Day 1266 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	Dec
Distance	8013.0	1618.7	73.9
Time	54 days, 17 hrs, 26 min	11 days, 22 hrs, 26 mins	13:03
Days	1266	235	14
States	24	5	1

Just before Christmas, I got sick. I have had horrible congestion in my lungs, which makes it really hard to run. Some illnesses I can run through, but not this one. So I ended up taking a whole week off. I finally got in one last run for the year, yesterday. Naturally, it wasn't an easy run. I still have some congestion, so I had to alternate running and walking.

The result was that December was another off month. For the second month in a row, I ran only 14 days, and this time, I didn't even make 74 miles.

For the year, I wasn't too bad. I had more miles than 2006 and 2007, although fewer total days. In fact, it was the lowest number of days in the history of JogAmericaBlog.

I have signed up for the Pikermi in Eau Claire on May 1. So Monday, I begin a 17 week training program. That should get me back on track.

Days 1264 and 1265 -- Bethlehem

How about that? Just in time for Christmas, I've made it to Bethlehem. No word on whether or not there's any room at the inn. According to Destination360.com, the Colonial Theater, seen here, only offers shows in the summer. So I'm not sure what the hot attraction is in Bethlehem. Maybe I'll see if I can find any occupied mangers.

Happy Christmas to all my friends!

Day 1263 -- Littleton

From VisitingNewEngland.com, we find that Chutters, in Littleton, "features a tour de force of familiar and hard-to-find candies." I guess I'd better keep running, to burn off all those calories.

I got in a fairly long run this morning, on the treaded dreadmill. I woke up early and was at the fitness center by about 5:15. It's pretty lonely that early on a Sunday morning. I think I was running for almost an hour before anyone else showed up.

I've decided I need to start training for something. Not training, I find too many excuses to take a day off. The Eau Claire Marathon is on May 1. By coincidence, I will be in the neighborhood that weekend, because the section meeting of the MAA is in Menomonie. And that's 17 weeks after the first of the year, so that's a good length of training. I haven't committed, yet, but I'm thinking that's the next plan.

Days 1261 and 1262 -- New Hampshire

With the semester finally coming to an end, I'm looking forward to having more time to blog. I may even do more running. I started out December with a vow to keep running on schedule, and then I took four days off this week without even trying. I did run yesterday and today, both on the treaded dreadmill. Yesterday was a pain, but today was OK.

Day 1260 -- More St. Johnsbury

Despite over 8 miles this morning, I'm still in the general area of St. Johnsbury. I tried to search for East St. Johnsbury, an unincorparated town to the (surprise!) east of St. Johnsbury. But apparently it's not even big enough to get any images of its own.

No run on Friday. That was sort of planned. I set the alarm, in case I woke up ready to run, but I didn't. So I didn't. I slept in Saturday, and planned to run at noon, but the weather was freezing rain, and I just didn't feel like fighting it.

So I should have had plenty of energy this morning. I had planned on 12 miles, but I didn't have more than eight in me.

Days 1257, 1258, and 1259 -- St. Johnsbury

From City-Data.com, downtown St. Johnsbury, VT.

Sorry, the end of the semester crunch has crunched me more than usual. Suffice to say I've been running indoors, on the treaded dreadmill.

Day 1256 -- Marshfield

The Marshfield Country Store looks like the type of place trying desperately to seem like an old-fashioned country store. Although it does say "1852" over the door, presumably the year it was founded.

I went over the Snap Fitness this morning for my long run. I made almost nine miles in 90 minutes of running. It was fine, but I don't have as much patience on the dreadmill as I do on the road.

Day 1255 -- Plainfield

Apparently, this is not the aftermath of a tragic tornado in northern Vermont. It was built that way. According to SugarMountainFarm.com, this is the sort of architectural imagination that is stifled by neighborhood covenants.

Thursday afternoon, I went over to Snap Fitness and signed on for three months. I took Friday morning off, partly because I'd already run three days in a row, and partly because I wanted to get to school early to prepare for class. As poorly as that class went, I might as well have slept in. Anyway, Friday afternoon it because to snow, and by the time I woke up Saturday morning, there was a good eight inches on the ground, and still falling. So it was just as well that I have a membership at the fitness club.

