No, I'm not moving, but this blog is. It's not that there's anything wrong with Blogger. In fact, I like Blogger. But I decided that I wanted to have my blog hosted on my own domain, and blogger is not an option for doing that, so I have switched to Wordpress.
The biggest negative of doing this move is that there is no way for me to move the subscriptions of those of you who took the trouble to subscribe to my blog. That being the case, if you would like to continue receiving my blog posts in your email, you will need to re-subscribe to the new blog.
So where is the blog nowadays, you ask? Right here:
www.allenf.com/blog
I will not be updating the blog at this location anymore. If you are wishing you had never subscribed to my blog in the first place, you can breathe a sigh of relief. This is the last update you will receive. But if you still have some degree of interest in what Jodi and I are up to and what minor adventures we might undertake in the future that I deem fodder for the blog, you will need to go to the new blog and subscribe again. I apologize for the hassle!
Here's hoping I see you over at allenf.com/blog
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Race To The Clouds
I got a number for the Mount Washington Road Race -- the Race To The Clouds -- on June 19 this year! 7.6 miles with 4650 feet of vertical rise. I've been entering the lottery for this event every year for several years, and never got a number until now. The course description says the road has "an average grade of 11.5% with extended sections of 18%, and the last 50 yards is a 22% "wall" to the finish."
This is gonna be awesome!
Now I just have to get my lard ass in shape...
This is gonna be awesome!
Now I just have to get my lard ass in shape...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Spring!
Spring arrived today, and a glorious spring day it was!
Last year I greeted spring while hiking in the Blood Mountain Wilderness in Georgia. Today I greeted it while cycling through the Blue Hills in Massachusetts with Jodi. It was a glorious spring day with sunshine and temps of 70 degrees, very unusual weather for March in New England.
Being awfully early in the season, and not having cycled at all last year since I spent the summer hiking, I labored on the hills today. But we are determined to whip ourselves back into cycling shape this year and are determined to do a challenging bike tour this summer. We aren't quite sure where yet and are still discussing options. The one we are currently exploring is to tour some of the parks in the Canadian Rockies.It always feels good to have a physically challenging adventure to work towards and look forward to.
Tomorrow our weather will be back to normal; gray and damp with temperatures in the 40s. But you can't fool me; spring is here and I know it!
Allen
Last year I greeted spring while hiking in the Blood Mountain Wilderness in Georgia. Today I greeted it while cycling through the Blue Hills in Massachusetts with Jodi. It was a glorious spring day with sunshine and temps of 70 degrees, very unusual weather for March in New England.
Being awfully early in the season, and not having cycled at all last year since I spent the summer hiking, I labored on the hills today. But we are determined to whip ourselves back into cycling shape this year and are determined to do a challenging bike tour this summer. We aren't quite sure where yet and are still discussing options. The one we are currently exploring is to tour some of the parks in the Canadian Rockies.It always feels good to have a physically challenging adventure to work towards and look forward to.
Tomorrow our weather will be back to normal; gray and damp with temperatures in the 40s. But you can't fool me; spring is here and I know it!
Allen
Thursday, March 18, 2010
One Year Ago Today
Stover Creek Shelter
Wednesday 3/18
AT Miles = 2.8
Other Miles = 8.8
Total Miles = 11.6
Today was a perfect day to start a thru-hike. After days and days of rain, today was warm and sunny with a bit of haze. After a hearty breakfast at the Hikers Hostel in Dahlonega, six hikers piled into the truck to be shuttled to the trail. Only two of us had chosen to hike the Approach Trail from Amicalola Falls State Park. The trail starts at the stone arch behind the Visitors Center, then follows the paved trail up along the falls, which includes seven hundred and something stairs. Whew!
After I got out of the state park the trail turned quiet and lovely. It is quite different than New England, which I think of as mud, roots, and rocks. Here the trail was dry and smooth for easy walking. It was only the elevation gain that made the hiking hard.
I left Amicalola Falls at about 10:20 and arrived at the summit of Springer Mountrain at 1:50, much faster than I expected. I hadn't yet picked a final goal for the day. I could have stopped at the Springer Mountrain Shelter just 0.2 miles from the summit, but with about 6 hours of daylight left it seemed that pushing on a little further made sense, so I continued on the 2.8 miles to here, Stover Creek Shelter.
