From the Marathon Archives:

Notchview Marathon - September 10th, 2007
Windsor, Plainfield, Hawley & Savoy, Massachusetts

Tippi and I finished the Notchview Marathon.  

We ran from Notchview Reservation into Dubuque State Forest, then to Savoy Mountain State Forest.  

We got crushed by a heavy rainstorm for the last 3-miles.

This was my 37th completed marathon, and Tippi's 11th.  

All in all, I was not in fantastic shape but the year was winding down, and the run was incredibly enjoyable.  

Missing a turn shortly after Windsor Jambs, continuing on the dirt road for a bit, didn't count as a positive.

Looking at the map, we passed Windsor Pond, Crooked Neck Pond, and Hallockville Pond along the journey.  

Meadow at Notchview 

Tippi on the Jambs Trail.

Windsor Jambs.

Alert, as always.

Jambs, with Tippi on the ledge, upper right,

 

Left Hip Replacement today...  hoping for the best! 

"High Points" along trails during August, 2026... 

• Blueberry Hill, Phelon Forest (NEFF), Granville, MA

• Phelon Memorial Forest in Granville, two trailheads on North Lane take you to the summit of Blueberry Hill with long views to Russell, Sweetman Mountain, Mount Tom and the Holyoke Range. Perched up above Cobble Mountain Reservoir the trails here are spectacular for bird watching and is a popular hawk watch destination. More than 1,000 acres are conserved by the New England Forestry Foundation. 

• The property’s 1,487-foot summit allows visitors to see into five different states on clear days, and it becomes an even more awe-inspiring spot during seasonal raptor migrations, when birders and field biologists settle into the hillside to count birds and watch a wonder of the natural world unfurl. Hawks like the Broad-winged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk make up the bulk of the hill’s sightings, and birders on the hill once counted 2,406 migratory Broad-winged Hawks on a single day.

From the Marathon Archives... a pair of beauties!

 

Dunbar - Whitcomb - Jambs Marathon
September 7th, 2014
Monroe, Florida, Savoy & Windsor, Massachusetts

Dunbar - Whitcomb - Jambs Marathon for Wuzzam and I.

Wuzzam and I conquered Dunbar-Whitcomb-Jambs in 6:21:34.  This expanded from an old run the Bandit and I did on a few occasions, from Whitcomb Summit to Windsor Jambs.

This time, we began at Dunbar Brook in Monroe State Forest, and ventured out a new snowmobile trail to the windmills to Whitcomb Summit, over Crum Hill, over Flat Rock Hill and the old Viewing Platform for the Hoosac Tunnel, crossed the Cold River on an obscure grown in path, past Savoy Mountain State Forest at North Pond, past Bog Pond, over Lewis Hill and Borden Mountain, through Windsor Bush into Windsor State Forest and the Jambs.

Outstanding day with outstanding sunny weather.  This was my 54th completed marathon. 

 Unfortunate Windmill site.

The Elk Monument at Whitcomb Summitt.

Viewing Platform for the Hoosac Tunnel construction.

View from Flat Rock Hill with Greylock in view.

 

Crossing of the Cold River.

Stone Carving on rock, obscure path.

Bog Pond.

The Dunham Lot, off Tannery Road.

We are getting close!

The Jambs!

Dwarf Forest and the softest ground-cover imaginable.

Curly's Marathon
September 7th, 2008 - Pittsfield, MA

Curly's Marathon was held in Pittsfield State Forest, and it was a beautiful day to run.  

I made the mistake of wearing old shoes rather than a new pair I had just purchased, and it was a very poor decision. 

The pain in my feet and lower legs was incredible for the last 6 or 8 miles, and I was lucky to finish in 5:54:36.  

This was my 40th completed marathon.  

My dad ran the Half-Marathon option as well.

2-Miles in Granville, NEFF-Phelon Forest.  A new trail spur to explore! 

It's been a while since we last watched the X-Files.

Originally, we watched the series live, as it was broadcasts, beginning in 1993.  Episodes were broadcast on Fridays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time for the series' first three seasons; the following six seasons aired on Sundays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time.  

This was must-see TV for us during these nine-years.

When JC was old enough, we revisited the series, watching on dvd. This would have begun somewhere about 2005, or slightly later by a year or two (at the most).

