Some of my favorite posts to this blog are when I get a chance to describe a trail that I have never before experienced, and discover something that I find interesting along the way. Then, there are the old favorites – the runs that I come back to, usually for some combination of appropriate challenge Read More…
A Shaggy Dog Story
A few days ago, I had a curious self-realization about this blog. For all intents and purposes, each blog posting is my version of the classic “Shaggy Dog Story”. For my readers who don’t know what exactly a Shaggy Dog Story is, here is the Wikipedia definition: “In its original sense, a shaggy dog story Read More…
Back to the Springtime Trails
This year’s never-ending winter seems to have loosened its grip – there are only a few stray patches of snow at the higher elevations, and my legs seem to be recovering from my first 26.2 in a year and a half, undertaken a week and a half ago. A lot of my friends ran in Read More…
I should have brought my skis
Last Saturday, I was looking to go for a run out on the trails, but knew that an awful lot ice of my favorite terrain, and with a road marathon coming up in a few weeks, I didn’t want to risk injury. Compounding the challenge of where to run, I knew there had been some Read More…
The Rikert Trail Name Game
Way back when, in the 80’s, when I began my career at the College and started skiing regularly at the College-owned Rikert Ski Touring center at Breadloaf, some “newer signs” were being mounted on the trees, indicating new trail names. Apparently, until a few years previously, the trails had descriptive names, such as “Turkey Trot”, Read More…
Sugar Hill Reservoir in Winter
Given the recent loss of snowpack, my plans to do some cross country skiing turned into a running day. I wanted to find a run where there was enough snow to feel wintry, but didn’t want to find myself scrambling, rather than running, on icy single track. So, I thought that the run up to Read More…
It’s like Riding a Bicycle
Long before I was an avid runner, my favorite endurance sport for many years was cross-country skiing. I picked up the sport as a grad student at Dartmouth in the early 1980’s and my first race was as the anchor leg (having only skied maybe 10 times in my life) on the “DFL“ relay team Read More…
Getting Lost (sort of) on Snake Mountain
This weekend provided some more unnaturally warm fall afternoons, and I was thinking about a good place to run. While the leaves in the big mountains are falling quickly, there is still a lot of foliage left in the Champlain Valley, so the day called for a run up one of my favorites, Snake Mountain, Read More…
Running in DC
I recently had the opportunity to be in Washington D.C. for the American Chemical Society meeting, so I, of course, brought along my running shoes. Now, Washington D.C. in August isn’t on most peoples’ list of favorite running destinations – let’s face it, it is kind of obvious why most politicians leave town this time Read More…
Blueberry Lake Trails
By now, readers of this blog have probably read lots of posts in which I sing the praises of the Blueberry Hill Trails, but I can’t help but wonder how many have ever heard of Blueberry Lake? I make frequent forays onto the trails in the Mad River Valley while visiting family, and had recently Read More…