Once again, it was time to head out for another states race.   We selected Vermont’s Covered Bridges Half Marathon based on rave reviews from previous runners and a billing of “The Best 13.1 Running Miles in New England”.    The course was a gentle downhill, following the Ottauquechee River in the beautiful, pastoral countryside of south central Vermont.   We were in.

The running crew this time around was Kathy, Melodie and yours truly, with the added bonus of Colleen who came along for the company and to keep us in line.    An exciting milestone marked this race;   Vermont would be state #25 which means we will be halfway through!   In addition, all three of us would be running in the same age group!   60 – 64 year old females, here we come.

Every race starts with its own set of challenges.    I ended up with an abscessed tooth, but decided I wasn’t going to let that small detail change the master plan.    Kathy, Colleen and I headed for the Phoenix airport early Friday morning to be greeted with the news that our flight was delayed because of 8 malfunctioning seats.   As we had a connecting flight in Chicago with only a 50 minute layover, we were worried that our master travel plan was about to be derailed.   However, the flight from Chicago to Manchester was also delayed, so all was well.   We met Melodie in Chicago and boarded our connecting flight.

We landed in Manchester, New Hampshire at 6:00 pm, picked up our rental car, and headed out on the 90 mile drive to our hotel in Quechee Village, Vermont.    We have experienced some drives on these race trips that were less than pleasant due to traffic and poor road conditions, but this was not one of  them.     The road was open, the scenery spectacular, and the company, albeit a little road weary, the best.

We arrived at the Quality Inn in Quechee Village without incident, settled into our humble but adequate digs, and headed out to find a bite to eat.

Turns out, on Friday night at 9:00 pm, there was only one restaurant open in the entire town of Quechee Village.    “The Public House” managed to serve us some pretty good home-cooked fare so we didn’t suffer too badly.

For this trip, we had the luxury of having the entire day on Saturday to explore the area.   Generally, we have to carve out a few hours to attend an expo and pick up race bibs, but for this race, bibs would not be handed out until the morning of the race.    We hopped in the car Saturday morning and headed out to our first stop, the little town of Woodstock, population 3,027.  The Ottauquechee River runs through the town and afforded us some picturesque photo ops.  All the buildings appeared to be very old, but well cared for.   People were extraordinarily friendly and seemed to take great pride in their town.   The Covered Bridges Race is a huge event for this area and all of the local businesses went out of their way to ensure that race participants were welcomed.

Our next stop was Six Suicide, a ski resort in South Pomfret which would be the starting point for the race tomorrow.   The race director was on site and stopped by our car to introduce himself and welcome us to the race.  Everything here is steeped in history, and this ski resort was no different.  Suicide Six has claim to historical fame as a very early ski resort. In January 1934, an improvised rope tow, said to be the first ski lift in the Eastern United States, was installed on a hill located on Clinton Gilbert’s farm. The rope tow was originally powered with a Ford Model T engine.  In later years, a more reliable electric motor was installed and the operation was moved to its present location.  Devotees of ski mountaineering and backcountry skiing mark this as the beginning of the divergence of resort skiing and traditional backcountry skiing. 

Our next stop was Quechee State Park.   We stopped at an overlook and spent some time  drinking in the beauty and the majesty of the Quechee Gorge, and of course, entertaining ourselves with selfies.

Later that evening, we took a short hike down Dewey Road to the designated finish site at Polo Fields.    We were overwhelmed by the surrounding beauty; the evening light was perfect, the forest vibrant with every shade of green imaginable, and the water crystal clear.   For our nature-loving hearts, it was a little piece of heaven.

We located the finish site, stopped for a few more shots of the beautiful evening, and of each other, before heading back to our hotel.

Logistics on race morning were much easier than usual.   The Quality Inn provided a hot breakfast bright and early for race participants and we were able to walk to our shuttle bus.   We arrived at Suicide Six in plenty of time for a relaxed race start.

And once again, we were off.   Thanks to my sister Melodie, who never disappoints, we have a few pictures of the race course.     We’ve been privileged to run many beautiful races over the years, but this one truly did hit the top three, if not the top one.    In addition, the weather was perfect for running;  clear blue skies and temps between 50 – 65.

And as all things do, this one did eventually end.   We all finished standing up and in good spirits.    We grabbed a few salty treats and extra bottles of water, and headed back up the road to our hotel to collapse for a few hours.

Monday was a travel day but we had a few hours to do a little more sightseeing as our flights didn’t leave until 5:15 pm.     We stopped at the Quechee State Park Visitor Center and did a little hiking down to the bottom of the gorge.

At the Visitor Center we saw a brochure for the Sugarbush Farm, home of the famous Sugarbush Maple Syrup and waxed cheeses.   We decided we had time for a quick tour and headed up the valley to check it out.

The Sugarbush Farm has been run by the same family for three generations.   We found the whole process of harvesting maple syrup fascinating and spent some time wandering through the sheds and reading the posted literature.

And because we really are kids at heart, we couldn’t resist this photo op.

We made one more stop as we were leaving town to capture a few photos of the Taftsville Bridge, one of the bridges for which our race was named.

And so another great race weekend drew to a close.    The only flaw in a perfect weekend was our travel home.    Our flight out of Manchester was delayed once again, which put our connection in Chicago in jeopardy.   We booked later flights only to find out our connections were also delayed so we could make the original flight.   However, by that time, our tickets had been given to other delayed passengers and we had to go standby.   At the last minute we were cleared, but for some reason, the ticket agent decided not to let Colleen board and we got split up.    It was an opportunity to remember that sometimes we can’t control circumstances and we have to make the best of what we have.    In the end, we all got home safely, which is really all that matters.

Next stop, Anchorage, Alaska.