After the race, though, I was back on the road with Phish, with my weekend in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. As in previous years, I stayed in Colonie, a suburb of Albany about 30 minutes away from Saratoga. In addition to its giant mall, it boasts a lovely park called the Crossings of Colonie. Snaking around the ponds, playgrounds, lawns, fields, and rambles, are 6.5 miles of pedestrian paths. With a three-mile run on Saturday and a 35-minute tempo run (keeping a sub-6 pace in the middle third!) on Monday, I used all of it.
The following weekend, Gloria and I stayed in Milldale, Conn., outside of Hartford. I recalled from fall tour 2013 that there was a canal towpath and rail trail that had started in nearby Cheshire (about four miles south) and spanned all the way south to Yale University in New Haven. To my absolute delight, we discovered that the trail, called the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, continues to be improved and extended (currently finished up to Southington, but planned to go all the way into Massachusetts!) and passed within walking distance of our Econo Lodge.
On Saturday afternoon (on only a little bit of sleep after that long night in Massachusetts), we ran six miles together along the trail (three south and back). Gloria runs at a slower pace than I do, so it was nice to take it easy for a change, especially to take in the surroundings. On Sunday, I did a three-mile run (heading north for 1.5 miles and back) at my own pace while Gloria did a two-mile run at hers.
I hope our travels bring us back to that area of Connecticut again as they complete more and more of this wonderful project!
The Crossings at Colonie
With Gloria, post-run
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