WHITEFACE TURNS 50 - Adirondack Sports & Fitness

www.AdkSportsFitness.com February 2008 3
RUNNING & WALKING
Athlete’s ‘Bucket List’
New Goals to Find the Joy in Your Life
by Laura Clark
hen I joined the Saratoga Stryders
Wrunning club, I was amazed to discover
that fellow club member Bill Taylor
spent a good portion of each New Year’s
Day meticulously plotting out his life for
the next 12 months. Not his work life or
his family life, but his athletic life. While
the rest of us mortals were resolving to eat
one less donut, Bill was adding a positive
spin to the yearly challenge.
While spontaneity is still a big part
of my life, I have come to recognize that
focusing on a new goal defi nitely helps
get me out the door. I know that I have
a tendency to get stuck in a rut, feeling
duty-bound to enter the same events
year after year. But instead of plotting the
same routine on predictable graph paper,
I have learned that it is vital to step out of
that little blue-rimmed square. It doesn’t
have to be a big leap, just a small step into
somewhat unfamiliar territory.
Here are some suggestions to consider
adding to your life list:
“S” Stands for Snow…
Have you noticed that many of the snow
sports also begin with the letter “s”? Take
ski biathlons, snowshoeing, skijoring…
While snowshoeing is rapidly catching on,
skijoring and ski biathlons are still more
popular in Europe than in the United
States. Getting in on the leading edge of
any sport means that until the rest of the
world catches up, even average individuals
have an opportunity to shine.
The sport of snowshoe racing is a great
way to avoid falling off a boring treadmill,
or breaking an ankle on icy roads, plus it
will get you in shape really fast. Ever wonder
why many of the top mountain racers
like Paul Low and Nikki Kimball also
happen to be champion snowshoers? The
reason is that a few months on snowshoes
will develop strong quads and lungs and
place you way ahead of the pack once spring
arrives. To get started, visit the Western
Mass. Athletic Club (runwmac.com) for
events and their SnoNews tips, and Empire
State Snowshoeing (empirestatesnowshoe.
org) for New York happenings.
With the names Fido and Spot giving
way to Finn and Sophie as pets are awarded
family member status, attendance at
dog obedience school is as obligatory as
three walks a day. But what if you and your
pet want to break out of the mold? Simply
try skijoring by trading your sneakers for
BIATHLETE SEAN HALLIGAN OF WILTON AT
THE EMPIRE STATE GAMES IN LAKE PLACID.
COURTESY OF SARATOGA BIATHLON CLUB
cross-country skis and your dog’s leash
for a skijor halter. Skijoring requires intuitive
cooperation between interspecies
team members and is best approached
with a few starter lessons. For instruction
and advice on reliable gear, contact
Garnet Hill Lodge (garnet-hill.com) in
North River, Salmon Hills (salmonhills.
com) in Redfi eld, and the Olympic Sports
Complex (whitefacelakeplacid.com) in
Lake Placid. Also, check out rundawgrun.
com, adirondackskidog.com and skijornow.com,
and the books Skijor with Your
Dog by Mari Hoe-Raitto and Ski Spot Run
by Matt Haakenstad.
For biathlon, the Saratoga Biathlon
Club in Day (saratogabiathlon.20m.com)
offers a convenient location to practice
snow skills. The club exists in a magic
area where snow falls early and stays late
despite what it is doing in the rest of the
Capital Region. For an inexpensive membership
fee, you get unlimited use of challenging
groomed trails. You will be welcomed
by Jim and Betty Schreiner, who
host ski, snowshoe and running biathlons
year-round. Just arrive an hour before
any of their events, check out a loaner
rifl e and learn the basics. For info on the
Lake Placid Biathlon Club and the sport,
visit nybiathlon.org.
Tower Climbing…
Looking for a sport that will impress your
friends but requires less time to complete
than your average 5K race? Try tower (or
stair) climbing. There are two events in
Albany, the 20th annual Corning Tower
Stair Climb (cff.org) on February 7, and
the inaugural Climb UAlbany (alanys.org) in
the 22-story Colonial Tower on March 29.
Runners are sent off in waves, avoiding
the ping-pong effect of a mass-start
up a narrow stairwell. At last year’s 42story
Corning Tower race, I won my age
group in a respectable 9:11, coming off
a strong snowshoe season with little
actual stair practice. I also discovered the
“climber’s hack” wheezing and coughing
experienced afterwards, however it’s really
no big deal since it doesn’t affect your
race. For a list of climbs worldwide, go to
towerrunning.com.
Climb Another Mountain…
The 13th annual USATF-New England
Mountain Running Circuit (usatfne.
org) takes the children’s song, The Bear
Went Over the Mountain, to new heights
with six mountain challenges. The series
begins in late May and continues through
the middle of June. USATF members who
complete all six events receive a coveted
Mountain Goat T-shirt and a lottery
bypass for the Mount Washington Road
Race on June 21. Obviously, it takes a good
deal of stamina to run all the way up any
mountain and many folks power hike the
steepest sections. This quest is an ideal
follow-up for those coming off a strong
ski or snowshoe season and surprisingly,
easier on the joints than a “normal” race.
Best of all, running up a mountain never
fails to impress fl at 5K devotees.
“The Streak…”
Runners in pursuit of the streak are often
regarded with a mixture of envy and consternation.
As defi ned by the United States
Running Streak Association (runeveryday.
com), a streak involves running at least
one continuous mile every day. While
maintaining a streak will get you out the
door, this is often not a good thing to do
when sick or injured.
However, there are more inventive and
potentially doable streaks just waiting for
anyone with a little imagination. You could
aspire to complete all the races in a series,
like the Mountain Running Circuit or the
Albany Running Exchange’s fourth annual
free Summer Trail Run Series (albanyrunningexchange.org)
on Thursdays from
late May through August.
Some events like the WMAC Snowshoe
Series also acknowledge “points” leaders.
Theoretically, the headliners would be bigname
stars whom you could never beat
in a thousand years. But think again! The
big stars often have other, more lucrative
commitments, and might make only one
or two of the series races, leaving room for
you – especially if you’re a female. Last year,
I was second female points leader despite
the fact that I mostly fi nished on the bottom
half of the race results. Sometimes it
pays just to show up!
Another possibility is to join The
Adirondack Runners (adirondackrunners.
com) and enter their Mileage High Club,
where members are invited to pursue a
yearly mileage goal that is both doable
and somewhat challenging. All who
achieve their goal receive certifi cates,
with the possibility of earning patches at
signifi cant milestones. Mileage is tracked
quarterly in the club newsletter for all
to see, if you so desire, which defi nitely
serves as good motivation.
For inspiration, here are three books
to consider reading: Long Distance: A Year
of Living Strenuously by Bill McKibben;
Over the Edge: A Regular Guy’s Odyssey
in Extreme Sports by Michael Bane; and
To the Edge: A Man, Death Valley and the
Mystery of Endurance by Kirk Johnson.
Once you get started on your quest,
New Year’s resolution time will become
an occasion for revitalization rather than
dread. There is an endless parade of possibilities
to add to your life list from running
a marathon in every state, to competing
in a 24-hour relay race, to giving back
by volunteering at an event. Whatever
new path you choose, know that you will
return both refreshed and reenergized.
Laura Clark (lclark@sals.edu) of Saratoga
Springs is an avid trail runner, snowshoer
and cross-country skier. She is a children’s
librarian at the Saratoga Springs Public
Library.