Stage 2 - 2/20/10 - Vermont!

 
She Says:  It's official.  We made it to across the state line into Vermont today!  And then some.

Steve and I both had long slow-pace training runs scheduled, so decided to use the miles as our ticket to Vermont.   We left a car at the snowmobile highway trailhead in Heartwellville, VT, then drove back down to the reservoir in North Adams where we had left off last weekend.  We wove our way through North Adams, past MassMoCA, through the middle of town, then up the gauntlet of old mill buildings heading east up Rt. 2.

North Adams is kind of a pit – but with a lot of gritty character, and leaving it behind me was harder than I thought.  Yeah, I do have a bit of a soft spot for this sad, grungy, funky town, but haha, leaving it was hard only because it requires running up an endless friggin' hill.  Long, long, long.  But once we were at the high point (we passed “Cliff Street,” which is a good indication of over-the-top topo) it was a nice rolling slog.  Steve peeled off and ran up ahead at his real pace at about the 5 mile mark.   I could see him far, far up ahead until about the 8.5 mile mark, where we each stopped to take our self-portraits in front of the “Welcome to Vermont” sign, but after that, he was gone, baby, gone.

The next 8 miles up Rt. 8 just kept “rising to meet me,” but unfortunately, with no Irish proverbial “wind at my back.”  The last two miles of the run were nonstop, serious uphill. The kind that would feel really good when it's over except that you're too used up to feel anything. Hot chocolate and homemade chocolate chip cookies, courtesy of Jennifer, in the car at the end.  Oh yeah.

Happy to have the first Vermont leg done!



He says:  Today was a great day primarily because we actually got to Vermont and really starting “running Vermont”.  The route was 16 miles from the reservoir in North Adams up through Stamford Vermont ending in Heartwellville.  We wanted to do back roads as much as possible in North Adams which worked out well.  However, the main roads in North Adams have a monopoly on the bottom of the valley so we did a little extra  altitude to stay on back roads (2755 feet total up, 1933 total down).


Coordinating our marathon training did add a little complexity. I was supposed to do 16 miles and Lizzy 18 (I had an Achilles problem 2 months ago and had a later start on our training program). But, my pace is supposed to be faster than hers. We ran the 1st 5 together then I sped up to my pace. When I got to the end I looped back to join her and ended doing 17.3 (the last 1.5 cool down pace). She didn’t want to cover future Vermont miles so she then turned around and did 2 miles back the way we came and I picked her up in the car. This worked out fine but I do look forward to post marathon when pace won’t matter and we can run together.

Roadkill/Strange Items Report (RSIR):  1 dead rat in the gutter next to Burger King in North Adams.

Stage 1 - 2/13/10

She Says: And we're off!

Check out our Stage 1 map.

9 miles down, 402 or so to go! And the good news is that even though we're still in Massachusetts, only about 7 1/2 miles to go and we'll officially be in Vermont. Woo hoo!

We ran this first leg, fittingly, as what I'm calling a Sweetheart Run. First, today is our 32nd anniversary of our first hot date (I'll refrain from details; suffice it to say, it was memorable for both of us. ) So how cool to be running together, starting this adventure, on this particular day. Second, the planets aligned just right pace-wise. I needed to do a 9 mile marathon pace run, while Steve wanted to do about 13 at long, slow distance pace. A match made in heaven, pace-wise! Since both of us are used to running alone, it's nice every now and then to have company.

It did make me wonder how we will find a mutually agreeable pace for the Tour, because my slow pace is pretty slow for Steve. I'm thinking he can scamper on up ahead, then loop back every now and then to check on me and chat me up. He'll end up logging some extra miles, but he's tough - he can take it.

He Says: What a great day! The best is that we actually started and even though we haven't yet even reached Vermont we are on our way. It's also cool that the first is on the 32nd anniversary of our first date!

It's a little logistically hard to coordinate our respective Boston training with running together but we'll have fun working that out. Lizzy is running really strong with still 9 weeks to go to Boston.

I like the concept of photos from our routes and Lizzy even worked out how to imbed them on the blog site.

I suspect runs will be a bit spaced out over the next couple months what with training, XC skiing and weather issues but we have as long as we want. I'm looking forward to a 2 or 3 day long trek sometime this summer.

ONWARD!

First Steps

She Says: As they say, the journey of 411 miles begins with a first step, so here it is. A map! A plan! Well, sort of. The route is a rough outline of our proposed loop, but we'll adapt it as we go once we figure out how far we can run, what sort of parking and accommodations we can find, how trafficky the roads are, that sort of thing. We'll definitely default to side (and hopefully scenic) roads whenever we can, and update our route map as we go.

So, just a first step, but this idea is atually beginning to take form -- and possibly even action! With dry roads and very little snow here, we're hoping to pound some of our Boston marathon training miles as the beginning stages of our loop. Should make for some nice day trip running.

And if actually drawing a map isn't enough to convince me that we might actually start this harebrained idea in the near future, I've been shopping online for running day-packs. So far, this is the one I'm leaning towards

Pretty sweet with the flames, eh?

He Says: Good thing Lizzy is here to do all the web, map stuff etc! I love the route we talked about and she laid out in rough form. I really look forward to planned flexibility re backroads, etc as we move in to the adventure especially when the weather will allow even trails. I'm definitely willing to actually carry that cool pack she picked out (think all our stuff will fit in just one?) except I may want a little brighter color scheme. As you will see the tone for this adventure will likely be Lizzy will love doing the forework and I will love coming along for the ride. Can't wait to get started!!!!