The “elusive” status of Westbrook was enough to overcome the fact that the forecast predicted solid rain all day (to the point where the race website posted a pop-up indicating that the race would go on, rain or shine). The town is one of the closer targets left on my list, now numbering less than […]

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Crossing over 120 has somehow made 169 seem not as far out of reach, so I’ve been adding races to the calendar and trying to knock off as many as I can, when I can. It’s not going to happen in the “under ten years since I started” or “before I turn 50” milestones like […]

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Trying to keep a shorter gap between races over the winter—last year I went four months—I was glad to find a January race that wasn’t too far away. It was far enough away that there was snow on the ground, though, which we no longer have down here. It felt like a slog, honestly, as […]

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I always thought the minimum to count for a town race was a 5K, but apparently that’s not the case. This two mile race was a nice change of pace. While the girls headed off for their CMEA auditions, I headed to Berlin for this race. Lots of runners in costumes, and Christmas music was […]

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After last weekend’s race, Dad and I had talked about doing another one this weekend, but I was a little surprised he was up for it on his vacation. North Haven has been a surprisingly elusive town for me, so close but not a town I’ve managed to get to during all these years. The […]

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This time, Grace put her foot down and insisted on sleeping in, but my dad was up for a 5K, so we headed to Stonington and parked in the lot at the Mystic Aquarium. Having a pair of African penguins at the start was definitely a first. The race was well organized, heavily staffed, and […]

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Grace and I got up without too much trouble at 6:45 and made it to the Quiet Corner of the state for the 9 a.m. start in Ashford. I pulled off the road into the Ashford Park entrance, next to another car but more importantly, right on top of a concrete culvert hidden from view. […]

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Grace and I drove up to Farmington for a really nice 5K trail race at Winding Trails camp today. She was plagued by the same leg pain that bothered her during the ski season last year, so we took it slow, but she kept at it and ran most of the way. We’ve got out […]

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I had four races to choose from this morning, and went for the one I could get to in time, with a 10:30 start in Simsbury. The rain was steady the whole way up, and I only got there 20 minutes before the start. Another first: QR code, credit card-enabled registration on site, after which […]

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I’m getting closing sewing up all of New Haven and Fairfield Counties, so it was finally time to head back to Greenwich for maybe the second or third time since leaving there in 2000. I wonder if any of my former students’ families were running today… It’s been long enough that I don’t know if […]

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Grace and I have made a plan to run three races in one day next month, so we’re trying to get in shape with some races leading up to the big day. Another first: the race was run from a private home, a massive home on 70 acres, where the course began and ended. The […]

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I’ve become little hesitant about trail races, but this one, at Camp Mattatuck, less than a half hour away, seemed like a good opportunity. Every race is different, but this one had some interesting features: for “day of” registration, a guy scribbled my details on a piece of paper which I was then instructed to […]

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Another long break with two trips to the U.K., the festival in Bologna, then Canada and Alaska, it’s been three months since I ran. The race was free, but also featured a first: custom-printed bibs with the name of the race on them…but no timing! I can’t recall the last race that didn’t use one […]

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This race had an unorthodox 1:30 p.m. start, allowing me to mow the lawn before the race. It was a small race, which explains how I came in fifth overall and grabbed the first place trophy for men 40-49. The race took place in farm country, not far from Hartford, in the part of Connecticut […]

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Happy to get back to racing with Grace, though it’s clear that by bringing her along on these early morning trips, I’m denying her some much-needed time to sleep in. We found ourselves driving up to Granby at 7 a.m., and she was pretty tired, having not run with me since last September. This was […]

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