3.8-Miles at Granville (North Lane, NEFF).

5.9-Miles at Granville Reservoir.

7.3-Miles at Granville Reservoir.

7-Miles at Sodom Mountain.

Also, on this day in 2006, I completed a Metacomet Marathon with my dog Tippi;  it was just us.  By 2005, most of my running turned toward exploring and mapping routes through the forest of Western Massachusetts and North Central Connecticut, with an emphasis on picking out ways to connect big tracks of land, and turn them into runs of marathon length.

Tips taking a look toward the quarry in West Suffield, Connecticut.

This run began in Sunrise Park, Suffeld, Connecticut and flowed south through Penwood State Forest in Bloomfield and Simsbury, Connecticut.  We spent 6:27:00 completing a little over 28-miles or so.  This was my 31st marathon completed, and Tippi's 7th.
 

Hueblin Tower in the distance; we would be turning around just prior to it.

Notes:  A great day;  started out 50 degrees at the 9:45 A.M. start time.  I believe it reached 70 degrees during the day, with most of it in the mid to upper 60’s.  Sunny and blue sky entire time, with a bit of a nice breeze every once and a while.

Tippi taking a look back off a ledge.

Much of the route is a ridge trail, with weather beaten trees still standing.

Tippi at the finish, ready to eat and rest.

  

 

7.9-Miles at Sodom Mountain.

3.3-Miles at Cowles Park.

3-Miles at Shenipsit/Soapstone.

3.2- Miles at Bear Hole Reservoir.

Dead Meadow at the Stone Church in Brattleboro, VT with J Evil.

3.2- Miles at Cowles Park.

6.4-Miles at Bear Hole Reservoir.

3.1-Miles at Shenipsit/Soapstone.

4.9-miles at Sodom Mountain.

From the Marathon Archives...

100th Boston Marathon

April 15th, 1996 - Boston, Massachusetts

I was fortunate to run the 100th Boston Marathon today. 

It was my 10th marathon completed, in a time of 3:24:14.

Mile Markers as follow:

•   5.0 -Miles -    45:05
• 10.0 -Miles - 1:23:25
• 15.0 -Miles - 2:02:28
• 20.0 -Miles - 2:42:59
• 25.0 -Miles - 3:22:35
• 26.2 -Miles - 3:32:15

4.2-Miles at Granville Reservoir.

Return with DLV from Chicago. 

With DLV in Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

With DLV in Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

With DLV in Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

With DLV in Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

With DLV in Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

Depart with DLV for Chicago, visit with JC and Family. 

Sodom Mtn in the Rain, 4.2-Miles

Easter Dinner with DLV and TC. 

Visit with the Folks.

Fence Post with Pop early.

Time with Mom midday. 

Sodom Mountain, 4.4-miles.  

Nipmuck Woods, 1-mile hike. 

Finally had the Heat Shields replaced on the Corolla.  What a difference! 

K2, MB and I did some farming today with Pop.

Maple Sugaring and Garden Prep (removal of old Plastic Covering). 

Sodom Mountain, 5.6-miles. 

Northwest Park with K2, 5.6-miles. 

Sodom Mountain, 5.5-miles. 

Bald Mountain, 4.7-miles. 

5-miles at Sodom Mountain, Southwick. 

Ashley Reservoir with K2, 4.4-miles. 

Granville, 3.8-miles Granville.

Cowles Park, 3.6-miles. 

Bear Hole for 4.2-miles, first loop section. 

Otis, Tolland, Sandisfield & Blandford exploration on snowmobile rooutes for 4.3-miles.

Hike with DL at Ashley Reservoir, 1.5-miles. 

Otis, Tolland and Sandisfield area for snowmobile trail exploration and running for 5.5-miles.

Otis, Tolland and Sandisfield area for snowmobile trail exploration and running for 4.5-miles.

Otis,  Tolland and Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 6-miles.

What Played in Ed's Head -- 

Music listened to for the time-period February 1 through February 28, 2026:

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 4.8-miles.

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #09.

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 8.7-miles.

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #08.

Hilltown Data for Walks and Hikes!

Worthington

 Another Large Snowfall!

Main Street 3-mile run. 

Visit Mom and Pop.

Hairpin Turn on Route 2 (Mohawk Trail).

"High Points" along trails during January 2026... 

• Metacomet Ridge, Cowles Park, East Granby, CT
• Hill 621, Whitiker Woods, Somers, CT

On this day in 1995, the 1st Moby Dick Marathons were held.  

This was my 5th marathon, with the 28-miles completed in 5:01:00.

It seemed like a good idea, but there are reasons why the event didn't last, especially as a 28 or 30 miler.  

Bitter cold, difficult, no aid.  

February on Greylock....  seems like there would be many additional "whys".

This run was really special for me, it cemented my friendship with Paul.  

We ran the entire event together, and began to dream up our snowshoe series.  

Paul and I ended up roaming the woods together for a very long time, we see the same things in nature.