It's about 6:30 now. We've got blue skies and a gentle breeze, and the evening is starting to cool off. My hammock is hung out behind the shelter, and I think it is going to be wonderful sleeping weather tonight; fresh and chilly.
There is a fire going started by one of the3 other hikers. There are a half dozen hikers in the shelter, a few in tents 50 yards away, and me in my hammock.
The weather forecast I saw this morning before leaving the hostel called for a 30% chance of rain tomorrow, then sunny and warm for the rest of the week.
While hiking today I was thinking that so far this feels like just another weekend hiking trip. I wonder how long it will be before it starts transitioning from a hiking trip into a life-style.
Wednesday 3/18
AT Miles = 2.8
Other Miles = 8.8
Total Miles = 11.6
Today was a perfect day to start a thru-hike. After days and days of rain, today was warm and sunny with a bit of haze. After a hearty breakfast at the Hikers Hostel in Dahlonega, six hikers piled into the truck to be shuttled to the trail. Only two of us had chosen to hike the Approach Trail from Amicalola Falls State Park. The trail starts at the stone arch behind the Visitors Center, then follows the paved trail up along the falls, which includes seven hundred and something stairs. Whew!
After I got out of the state park the trail turned quiet and lovely. It is quite different than New England, which I think of as mud, roots, and rocks. Here the trail was dry and smooth for easy walking. It was only the elevation gain that made the hiking hard.
I left Amicalola Falls at about 10:20 and arrived at the summit of Springer Mountrain at 1:50, much faster than I expected. I hadn't yet picked a final goal for the day. I could have stopped at the Springer Mountrain Shelter just 0.2 miles from the summit, but with about 6 hours of daylight left it seemed that pushing on a little further made sense, so I continued on the 2.8 miles to here, Stover Creek Shelter.
It's about 6:30 now. We've got blue skies and a gentle breeze, and the evening is starting to cool off. My hammock is hung out behind the shelter, and I think it is going to be wonderful sleeping weather tonight; fresh and chilly.
There is a fire going started by one of the3 other hikers. There are a half dozen hikers in the shelter, a few in tents 50 yards away, and me in my hammock.
The weather forecast I saw this morning before leaving the hostel called for a 30% chance of rain tomorrow, then sunny and warm for the rest of the week.
While hiking today I was thinking that so far this feels like just another weekend hiking trip. I wonder how long it will be before it starts transitioning from a hiking trip into a life-style.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
New Years (+1)
I started to write this yesterday, ut never finished it, thus the strange title.
Wow, it's New Years Day already! I remember last year on this day I woke up and the first thing I said to Jodi was something like "This is the year of my thru-hike."
Since I finished my hike I have tried to write about it a bunch of times, but I have a terrible time trying to find the words. As I think I said before, it seems to be the kind of thing that reveals itself slowly, over time. One not so great effect of my hike seems to be much less patience with the daily annoyances of life in a large metropolitan area. Aggressive drivers on the road really get under my skin. I don't deserve to be treated badly by someone who doesn't even know me. And I seem to have even less patience than I ever had for large crowds of people.
On the plus side, a lot of things just don't bother me the way they used to. I don't fret quite as much about a lot of the kind of stuff we all seem to spend too much energy fretting about; money, jobs, the future. I don't mean that I don't think about these things, and plan, and work to make those plans come about. But I don't fear them like I used to. I know just how much stuff I don't need to be comfortable and happy. That is really quite empowering.
Well, I said I have trouble putting these thoughts into words, and I still am. I don't seem to be expressing what I want to very well at all, so I think I am going to give up for now. I will mention one thing I remember someone asking about; how the hike affected me physically.
When I finished my hike, 6 months and 9 days after I started, I was the fittest I have ever been in my life. At the same time, I could barely walk. The ridiculously steep trail in New Hampshire and southern Maine destryed my knees. Jodi joined me on the final day to climb Katahdin, and when she saw how much I suffered descending, she told me that if she knew how bad my knees were she never would have let me get back on the trail after I had almost quit back in New Hampshire.
