Caroline DeVore | Owner, Stowe Meadows Lodge, Stowe VT | NH Real Estate Leader

The Hyannis, MA Marathon - 26.2 Miles - How Long Can I Wear The Medal?

Way back in November I was out for a friendly jog with my best friends Amy and Erica when the "M-word" was somewhat casually mentioned. Amy said, "I'm kinda thinking about a winter Marathon". What? No way. Been there, done that...x4. I'm out.

But...I'm a Type-A. I mulled it over for a while, didn't mention it to anyone. Was I up for it? Were my knees up for it? Maaayyyybbbeeee....

It could't hurt to be a training partner right? All caveats in place, I decided to join my friends on weekend training runs - it was the right thing to do for my friend. No race registration, no commitments...just supporting my friend.

There was the 13 mile run; then the 15, the 17 and the 20.

Then the race registration deadline approached (Jaws music here). Ok, I registered...and got a hotel room. It was just registration, no commitment.

With a week to go, the sinus infection showed up. I took the meds and ate enough vitamin C tablets to turn orange. 1 Day to go...race expo and packet pickup. There were.....

4,200 Registered Half-Marathoners but just 600 Registered Full-Marathoners - 2 times around a 13.1 mile loop. Doing the math here....we were going to be the lone rangers on the back part of the course. Double Dang! Whose idea was this anyway?

Race Day - 2/26 (ironic that we had to run 26.2 on 2/26). Gorgeous blue sky, sun, 30 degrees.....30 MPH wind. LOL

If you're considering a winter marathon location, Hyannis isn't a bad pick. The course is nice....not flat as you may imagine, several rolling hills. The organizers had things under control which is key. The only thing that was extremely difficult was the ratio of half-to-full race participants. Most of the race volunteers tried to be encouraging shouting support toward the runners. Most didn't understand that there were a few of us lost souls running the full 26.2 miles. At the 12 mile marker we kept hearing, "You look great! Only 1 mile to go!". That killed me....I had 14 more to go! There were no bands, almost no crowd support. Smaller races can play mind-games....big races like NYC have bands, 100k cheering folks all the way through the course. It helps. This race....not so much. But, we're friends and...

We did it!

Chalk up another win for the 40-something gals! My 5th full marathon and OFFICIALLY my last one. No kidding this time...........now, how long can I wear the medal???

Stowe, Vermont is home of The Stowe Derby, the oldest combined downhill/cross-country ski race in North America. Mark your calendar for this 67th annual race on Sunday, January 26th, 2012.

The Derby - What's this all about?

"The Derby", as locals call it, is a skiing race that starts at the top of Vermont's highest peak, Mt. Mansfield, and ends 20km (12.4 miles) and 2,600 vertical feet later in Stowe Village. The race combines down-hill skiing with cross-country skiing...all in one race, all on just one set of skis!

This whole concept started back in 1945 when Austrian Sepp Ruschp (1908-1990) and world famous Norwegian mountaineer, Erling Strom (1897-1986) cooked up a wild race idea. Can't you just hear them? "Oh no, down-hill is the most challenging and difficult", "no, cross-country is...". The Derby was born. (I think the same type of conversation was had when Triathlons were created.)

Mr. Ruschp came to the United States at the invitation of the Mount Mansfield Ski Club to be a ski instructor and coach the University of Vermont team. Mr. Strom and Mr. Ruschp were pioneers in North American skiing and left legacies that helped define winter sports for generations. Sepp Ruschp won the first Derby.

The Race: One pair of skis - two types of terrain:

Just like the first meeting of these amazing skiers 67 years ago, today's race requires skiers to use only one pair of skis for the full race and cover terrain that challenges expert downhill skiers and cross-country skiers. A race of speed or endurance? Well, both! The first racers to cross the finish line will complete the course in 45 minutes.....most skiers will require nearly 2 hours to cover the main race course. Then, there are the Derby Meisters....

Are you a Derby Meister? If you think of this race as a type of "Half Marathon", you can ski a "Full Marathon" and complete the race course TWICE...the first time freestyle (or skating) then then the "classic" which is cross-country skiing. at is designed for both down-hill racing and cross-country. For those familiar with the Stowe area, the course starts at the top of Mt. Mansfield, heads down the "Toll Road" and connects to the Stowe Recreation path. Covering the full length of the 5.2 mile Rec Path, the race ends in Stowe Village.

If you're feeling ambitious and you want to try a Derby or a Derby Meister....registration is open until February 24th here: https://www.skireg.com/net/registration/Confirmed.aspx?EventID=3261

If you've completed the Stowe Derby, let us know! Post a comment. We'd love to hear from you.

