Covered Bridges Half Marathon 2014! In!

For perhaps the first time in my adult life, I was on the ball enough to register for a beautiful race **several months** in advance!  

I read that the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in beautiful Woodstock, Vermont, was one of the most beautiful half marathons you could hope to run in New England, and looking at the pictures I totally believe that!

I also read that because of the small field they allow, registration for the race sold out in 14 minutes in 2013!  Knowing nothing more than 1) I love Vermont, and my favorite races have all happened in the beautiful Vermont countryside, and 2) I have a thing for covered bridges (Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood??), and 3) if it sold out that quickly, people in the know must be really in love with this run, I set my calendar alert to 20 minutes before registration opened for the 2014 race - which was December 9th, 2013. 

Not pictured: me, running...

I don't know how many minutes it was before it sold out this year, but I refreshed frenetically as the hour turned over and the registration page went live, typed as fast as I possibly could, shelled out the $75 and got a spot, all within maybe 5 minutes. I'm so happy to be running this race!!

My current favorite half marathon memory was the Green Mountain Marathon, which ran past some of the most gorgeous countryside, orchards, horse farms, beautiful views of Lake Champlain. It was "hilly" for my flat-lander legs, but I PRd there probably through sheer excitement to see what view I'd find around the next corner. 

(my favorite view: the woods behind someone's house FILLED with painted birdhouses)

For personal reasons I'm really excited to be part of the Vermont running community right now, even if just tangentially by showing up to all of their gorgeous races.