I didn't go down right away, because Mrs. Jogger was making pancakes, and they smelled really good. But I went down after noon and got in a 5K on the treaded dreadmill. It was OK, but I went out a little too fast. I had to stop and take a couple of walk breaks.

If I'm going to get in a long run tomorrow, it's going to be on the dreadmill. We'll see.

Days 1253 and 1254 -- East Montpelier

When I think of fall in New England, this is exactly the picture that is in my mind. Interestingly, it is from this story that asserts that fall colors in New England are getting less intense, because of global climate change. More interestingly, the story is from Fox News. I thought that Fox News didn't believe in global climate change.

I ran both yesterday and today. It felt good, but cold. The temperature plummeted on Tuesday after my run. I had a hard time getting out of bed yesterday. I had to tell myself how rotten I would feel if I didn't run, and that did the trick. This morning, I had no trouble getting up at all. In fact, I had trouble sleeping, because of a migraine. So I was awake at 4, and not going back to sleep. I got up and ran, and that helped my head. But now I'm fading fast, just like the colors in New England.

Day 1252 -- Jogger's Progress

	Trip	YTD	Nov
Distance	7939.1	1544.8	87.9
Time	54 days, 4 hrs, 23 min	11 days, 9 hrs, 23 mins	16:14
Days	1252	221	14
States	24	5	2

Unsurprisingly, November was a pretty pitiful month. I had two fairly big unplanned breaks, and other missed days. I ran only 14 days, the lowest in the history of JogAmericaBlog. It wasn't quite the lowest mileage, because I still got in three pretty good long runs. Not much I can do about it at this point but plan to make December better.

Days 1249, 1250, and 1251 -- Western Vermont

I've managed to get in over 30 miles since I last posted. I ran ten miles last Sunday. It felt pretty good. I don't know why I didn't get it blogged. I think I just had a busy Sunday. I took a scheduled day off on Monday. Then I took unscheduled days off on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. I finally got out and ran on Friday. After three days off, it was kind of tough. I took Saturday off, and got out again this morning. I decided to test the theory that I can run a Pikermi any time I want to. And I made it. It wasn't terribly fast, but I made it. In fact, I ran a little over 14 miles.

I intend to make a concerted effort to blog more, and I hope more interestingly. Stay tuned.

Before I leave Western Vermont, I wanted to visit the Black Bear Inn in Bolton Valley.

A long, long time ago, when my family lived in New York, I went to a private school, Far Brook School, in Short Hills, NJ. The first year, my mother taught there, but the second year, she didn't. This lead to two problems. First of all, when Mom wasn't teaching there, I didn't get free tuition. Second, it was a good hour drive, and of course Mom wasn't making it any more. So Dad got up every morning and drove me out there. My parents thought it was a great school, and much better for me than the New York City public schools. I appreciate the sacrifice that they made so that I could go that second year.

What does all this have to do with Bolton Valley? Well, Far Brook had an annual ski trip to Bolton Valley, and, if I'm not mistaken, we stayed at the Black Bear Inn. That was another sacrifice. A lot of those private school kids could easily afford a ski trip, but it wasn't so easy for my family. But I got to go both years. Those are the only two times in my life that I've been downhill skiing. It didn't help that we moved to Iowa the next year, where we don't have hills.

Day 1248 -- Burlington

Before I left the greater Burlington area, I thought I'd post a picture of what VTrim Weight Management Systems calls "America's healthiest city". Of course, they are headquartered in Burlington, so they may be a little biased. In any case, it looks like a beautiful day for a run in Burlington.

It wasn't a beautiful day for a run yesterday, which was Day 1248. It was below freezing, and there was a steady wind. But I got out and ran, and I don't seem to have frozen any pieces off. Today was another day off, and I'm planning to go for a long run in the morning.