Cheers and happy skiing!

Caroline

Photo Credit: Mount Mansfield Ski Club - Used with Permission

Enhanced 911 – Your House Number May Save Your Life!

How many of us have an E911 (Enhanced 9-1-1) house number, and we don’t even know it?

Well, I stand guilty. My house number 3233 actually means that I am 3.233 miles from the nearest major access road to my house. Hum, I’ve lived on this road for 10 years and I really hadn’t stopped to think about what those house numbers really mean. My house number is actually critical to emergency response teams getting to my location as quickly as possible.

The background: I was out for a jog one day and my neighbor/running partner said, “Hey, did you know we live on a 911 road? If you want to go for a 4 mile run, just run down to mailbox number 1200 and turn around.” Really? I was pretty curious about that, so I measured it. Sure enough, the house numbers corresponded to miles. Did all roads in our town have that system? I started looking. Yeap, house numbers seemed to correspond to distances. Hum…..

I thought this would make for an interesting blog post, so I “googled” 9-1-1 roads. After about 30 minutes of looking and finding little information about this, I called my local Town Clerk’s office. The Town Clerk confirmed that the town had adopted the Enhanced 911 street naming and numbering policy to be compliant with the State’s Enhanced 911 policy. Apparently, the town Lister would approve any new road names and all new house numbers to be certain the town stayed in compliance with the State’s mandate.

According to my research, to support E911, an address must have a uniform number, street name and direction. Towns and cities avoid similar or confusing street names and most use a type of grid to define their scheme. Counties may define their own standard distances/measures, but most use National Emergency Number Association guidelines.

The Vermont Office for E911 Compliance. Yes, there is an office for that. I talked with Jeremy McMullen, Vermont’s Database Administrator for the E911 Board, he also maintains the ALI (Automatic Location Identification Database) and the GIS Mapping (Geographical Information System) database. The ALI database is a secured non-public database that houses information including your name, phone number, address and telephone carrier. This data, together with the data in the GIS Mapping database can show an Emergency Responder exactly where your location is on a map.

Think of it like this, when you dial 9-1-1 from your home or cell telephone, the 9-1-1 Operator uses the information from your caller ID that translates location data, address, name, phone carrier and access the ALI and GIS databases to know exactly, on a map, where you are calling from. In the case of a cellular phone, a combination of GPS and Cellular Tower information can be used.

In Vermont, each town can choose the standard increment they’d like to use to determine house numbers, but all increments are based on the standard 5,280 feet in a mile. Most towns in our state use 5,280 foot increments ( 1/1,000 of a mile). Every state supported road must have house numbers that comply with the E911 standard. If your house number is 481, you live 4/10^th of a mile from the nearest major intersection and you are on the left side of the road.

In New Hampshire, Emergency 911 Service is managed by the Bureau of Emergency Communications and mapping is a part of their charter. The state-wide mapping process can be viewed at: http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/emergservices/nh911/documents/mapping-progress-map.pdf

To the Left and the Right: Did you know that house numbers also tell you which side of the street a house is located on? Even numbers mean a house is located on the right side of the street….odd means left side (assuming the street is E911 compliant). But, whose “left”? Well, odd/left numbers are determined by the direction of the incrementing house numbers. If you are driving down (or up?) a street and the house numbers are decreasing, the odd numbers will be on your right, even on the your left; if the numbers are increasing, odd will be on the left, even on the right.

House numbers can really tell us a lot...take a look the next time you are driving around town. There is definitely a method behind that numbering madness.

PS - A note on Continuous Addressing

What happens if you drive from one town into another town on the same road? Well, towns are encouraged to have “continuous addressing” which allows for the house numbers to continue in a standard direction across town lines. Interestingly enough, the road we live on (which is about 10 miles from end to end), passes through 3 towns. Two towns have continuous E911 addressing, the 3^rd does not. So, when you are driving toward our house, the mailbox numbers go from 100 – 499, then change to 7999 to 100. The section for our town is 8 miles long, and the center of our town is on the “other end” of the road. Visitors to our house suddenly see house numbers go from 451 to 7981. That means they just crossed the town line and the house numbers are now on the Elmore Town E911 map.

There is quite a bit of interesting information about Enhanced 911 road naming, management and database management of owner names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. The state teams that manage this data are working for our safety. Take a look the next time you are driving through a town shopping for your dream home. Is the numbering E911 compliant?

For more info visit the Vermont Enhanced 911 website http://e911.vermont.gov

Do you have a 911 Address?

Cheers-

Caroline

Photo Credit: Flickr: Emergency: EssexTech; Flickr: Mailboxes; Clogozm