Better to be in an active community or not?

As I was running today, I realized that I very rarely see anyone else running, biking or walking. Sure, on a really nice day I'll see a few people. Generally, though, it's either a non-active or gym community.

Now I understand why you'd work out indoors during the terrible winter we had. I didn't, but then again, I'm quite crazy. I was training for a marathon and couldn't bare to go back to a treadmill after I stopped a couple years ago.

When I make the hour or so trip to Boston, I always see runners, bikers and walkers. Boston is an active city and I think the city life tends to push that. Concord, New Hampshire, um, not so much.

So that brings me to my question. Do you think it's better to be in a physically active community or one considerably less so? I know the benefit of being in an active community--there's always someone running so you always have motivation to lace up your shoes and get out.

But, I do like the idea of being the lone crazy person that's always out running when no one else is. It gives me a certain badge of valor much like running in sub zero temperatures gave me during the winter. What do you think?

Oh, and a special programming note. I'm heading to Europe for the month of July for classes (yeah, that's what I'm sticking to). I'll be in Ireland, Prague and Amsterdam to name a few. I'm bringing my camera and absolutely can't wait to run and explore those cities. Europe, here I come!

Training to Ruin A Marathon

I enjoyed a satirical article from The Onion this morning called, "I'm Training to Ruin A Marathon". In the article, the author talks about the fears that a typical marathoner ruiner might have, like:

• the hornets die en route
• not slashing the tires of the first aid vehicles that follow the runners
• not consuming the right diet of pop rocks and soda to get in the right mood

Other important questions:

• Do you call the fire department to report a big accident at mile 12?
• Do you hip check people or stop abruptly?

All good questions. All good questions, indeed.

Progress - 6/14/08 (Pacific, MO)

I'm now 921 miles into my journey and just east of Pacific, Missouri. Pacific is just west of St. Louis and was established in 1859. It's a town of only about 5.5 square miles and 5,500 people. Pacific is on Rt. 44 and historic Rt. 66 (on which you can likely get your kicks).

Since the last update, I've passed through St. Louis and from Illinois into Missouri. I'll stay on Rt. 44 for another 400 miles through Oklahoma.

48 Miles in 48 hours?

During my 5 mile run in the heat today, I came up with an idea. I wanted to do something larger than a marathon, since I've done that. The idea of running 4-5 continuous hours just didn't do it for me. And then I thought...

How about if I run 48 miles in 48 hours? I could run 5 or 6 miles at a clip, take a rest and then start back up. Avoiding highways, Concord, NH to Nashua, NH would be about 46 miles. I could certainly find another 2 miles somewhere in there.

I could stay over night somewhere halfway in between and then finish the next day. I'd do it over a weekend and probably in October since it's much cooler up here at that point, but I can probably still wear shorts for most of the time.

I love the idea of a pseudo ultra marathon and the Ultramarathoner himself, Dean Karnazes, is my inspiration. He did 200 miles in about 48 hours which is far and away above what I'd ever think of doing. But never say never, I guess.

That said, here are a couple of initial thoughts.

1) I'm going to need lots of people to support me. They'll need to meet me at certain spots, bring clean clothes, food, etc.
2) I'd want to include friends around here that are runners who could run a portion of the race with me.
3) I'd also like to do a virtual run with all of my RBFs.
4) I'll need to figure out a way to charge electronics like my Garmin and my iPod.
5) I'll need to train multiple times a day to get ready for 5-7 mile increment runs.

That's just the first draft and I'm not 100% positive that I'm going to do it (just thought about it this morning).

So what does everyone think? Doable? Crazy? What tips do you have for something like this?