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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I didn’t end up hitting any more races in March, or most of April, with the family vacation and FIAF in Mexico. My first weekend at home in many weeks, I headed to Windsor, with constant rain on the drive up. Races in towns I’ve yet to run in within an hour or so of […]

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Another busy end to the year meant that it’s been four months since I’ve had a chance to run a race. Niantic is not technically a town, so the race was officially in East Lyme, and it was the biggest I’ve run in many years, with more than 800 entrants on this chilly, breezy day […]

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We all got out of the house early this morning and stopped at a coffee shop for breakfast for the girls before arriving in East Windsor. I’d been getting used to finishing in the top 20 or 30 of these small races, but this one was comparatively huge, with more than 200 runners. The town’s […]

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Another last minute decision: I registered for the race at 6:55 a.m., and then drove up to Thomaston. Somehow, they already had a labeled manila envelope with my shirt, bib, and everything in it. It was a beautiful fall day, crisp and cold, and the small size of the race (44 runners) made my third […]

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Grace and I headed out early on a Sunday, for an 8 a.m. 5K in Montville (or was it Oakdale?). This was a real rarity: a free race, especially ambitious with a 5K, a 10K an hour later, and then a color run. It was a fine course, with a few hills, and race day […]

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A three-day weekend at the beginning of the school year made the perfect opportunity for Lucy’s first 5K. We all went to Winchester to support her, and though it was a tough slog, with lots of walking, up and down the many hills on the course, she finished, and in under 45:00. I managed a […]

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It had been a few months since I’d run a race, with trips to Bologna and the family road trip in Canada, and as I’ve been running almost every day lately, I wanted to try another race. I headed to Avon, where I’d not been before, and gave it my best shot in this small […]

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Grace and I started the day with a nice 5K run through the trails of A.W. Stanley Park in New Britain, along with cadets from the New Britain Police Academy (most of whom we beat, actually). Grace was a little tired—we’re getting to the point where she’s going to bed later, yet these races are […]

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Seizing the momentum from last weekend, Grace and I headed out again, this time to Middletown for the Grad Dash at the community college. Grace did great, persisting despite a cramp, and came in under 30 minutes for the first time in awhile. Though she insisted on noting that it was because she was the […]

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I had hoped to get to number 100 by the end of the year, but it wasn’t to be, between travel, holidays, fewer towns to choose from, and so on. Nearly six months had gone by, but I was glad to get back out on the road with Grace today. We headed to Washington Depot […]

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