Since we completed that second run of viewing, X-Files has only really existed in our memories, with the exception of the two later seasons running January 24, 2016 to February 22, 2016 and January 3, 2018 to March 21, 2018.  These were Season's 10 and 11.

So, with some TV-Time available for the upcoming months, and nothing new really drawing us in, what better opportunity than revisiting old friends Scully, Mulder, Skinner, Cigarette Smoking Man, the Lone Gunman "Byers, Frohike, and Langly", Doggett and Reyes.

I will keep a log of episodes watched and progress, as we journey through over 200 episodes!  

August 30th thru September 5th:

Overall / Season                    Title                                     Original Release Date            

• Episode 3.03 (52)          D.P.O.                                       October 6, 1995
• Episode 3.04 (53)          Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose            October 13, 1995
• Episode 3.05 (54)          The List                                              October 20, 1995
• Episode 3.06 (55)          2Shy                                                      November 3, 1995
• Episode 3.07 (56)          The Walk                                               November 10, 1995
• Episode 3.08 (57)          Oubliette                                                November 17, 1995
• Episode 3.09 (58)          Nisei                                                      November 24, 1995
• Episode 3.10 (59)          731                                              December 1, 1995

Trip to visit parents today as well.

4.1-Mile Hike in Granville, NEFF-Phelon.

Haircut in afternoon. 

What Played in Ed's Head -- 

Music listened to for the time-period August 1 through August 31, 2026:

4.5-Miles in Granville, at NEFF - Phelon. 

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #21 for 2026...

"Killer's Payoff", 87th Precinct #6, a 1958 novel by Ed McBain.

From the Marathon Archives...

Metacomet Trail Marathon - August 31st, 2019
West Suffield, East Granby, Bloomfield & Simsbury, CT

Today would be the day I would try my first Marathon distance run since 2014.  I am not as fit as I would have liked, as I am carrying 15 or so extra pounds.  I haven't really done any racing in many years, so running hard hasn't happened either.  It has been a struggle health-wise at times, with constant issues related to the bouts with Lyme Disease, as well as the entire repair from the brain tumor surgery.  Basically, I have grown tired of trying to get into "perfect" shape to attempt this distance, as it's dawned on me that "perfect" shape may never materialize.  So, today is the day to suffer if need be.

The original route was the Granville State Forest to Satan's Kingdom using Granville, MDC Forest Roads, and the Tunxis Trail that I had worked out through exploration and mapping during the past few years.  But, that would need two vehicles or a shuttle, and Wuzzam wasn't recovered from the McLean distance last Saturday.  While DL offered to shuttle, I decided to run the Metacomet Marathon that Wuzzam completed with me in 2012.

This would be the fourth Metacomet Marathon I would attempt.  Earlier versions were:

April - 2006, with Tippi.  From Sunrise Park all the way through Penwood completely, and back.  This is actually much further than 26-miles, more in the 28 or 29-mile range.

August - 2008, with Tippi.  From Phelps Road in Suffield, north to Robinson State Park and back for the first 16-miles, and then from Phelps south to Route 20 and back for 10-miles more.

June - 2012, with Wuzzam, and Tippi for the first 10-miles.  This would be the same route as today's scheduled route.  Park at Route 20 in East Granby, run north to Phelps in West Suffield and back for the first 10-miles, and then head 7-miles south into Penwood to do a 2 to 2.5-mile loop before heading back to Route 20 for the last 7-miles, with a grand total of right at 26+.

I got an early enough start, after my one aid-stash at miles 14.5 & 22.  8:50 a.m. I was running along on my way.  Completed the first 10-miles averaging 4.3 mph on the hilly, rocky trail.  All in all, I felt pretty good at that point.

The Hatchet Hill section into Tariffville and the Farmington River became a bit tougher, and by the time I was climbing up toward the Bartlett Chimney around 15-miles, I was feeling a little worn.  Recovery was achieved, and as I approached the Penwood section I was shuffling along pretty well again.

The Metacomet once in Penwood, through to the Pinnacle, is harsh.  Mostly climbing on rocks, with a few lengths of trail to actually run well.  I run this section often enough, and I am able to run it, but that is due to starting at this point, not beginning it at 17-miles.  Today, this section was taken at a fast hiking pace rather than truly running form.