 

 

From the Archives...  On This Day:

2nd Annual Moby Dick Marathons
February 18th, 1996 - Lanesborough, Massachusetts

I completed my 9th marathon, the 2nd Annual Moby Dick.  

It was a run on snow, and Georgie H and I wore snowshoes.

The event began at the Greylock Visitor Center in Lanseboro, Massachusetts, and ran up the snow covered road to the summit of Mt. Greylock, then down to North Adams, and back.

Covered the 28-mile version in 6:16:43.

The breakdown of splits were as follows:

Visitor Center to Summit - 1:54:33;

Summit down to North Adams on Notch Road - 1:08:12;

3:02:46 at the "half-way" point of 15-miles.

1:53:58 back up to the junction with the final mile to the summit (avoided summit on return).  

This placed us at 4:56:44 for this point;

Final descent on Rockwell Road in 1:19:58 to end out at 6:16:43.

ODE TO REAL COLD MEN

So I thought I had seen and done it all vis a vis running in strange places for insanely long distances.  Then the farmer called to remind me of Mount Greylock and his plans to conquer the beast in sneakers.  I looked out the window that morning and groaned.  True dead of winter stuff here, folks.  Driving through northern Massachusetts I looked over at the grin on this guy’s face and knew I was in for it.  I mean he’s Fitzcarraldo, the windmill dude, Dr. Strangelove, all of the above when he gets this look in his eye.  I knew there’d be no stopping him on this quest.

We arrived at the visitor center around 9 in the morning and dodged obnoxious snowmobiles as we walked toward the hospitable lodge.  I sat on the couch and admired the pretty park ranger while Ed ran his hands over the diorama of the Mountain, mentally tuning his Zen state for that morning’s fun.  No kidding now.  This was really the last place on earth I wanted to be.  At least that’s how I felt when I saw that Ranger Sally had a wedding ring.  Then our fellow ghouls straggled in and I could see that this was a for real event.  So I disappeared into the bathroom to write some graffiti on the wall and hoped against hope that Ed would forget I had driven up with him.

SADDLE UP, EASY RIDER!  His voice shook the stall.  I fell off the seat.  Here we go again.  Fortunately the crew had left 5 minutes earlier in pansy ass sneakers.  We Bulls would be lashing Snowshoes for this trek.  Only problem was that I had never worn snow shoes.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  The first 7 miles to the base of the summit were, however, quite beautiful.  Ed and I even managed to smoke Dion, Joe and the boys.  I should have relished the moment.  It’d be the only Moment that day.  Because Lord Greylock was readying some payback for the proud.

Leaving the protection of the trees below the summit was like getting hit in the chest with a sledge hammer.  Naturally, I wore my 1930’s issue wool hunting uniform and I was soaked in sweat.  50 mph gusts of arctic wind sift through those fibers and find your very white blood cells in no time.  I knew my number was up at the summit, mile 8.  Bob Dion joined us at the top, allowing me a chance to pullback from the duo a little while I waited for the downhill section.  So I waited and waited and waited.  Mile after mile after mile and the damn mountain wouldn’t go down.  Truly dispiriting.  So I did the old, walk, trot, jog, walk thing until I met up with Ed and Bob coming back up the turnaround.  They looked like Chechen Rebels home from a night at the front.

“You don’t want to go there.  Don’t do it,” they warned.  I would have gone, really would have done the upright thing, finished the steep section, real man and all that.  But they had good food.  I thenceforth trailed them like a beggar, picking up scraps they’d toss over their shoulder.  Believe me you lose your pride pretty quick out in no man’s land.  That’s why they call it no man’s land.

It was a mutually beneficial run from there.  Bob and Ed set the pace just ahead, providing me with a little motivation to put one weary foot in front of the other.  And I gave them that healthy fear of failure, of being passed by a highly competitive opponent breathing down your neck.  Yea right.

At the junction leading back to the summit, we stopped to discuss making the extra 3 mile run to the top and back.  I fiercely argued that we had to go the extra yardage and finish the quest or we couldn’t live with ourselves.  Ed said something about bad luck visiting a mountain top twice in a day. Bob kept looking down the hill with an insane smile on his face.  I decided that this crew really didn’t have the je ne sais crois necessary to reconquer Greylock so I took command and ordered my men down the mountain.  Of course I trailed at a good healthy distance in case either of them fell by the wayside.  A really good healthy distance.

Bob and Ed bounded down the hill like kids at the final bell.  I stayed behind and ran to the summit on my own.  And I did it extremely fast.  Extremely.  Extremely enough that I ended up finishing the race in about 7 hours.  The latter hour of which found me crawling on my hands and knees as women in thongs and fine tan lines whizzed by on flaming green and red snowmobiles.  I must have looked pretty scary because nobody stopped to pick me up.  By the time I hit the parking lot, Bob and Ed were fast asleep in their cars inhaling carbon monoxide.  I pulled off my socks in Ed’s truck and watched as my toenails came off in the process.  Seems the crusty buggers had snagged on my wet wool socks.  I hadn’t felt the pain because of the frostbite.