Day 1247 -- Welcome to Vermont

In case you are interested, Vermont is my first new state since March 25, when I entered Michigan. I was in Michigan for almost four months, and then I ran into Ontario, which was a whole new country, but not a new state. I was in Ontario for almost three months, and then I ran into New York, which is not a new state, because I started in New York. A month in New York, and then, "Hello, Green Mountain State.

I ran an easy three this morning. I didn't really feel like running, but I didn't want to get back into the pattern I was in late last week. I kept going to bed with a plan to run, and waking up thinking, "Hey, this bed is nice and warm. Maybe I'll just stay in." This morning, I didn't stay in. It wasn't a great run, but it was a run.

Day 1246 -- Lake Champlain

I ran six miles this morning, all of it on Lake Champlain, so I figured I'd better find a picture where I can run on water. Hey, if Justin can stand on it, I can run on it. What do you mean it's only four inches deep? It's a lake!

Day 1245 -- Burlington-Ft Kent Ferry

I've been looking forward to this part of the trip. Mapquest has me taking the Burlington-Fort Kent Ferry across Lake Champlain. So what am I supposed to do about the miles? If I were really there, I couldn't run the nine miles across the lake. And if I were driving, I'd get on the ferry, and take it across, not putting any mileage on my car. Yet, somehow, I feel vaguely that it would be cheating to just disappear on the west side of the lake and appear on the other. So I'm counting the miles. Today, I ran 1 mile out into the lake. I must have been going pretty fast.

This photo of the view from the ferry is from Squidoo.

Normally, when you don't hear from me for four days, I come back and say, "I've been running, but not blogging." But for the last four days, I haven't been running. There's no special reason for that. I haven't been hurt. I just haven't felt like getting up and running. It felt pretty good this morning when I went out and ran five. I'm going to try to get back into a routine.

Day 1244 -- Peru

I couldn't resist this one. Apparently, runner #1316, leading this pack, is from Peru, NY, where I just ran through. I'm sure that if I'd actually been at this meet, I'd be keeping up with him. Unfortunately, I can't link to the site, because it isn't responding. The picture itself I got from the Google cache.

I was in a bit of a hurry this morning, so I only ran 3.5 miles. We have one more day of good weather scheduled, and then blah. So I'm going to try to get out to run again tomorrow.

Day 1243 -- Valcour

The Bluff Point Lighthouse is a fairly popular image when you search for Valcour, NY. This photo is from LighthouseFriends.com.

I had a good five mile run this morning. The weather has warmed up a little bit. I took a hilly route, and still managed a decent pace. I'm pleased.

Day 1242 -- Plattsburgh

From the Clinton County Photo Gallery, a photo of the Samuel de Champlain Monument in Plattsburgh. Looks like nice weather.

It wasn't too bad this morning. Upper thirties, no wind to speak of. I knew in the first few miles that I wasn't going to be swift or strong, so I settled for stubborn. I plodded out a little over 10 miles without a stop. It felt pretty good.

Day 1241 -- West Chazy

Stoneview - a cordwood masonry guesthouse at Earthwood Building School in West Chazy, New York features a living roof. Is that cool, or what? It was built by Sustainabylt.

Day 1241 was yesterday. I did five and a half in the morning. Then in the evening, we went to see a group called "Mad Agnes" down at the college. I'd never heard of them, but they were quite good. They are very hard to pin down, musically. Sometimes they were Celtic, sometimes bluegrass, sometimes country, sometimes R&B, but always great sound. It was a lot of fun.

Days 1239 and 1240 -- Altona

From the National Trust for Historic Preservation, we find that the McGregor Powerhouse in Altona is going to be restored.

Located on the Great Chazy River in upstate New York, the powerhouse has been closed since the early 1960s. It is one of three remaining features of a hydroelectric power system built by William H. Miner and the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company in the early 1920s. Miner, a millionaire businessman and developer, used the hydroelectric system to power the village of Chazy, N.Y., and Heart's Delight Farm, a family homestead which grew to 12,000 acres in 1918. The powerhouse is currently vacant and partly used for storage by Altona, the plant's current owners.

So day 1239 was Tuesday, when I did a fairly nice five miles. Day 1240 was yesterday, when I did a brisk four. This morning, I slept in.