ultras, nyc accessible trails and BBS love

My next running goal is to run an ultra-marathon (anything over 26.2 is “ultra”) this winter/spring sometime. I’ve got a couple that I’m looking at doing, particularly the Loiusville Lovin’ the Hills 50k trail run.

What that means for me is that I need to get up earlier in the morning and that I need to start running a larger percentage of my miles on trails. Central Park has been just completely ideal as a training ground this past year for road racing, but the bridal path loops are just not long enough to support a 20+ mile runs on a regular basis.

Fortunately I found a thread on the Runner’s World site that details a handful of trail runs that are all public transportation accessible. A sample:

1) Long Path. The LP begins just across the GW Bridge in NJ and goes all the way to Albany and beyond. You can take the subway to 181st Street, run across the bridge, and pick the trail up there for an out and back of 400+ miles. If you’re looking for a shorter run, there are a few connector trails on the LP (the first one is about 6 miles north of the GW Bridge, the second about 8 miles); these trails will take you down to the Hudson, and you can take the shore trail south back to the GW Bridge. [link]

There is so much good information in those forums, and there are tons of helpful people. I mentioned them in another context before on my thoughts on community design.

And indeed, in forums all over the Internet. One of the goals for Notches is to make it easier for forums to organize their review information. Because if you need a review of something, the absolute best information is in a forum somewhere. The problem is a) which forum b) how do you find what you need without weeks of reading and reputation building. Stay tuned for more on this front — we’re working on it.

Bonus forum question: What is the highest post count you’ve ever seen? My entry is continuum at Ars Technica w/ 46,951 posts as of this writing.