Once on the bottom of the Pinnacle, I feel as though I really charged through the lower section of Penwood back to Wintonbury Road.  My time dipped to an average of 4.1-mph through 22-miles.

The two final legs, from the Farmington River and over Hatchet Hill, was extremely difficult.  For this final 4-miles, I ended up dipping to a 3.9-mph average for the day.  I was still able to jog reasonably well on the more level sections, but the uphills were pushing my heart-rate to a place I wasn't comfortable.

To finish was awesome.  I wasn't sure I had the mental determination to tackle the suffering that a marathon in the woods presents.  I proved to myself that toughness isn't an issue at this point.  My legs were in great shape, I did not have any trouble on the later downhills, even the steep ones.  I am very satisfied with my overall conditioning regarding leg strength.  Even the late uphills, it was more the cardio than the leg muscles.  Limited long trail racing over the past 5-years reared it's head today.

Final thought is I am very satisfied.  In perspective, during the 2012 version on the same route, I had a final total time of 7:01:00.  Today, I ended up at 6:56:00 total, 6:41:00 moving time.  I believe the 2012 run was a much hotter day, as my memory tells me that.  I also think the "stopped" time would have been greater for the older run, but I don't have any data proving that.  So, all in all, a real good run that I can build on.

This was my 55th completed marathon lifetime.

Mile One and Nine, Peak/Copper Mountain

Mile Five, Phelps - Suffield Land Conservancy Property

Mile Eleven, enormous Oak

Mile Thirteen and a half, overlook at T-Ville

Mile Fourteen & Twenty-Two, Farmington River

Mile Fourteen & Twenty-Two, Farmington River

Mile Sixteen & Twenty, Ledge after Bartlett Chimney

Mile Eighteen+ at base of rock stairs to Pinnacle

Really good day of hiking, 5.3-miles in Granville at the NEFF - Phelon Forest.

And From the Archives...

 

August 30th, 2020 - Nipmuck Trail

Bigelow Hollow to Gurleyville Grist Mill Marathon

Time to Marathon:

Bigelow Hollow to the Gurleyville Grist Mill, through Union, Eastford, Ashford, Willington and Mansfield, Connecticut.

Shuttled cars with Wuzzam, he and the Old Goat would be starting five or six miles away from me.  I hoped to catch them by mile 22 or 23.  This did not happen.

I felt really good until around 17 or 18-miles.  From that point on, I slowed from a 4.5 mph average to a overall 4.3 mph.  Ended up running 6:03:00, with another 5 or so minutes of stopped time to fill up water.  Wuzzam and Karl finished about 7 or 8 minutes before me, doing around 20-miles.  I hit right at 26.2-gps measured miles....  this was marathon #60 all-time for me.

Nipmuck Trail

It's been a while since we last watched the X-Files.

Originally, we watched the series live, as it was broadcasts, beginning in 1993.  Episodes were broadcast on Fridays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time for the series' first three seasons; the following six seasons aired on Sundays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time.  

This was must-see TV for us during these nine-years.

When JC was old enough, we revisited the series, watching on dvd. This would have begun somewhere about 2005, or slightly later by a year or two (at the most).

Since we completed that second run of viewing, X-Files has only really existed in our memories, with the exception of the two later seasons running January 24, 2016 to February 22, 2016 and January 3, 2018 to March 21, 2018.  These were Season's 10 and 11.

So, with some TV-Time available for the upcoming months, and nothing new really drawing us in, what better opportunity than revisiting old friends Scully, Mulder, Skinner, Cigarette Smoking Man, the Lone Gunman "Byers, Frohike, and Langly", Doggett and Reyes.

I will keep a log of episodes watched and progress, as we journey through over 200 episodes!  

August 23rd thru August 29th:

Overall / Season                    Title                                    Original Release Date                        

• Episode 2.21 (45)        The Calusari              April 14, 1995
• Episode 2.22 (46)        F. Emasculata              April 28, 1995
• Episode 2.23 (47)        Soft Light                      May 5, 1995
• Episode 2.24 (48)        Our Town                      May 12, 1995
• Episode 2.25 (49)        Anasazi                      May 19, 1995
• Episode 3.01 (50)        The Blessing Way      September 22, 1995
• Episode 3.02 (51)        Paper Clip                      September 29, 1995
• Episode 3.03 (52)        D.P.O.                              October 6, 1995

Trip to visit parents today as well.

