Sunday, October 19, 2014

Running with pride in the 18th ranked state

Greenbelt trail head
Today's run (street): 5.3 miles

A few years ago we went on a vacation to Colorado Springs, supposedly the fittest city in the country. Except for the Olympic Training Center, I saw scant evidence of that. Even on the trails I saw few other runners, but I did see some fit looking deer. I hadn't thought much about fitness relative to geography since then, but Runner's World has an interesting analysis of how each state compares in terms of running.

My home state, Massachusetts, came in first (overall), followed closely by my brother's adopted state (Vermont) which ranked third after Oregon. New York, where I've lived since 1990, came in 18th. At the other end of the scale is South Dakota (48), West Virginia (49) and Louisiana (50). South Dakota's low ranking surprises me because I'd assume the runners there are fairly hard core. I also expected New York to rank higher given the active running communities on Long Island, NYC and boroughs, as well as the suburbs north of the city.

The route
Doing my part for New York, I got out early today and headed off to the northern end of the Greenbelt bike trail. After seeing people on the trail yesterday, I thought it would be interesting to take on the long hill along Sunnyside. The air was cool and dry and the sun was still rising when I made my way across the middle school field. I quickly reached the Woodbury neighborhood that leads to the start of the bike trail.

Running before 8:00 AM on a Sunday in the fall is a peaceful experience. Almost no cars and just a few people out walking their dogs. I made it to Woodbury Road and followed the path that starts flat but begins to climb after a quarter mile. The section I ran continues on a moderate incline until reaching the apex where it gets somewhat steeper. I took it to the overpass at the Northern Parkway and turned around. It was far easier going the other way, although a 10 MPH wind undercut the downhill's efficiency.

Once I reached Woodbury Road, I turned right and followed it east for half a mile before crossing the street and switching direction. Along the way I passed Meyer's Farm that had a sign saying you could buy ears of corn for $0.16. I thought that was a good deal until I realized that I have no idea how much an ear of corn normally sells for. So I continued on cornlessly.

The section of sidewalk that leads to the Woodbury neighborhood is one of my favorite local routes. In fall, the path gets covered with leaves and parts of the walk are unpaved so it's like being on a mini trail run. I soon reached civilization and did the opposite route through the neighborhood before crossing back toward the middle school and then back home.

Later in the day my son and I retraced part of my morning route (walking, not running) and I took the above picture of the trail head at Woodbury Road. I felt I covered a lot of ground this week, but I only totaled 17 miles. Not too far off the mark, but I do need to stretch my base runs past six miles on weekends.

2 comments:

  1. I believe Colorado and Oregon have a lot of elite runners. Kara Goucher lives in Boulder and Shalane lives in Seattle to name a couple. If you look at the Cow Harbor Entrant list each year, you will notice most if the elites are from Colorado. I think the great weather and altitude have a lot to do with it. I'm surprised about Massachusetts! I guess it shouldn't be a surprise considering the best marathon in the world takes place there.

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    Replies
    1. The analysis was based on aggregated data (supplied by RunKeeper) and it's not statistically significant because it people who don't use RK or opt out of sharing data aren't included. Of course CO and OR have many elite runners and running communities (as do AZ, UT & CA) but yay for MA!

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