Archive - Apr 2010 - Staff Blog

After a few good long runs last week, I succumbed to temptation and ignored common sense by registering for The Middlebury Maple Run, a half marathon (13.1 miles) which attracted about 200 runners in its inaugural running last year, and filled up with 500 runners this year. I don’t usually write up road runs for this column, but my hunch is that a lot of the runners who enjoy the trails would also enjoy this event, which draws upon the support of a wide variety of local businesses, and is planned and staffed by many of my friends who are among the town’s diehard runners.

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It seems as if Brandon’s quarrying history has been reborn with the Route 7 road work just south of town. Unlike in the 1800s, when Brandon enjoyed its heyday as a marble quarry center, the work is now being conducted with enormous excavators and front-end bucketloaders, the kind my young boys love to watch in videos. The dump trucks lined up and waiting to be loaded are size of those we see at Omya’s open house each year.

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Word on the street is that it's time (er, past time) to start thinking about a garden for this summer.

That was certainly the case at the Middlebury College Organic Garden on Wednesday. Wind whipped across the garden's beds, which have spread out across the top of the knoll in a field below the college since the project's birth in 2003.

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Two weekends ago, I had a great run in the mountains with the intention of writing it up for this blog. While out on the run, I discovered much to my dismay that the batteries in my camera were dead, negating the opportunity for including a few photos. Adding further to my technological woes, my other primary gadget, the GPS watch with which I map out the run, had apparently hiccup’ed at one point in the run, indicating a 500 vertical ft drop and climb in a section of the trail which I knew to be quite flat.

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Thinking about getting involved in Green Up Day this year? See below for a list of coordinators in Addison County, or visit http://www.greenupvermont.org/.

Addison:
Starr Phillips
759-2421
santphillips@gmavt.net

Bridport:
Susan Highley
758-2714
alnsusn@gmavt.net

Bristol:
Dave Rosen
453-5655

Bristol Conservation Commission
453-2410

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And so it (spring schedule changing) begins

Never mind the sap buckets, first thunderstorms or the Red Sox equipment truck heading to Florida, the surest sign of spring in these parts comes when the local high schools start juggling their schedules.

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As a (former) New Yorker, I’m well aware that a bagel is not your average bread. In Manhattan, there are several thousand bagel places to choose from, and each one makes their specialty a little differently. Everyone has an opinion on where to buy the best bagels — growing up, I spent countless hours in line on weekend mornings for a warm, freshly baked bagel, just around the corner from my apartment.

And while bagel snobbery seems to wane the further you get from New York City, sometimes you find warm, freshly baked bagels in the most unexpected places.

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The snow has melted away at lower elevations (except for in my yard, but that is another story), the sun is shining, and the weather is warm. Is Spring here? No way – this is all Vermonters’ favorite time of the year, Mud Season, and chances are good that true “Spring” is a few weeks to a month away! Nonetheless, Friday’s 70 degree weather inspired me to go for one my favorite short hill climbs, Snake Mountain. I briefly contemplated breaking out my new running shoes to begin their break-in process, but at the last minute, decided against it.

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