Rock and Roll Heaven...

This one hurts a bit, David Fair of Half Japanese passed today.

David Fair, one half of the legendary indie rock outfit Half Japanese has died.

The Michigan-born musician and visual artist was 74.

Along with his brother Jad, the two formed Half Japanese in the mid-seventies. Considered to be one of the greatest underground bands of all time, the Half Japanese journey began with the 1977 EP Calling All Girls and from there they went on to release classic albums like 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts, Sing No Evil and Music To Strip By. 

How to play Guitar

by David Fair [of Half Japanese]

I taught myself to play guitar. It's incredibly easy when you understand the science of it. The skinny strings play the high sounds, and the fat strings play the low sounds. If you put your finger on the string farther out by the tuning end it makes a lower sound. If you want to play fast, move your hand fast and if you want to play slower move your hand slower. That's all there is to it. You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that's pretty limiting. Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords you'd still have a limited number of options. If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day.

Traditionally, guitars have a fat string on the top and they get skinnier and skinnier as they go down. But the thing to remember is it's your guitar and you can put whatever you want on it. I like to put six different sized strings on it because that gives the most variety, but my brother used to put all of the same thickness on so he wouldn't have so much to worry about. What ever string he hit had to be the right one because they were all the same.

Tuning the guitar is kind of a ridiculous notion. If you have to wind the tuning pegs to just a certain place, that implies that every other place would be wrong. But that's absurd. How could it be wrong? It's your guitar and you're the one playing it. It's completely up to you to decide how it should sound. In fact I don't tune by the sound at all. I wind the strings until they're all about the same tightness. I highly recommend electric guitars for a couple of reasons. First of all they don't depend on body resonating for the sound so it doesn't matter if you paint them. As also, if you put all the knobs on your amplifier on 10 you can get a much higher reaction to effort ratio with an electric guitar than you can with an acoustic. Just a tiny tap on the strings can rattle your windows, and when you slam the strings, with your amp on 10, you can strip the paint off the walls.

The first guitar I bought was a Silvertone. Later I bought a Fender Telecaster, but it really doesn't matter what kind you buy as long as the tuning pegs are on the end of the neck where they belong. A few years back someone came out with a guitar that tunes at the other end. I've never tried one. I guess they sound alright but they look ridiculous and I imagine you'd feel pretty foolish holding one. That would affect your playing. The idea isn't to feel foolish. The idea is to put a pick in one hand and a guitar in the other and with a tiny movement rule the world.

Having been born in 1962, and liking and listening to music from the early sixties onward, I thought it might be fun to attempt a listing of my favorite albums each year since birth.

The initial post for this series of ideas began on December 26th, 2023.  You can look it up....

This time, I present my "Top Albums released in 1969, #61 through #70" 

... from that incredible Year in Music 1969!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

61 The Rolling Stones                    Let It Bleed

62 Blue Cheer                            New! Improved!

63 Free                                            Free

64 Procol Harum                            A Salty Dog

65 Humble Pie                            As Safe As Yesterday Is

66 Spooky Tooth                            Spooky Two

67 Leo Kottke                            6- and 12-String Guitar

68 Led Zeppelin                            Led Zeppelin II

69 Ten Years After                    Ssssh

70 Fleetwood Mac                    Then Play On

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Potential Final Day at JMH, my watch has ended.... at least for a while?

And From the Marathon Archives...

On this day, I've finished two marathons...

In 2008, Tippi and I finished Metacomet II, which began at Phelps Road in Suffield, and covered north to Route 57 and south to Route 20.  

Running time of 5:32:00.  

This was my 39th and Tippi's 13th completed marathon.

In 2009, Wuzzam joined Tippi and I at Tunxis II (South), which meant we ran from Route 219 to Satan's Kingdom, and also north to Roberts Brook I believe.  

Our time was 6:04:44.  

This was my 44th and Tippi's 15th marathon.