But my cardiovascular fitness was awesome. I could hike 20 miles per day, day after day, carrying a 35 - 40 pound backpack. It had been my plan to try to hold onto that fitness, and quickly transition from hiking to running after I returned home. Unfortunately, my knees prevented me from running at all for quite a few weeks; in fact, I could barely walk. Meanwhile, I continued to eat like I had on the trail. Many of my breakfasts included a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I quickly gained back every one of the 20+ pounds I lost during the hike. By the time my knees would allow me to start runnign again, I had lost most of my conditioning. I have always had a hard time dealing with the cold and dark of winter, and just maintaining fitness is a huge challenge. I find it pretty much impossible to build fitness over the winter. So, the longest run I've done since my hike was about 6 1.2 miles, and most of my runs are 3 - 4.5 miles. Not very impressive for a marathoner. The good news is that my knees seem to be back to normal, I am running a few times a week, and once spring rolls around I plan to start training for another marathon. My feet actually got bigger during my hike, and they have stayed bigger. I have a closet full of running shoes that are a bit too small for me now. I think I can make them work by switching socks to something that takes up a bit less volume.
I think the basic thing I want to say is that the hike has made me a better person. I feel a bit more confident, and a bit less intimidated by life. I feel even closer to my wife, Jodi. I think -- but maybe I should ask Jodi -- that I am a bit calmer. And I have a lifetime of wonderful memories stored away in my head.
Happy New Year, and the best to all the aspiring thru-hikers in the class of 2010!
Monkeywrench
Wow, it's New Years Day already! I remember last year on this day I woke up and the first thing I said to Jodi was something like "This is the year of my thru-hike."
Since I finished my hike I have tried to write about it a bunch of times, but I have a terrible time trying to find the words. As I think I said before, it seems to be the kind of thing that reveals itself slowly, over time. One not so great effect of my hike seems to be much less patience with the daily annoyances of life in a large metropolitan area. Aggressive drivers on the road really get under my skin. I don't deserve to be treated badly by someone who doesn't even know me. And I seem to have even less patience than I ever had for large crowds of people.
On the plus side, a lot of things just don't bother me the way they used to. I don't fret quite as much about a lot of the kind of stuff we all seem to spend too much energy fretting about; money, jobs, the future. I don't mean that I don't think about these things, and plan, and work to make those plans come about. But I don't fear them like I used to. I know just how much stuff I don't need to be comfortable and happy. That is really quite empowering.
Well, I said I have trouble putting these thoughts into words, and I still am. I don't seem to be expressing what I want to very well at all, so I think I am going to give up for now. I will mention one thing I remember someone asking about; how the hike affected me physically.
When I finished my hike, 6 months and 9 days after I started, I was the fittest I have ever been in my life. At the same time, I could barely walk. The ridiculously steep trail in New Hampshire and southern Maine destryed my knees. Jodi joined me on the final day to climb Katahdin, and when she saw how much I suffered descending, she told me that if she knew how bad my knees were she never would have let me get back on the trail after I had almost quit back in New Hampshire.
But my cardiovascular fitness was awesome. I could hike 20 miles per day, day after day, carrying a 35 - 40 pound backpack. It had been my plan to try to hold onto that fitness, and quickly transition from hiking to running after I returned home. Unfortunately, my knees prevented me from running at all for quite a few weeks; in fact, I could barely walk. Meanwhile, I continued to eat like I had on the trail. Many of my breakfasts included a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I quickly gained back every one of the 20+ pounds I lost during the hike. By the time my knees would allow me to start runnign again, I had lost most of my conditioning. I have always had a hard time dealing with the cold and dark of winter, and just maintaining fitness is a huge challenge. I find it pretty much impossible to build fitness over the winter. So, the longest run I've done since my hike was about 6 1.2 miles, and most of my runs are 3 - 4.5 miles. Not very impressive for a marathoner. The good news is that my knees seem to be back to normal, I am running a few times a week, and once spring rolls around I plan to start training for another marathon. My feet actually got bigger during my hike, and they have stayed bigger. I have a closet full of running shoes that are a bit too small for me now. I think I can make them work by switching socks to something that takes up a bit less volume.
I think the basic thing I want to say is that the hike has made me a better person. I feel a bit more confident, and a bit less intimidated by life. I feel even closer to my wife, Jodi. I think -- but maybe I should ask Jodi -- that I am a bit calmer. And I have a lifetime of wonderful memories stored away in my head.
Happy New Year, and the best to all the aspiring thru-hikers in the class of 2010!
Monkeywrench
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