of the road had included sidewalks, but a section of existing parallel sidewalk had been left in place. This created "express" and "local" sidewalks, something I'd never seen before.

(Sorry, no photos of all this. The hotel was miles away, and with no car and no time later, it wasn't possible to return to the scene of the crime. So here's a photo of coconut trees near the hotel instead.)

So I trudged back along Judge Road, returning to the more familiar sprawl near our hotel. Along the way, I passed the Renaissance Hotel on Semona Boulevard, which I visited the other night because it's the only place around that had a piano on which I could practice. (I was thrilled that any place would have a piano in this area.)

Approaching our hotel, I began to see other folks out for morning runs at more reasonable hours. One looked just like my business partner, so I greeted him a little more heartily (and insultingly!) than he was perhaps expecting. Of course he wasn't my business partner, but why let a little thing like that get in the way of reaching out to a fellow runner on the road?

Upon my return to the lobby, the clock read 6:45 a.m. So 1 hour and 37 minutes to do 7.3 miles. That's 13:12 per mile, which isn't too bad, considering that I haven't been running or doing any kind of exercise recently. And it was enough to add Florida to my list, which puts me at 10 -- double digits, and one-fifth of the way there.

Not sure when and where the next one will be, but stay tuned!

About to add another state...

Right now I'm in Orlando (that's our hotel, above) for a printing conference, which gives me the first chance of 2013 to pick up a new state: Florida! Land of the low-hanging fruit, and also the hanging chad.

The weather here is pleasant, with a mid-day high (right now) of about 75 degrees, which is a big improvement on 0 degrees in New Hampshire, which we left behind yesterday.

I went for a brief run this morning (2.5 miles) to gauge the area and climate prior to attempting an 8-mile circuit on either Monday of Tuesday. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to rent a bicycle where I am (hotels near the airport), so it's running.

There's a pool, too, so I may go swimming today (Saturday, Jan. 26) and tomorrow as part of the prep. I need to do more swimming anyway if I'm going to do better in any triathlons this summer.

Today I got a nice e-mail today from a guy named Andrew Cushing, a guy who was race director of a 5K I did in the town of Grafton this past fall. To help in my question to run in all of New Hampshire's cities, town, and unincorporated places, Andrew proposed organizing a few 5K runs in the sparsely populated hill communities north of Interstate 89: places such as Dorchester and Orange.

Not sure if this proposal was made out of pity, but I'm game. So I look forward to joining Andrew and his running pals some day when the weather warms up to bag as many as three towns in a single day. Thanks, Andrew!

And you know, I just cruised the N.H. race listings at www.coolrunning.com and out of something like 100 races already scheduled for the 2013 season, I think I saw maybe two towns that I hadn't run in before.

So this is the year, it seems, where I have to seriously broaden my effort to include non-racing towns, just as Andrew has suggested. It's the only way I'm ever going to get to finish this silly quest by the self-imposed deadline of May 14, 2016.

Also, one more note to myself. As motivation to keep things going this winter and into the summer, I have to remember there are plans afoot to join an expedition to trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in August or September of this year.

As a climb, Kilimanjaro isn't technically that difficult. With its big broad profile and steady slopes, this immense mountain is like a gigantic version of New Hampshire's Mount Washington. Even so, conditioning will improve my chances of making it to the summit, which is (gulp!) 19,341 feet.

So I have a specific reason to push myself in the months ahead, don't I?

And so maybe this will be what gets me to complete another list-in-progress: the 48 4,000-footers in New Hampshire, where I've been stuck at 30 since the season before last. We'll see.

Getting organized for 2013

Okay, a few thoughts about the new year, which is already in progress...

• December 2012 was a fairly quiet month. January 2013 will also be a quiet month if I don't get organized. So get organized.

• One reason December was a wash-out is that I'm having trouble finding time to work out. This has to change.

• For 2013, I need to run more regularly and avoid injury. This means taking time to stretch and warm up. And running regularly with our three dogs to give them the benefit of the activity as well.

• For 2013, it would be nice to get at least 40 new towns added to my "run in every place in New Hampshire" quest, and a total of 12 new states in my "run in all 50 states" quest.

• For biking, I need to come up with some plans to make the most of this. The 100-mile loop around the White Mountains would be doable. Another trip to Harrisville or the beach? To Brattleboro, Vt.?

• I also need to make time to hike to a few more summits so I can complete all 48. I could actually do that this year, if I plan it correctly.

• For now (January, February), I need to make arrangements to spend some time in the gym, when I'm not shoveling snow, which is the best excerise I've gotten lately.

• Speaking of now, we actually have a nice snowpack going this year, so I need to break out the cross-country skis, and also get to a few downhill areas. I'll have to call Peter Noonan and see what he things.

• I think in general, I need to shoot for the goal that I set for myself for my next physical exam, which is in June. Can I do it? I don't see why not, if I can remain focused and not distracted.

Okay, that feels a bit more organized. But it hasn't gotten me outside or more active, so I'll sign off here and make it happen.

All the best and Happy New Year!