So here’s a healthy Bronx cheer to those of you who decided to opt out of the Greylock quest.  I’m going to say that you really missed out on the time of your lives, a unique opportunity to test your primal bounds, to run with the wolves, to gasp on the edge of being, to wake up around oh....  11:00 on a Sunday morning, lounge on the couch in the sunroom and browse through the paper, enjoy a piece, two pieces of cinnamon raisin toast, take a nap, take another nap, watch an old movie with a pint of ice cream and some cute thing.  Ahhhh heck.  So maybe I made all this up.  But maybe I didn’t.  If any of you get a mouthful of hair when some freak streaks by you this coming season, just look down at his mangled toes.  You’ll know where you should be next February.

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #07.

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 6.4-miles.

Visit with Mom in Williamstown and Pop in Adams. 

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 5.1-miles.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Global Bird Count in February!  Join the world in connecting to birds February 13–16, 2026.

Spend time in your favorite places watching birds—then tell us about them! In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit your counts to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world. If you already use eBird or Merlin, your submissions over the 4 days count toward GBBC.

Project Goal:

Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

Our History:

Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) was the first online participatory-science project (also referred to as community science or citizen science) to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time. Birds Canada joined the project in 2009 to provide an expanded capacity to support participation in Canada. In 2013, we became a global project when we began entering data into eBird, the world’s largest biodiversity-related participatory science (community science or citizen science) project.

How to Participate:

Participating is easy, fun to do alone or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.

Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.

Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 13–16, 2026.

Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:

If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.

If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 6.0-miles.

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #06.

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #05.

Otis, Tolland & Sandisfield area for some snowmobile trail exploration and running for 4.5-miles.

Whale Week: Celebrating the Wonder of Whales

Celebrate Whale Week 2026 with us! Discover NOAA's work to study and conserve these magnificent marine mammals.

Join us in celebrating Whale Week, February 9–15, 2026! Whales are among the largest and oldest animals on Earth. They can be found in every ocean and range in size from the small dwarf sperm whale to the massive blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. 

Bridge-Main-Wisteria Loop for 3.4-miles. 

Old News Department...  this day in 2020...

Nipmuck - Natchaug Marathon - February 8th, 2020
Ashford, Union,  & Eastford, CT

.

I met up with Andy Hillbilliage early to attempt a Nipmuck / Natchaug Marathon.  The Wuzzam was planning to meet up with us to ramble through the last 9 or 10-miles.

The route is fairly easy:

• Boston Hollow Road, Ashford, north on Nipmuck Trail to Bigelow Hollow (~8-miles).
• Return via the same route, opposite direction (~8-miles).
• South from Boston Hollow along the Nipmuck Trail to the turn onto the Natchaug Trail just prior to Ladies Room Rock, down to Moon Road (~4.5-miles).
• And then return along the same sections (~4.5-miles).

What isn't easy is the trail really rolls up and down.  A lot.  5760' of ascent and descent for the full gps measured 24.6-miles.  It was also somewhat cold (around 22-degrees at the start), but that didn't stop Hillbilliage from going with shorts and a short-sleeve top for the last 9+ miles (where it might have gotten to 32-degrees or so, outside the Hemlock forest).

We completed what we wanted, pretty much averaging 4.1 mph the entire day.  At 2-miles we were at 4.3 mph, at 8 the same, at 16 the same, at 20.5 we dropped to 4.2 mph, which we almost maintained to the end.  Very steady rolling.

Completed in 6:01:00, which I felt pretty good about.  It was really awesome of Wuzzam to meet up with us to help with the company, that I (we) really appreciated, as Andy and I were getting a bit tired by the last sections.  Great day, outstanding mileage builder!

This was my 58th completed marathon all-time.

Visit Mom and Pop.

Landowner, Slant of Light, Outro at the Drake, Amherst (with J. Evil).

McLean Game Refuge for 3.3-miles. 

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #04.

Bridge-Main-Wisteria Loop for 3.4-miles. 

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #03.

Cowles Park for 3-miles. 

What Played in Ed's Head -- 

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

On this day in 1998...

the 4th Annual Moby Dick Marathons were held over Greylock. I completed my 19th marathon in 6:19:40, with Johnny Bandit.  It was the second time I wore snowshoes for the 28-mile adventure.  It would be the last time I would snowshoe this distance!

Overlooking Ragged Mountain

Memorial Tower

Visit with Mom and Pop.

The Famous Hairpin Turn!

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #02.

Hilltown Data for Walks and Hikes!

Plainfield

"Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED, #01.

Hilltown Data for Walks and Hikes!

Cummington

Hilltown Data for Walks and Hikes!

Chesterfield

Big Snowstorm, 16.5" (at least).

8:45 p.m. at the front steps.

Visit with Pop and Mom.

Hairpin Turn, Mohawk Trail

Began "Return to Fit" at YMCA through LED.

East Granby, Connecticut Rising Sun

Driving Tour of Historic Sites in Adams...

What Played in Ed's Head -- 

Music listened to for the time-period December 1 through December 31, 2025: