spreadthewool_east

New Hampshire Beach Cleanup

Last night I headed to Rye, NH to volunteer with the Blue Ocean Society at their monthly beach clean up.  We all met at Jenness Beach to conquer a beach sweep.  The Blue Ocean Society organizes beach clean ups here each month and has been doing so since 2001.  Before we all set off on our mission, Jen from BOC showed us a zip lock bag full of trash that was found in the stomach of a baby albatross to reinforce that we should clean up all trash, big or small. 
As we swept the beach, we took diligent records of our findings including exact numbers of bottle caps, cigarette butts, etc so the BOC can continue to study the trends of marine pollution.  At the end of our clean up we weighed the trash that we collect which equaled about 38 pounds!  I want to thank all of the volunteers and the BOC for allowing us to help and keeping our oceans clean.  See you at another clean up. 
Here are some photos of the August clean up c rew and the point6 van on the Atlantic Coast.

The Granite State

I started my week in New Hampshire at the 27th Annual Granite Man Triathlon in Wolfeboro.  This competitive, though family friendly event is a perfect way to spend an August day on Lake Winnipesaukee.  They put a cap on the number of competitors so you can always expect a full race crowd.  Participants that come appear to make a pilgrimage of sorts to this small New England town each year for this race.  Everyone is asking one another about families and such.

After the Granite Man, I made my way up to a place called Hikers Paradise in Gorham, NH.  Gorham is the last 'big' town on the Appalachian Trail before northbound hikers head into Maine to finish their trek.  I was greeted with big smiles from Bruno, the owner of Hikers Paradise, which is essentially a hostel for AT hikers.  I spent the night there with the AT hiking crew who all have trail names like Dave from Maine (who is hiking the AT for a second time), Peanut, WrongWay and many more.  They were all super excited to freshen up their feet for the rest of their journey.  Today, I'm heading to Rye to help the Blue Ocean Society with a beach clean up day. I hope to see you there! 

The picture below is from a brave soul at the Granite Man that did a portion of the event in ski apparel and point6 socks!

 

Brewster Brew Run - Cape Cod Style

This past weekend Shannon (our PR guru) and myself had the pleasure of attending the 30th annual Brewster Brew Run.  This seasoned and fantastic event kicked off Saturday at 4 pm in the quintessential Cape Cod town, Brewster.  While speaking with the event director, Tom, he said, "this isn't called the Brew Run because it's in Brewster, MA".  It's because after runners finish the 5.2 mile race they are treated with an ice cold beverage in pure Cape style.

One woman ran up to the van wearing a Squaw Valley Mountain Run t-shirt.  She said that she had seen our West Coast Scout, Paul set up at the event but didn't get a pair of socks.  So she was ecstatic to see us at the Brew Run so she could finally see what the buzz is all about. 

The day was perfect and we certainly saw nothing but smiling faces at race.  I will be back on the Cape before the snow flies and hope to see you there...

The Bitter Pill Adventure Race

Last night I 'spread the wool' at an adventure race in Waterbury, Vermont.  As the folks from all over the country rolled in to the parking lot I noticed a very relaxed and focused crowd.  Today, each of these 'relaxed' folks arose around 3 am to check over their gear for their big race.  They had no exact idea what they were going to be doing and when, all that they knew was they wanted to find checkpoints and lots of them. 

As each of them got a pair of point6 socks I would tell them good luck tomorrow.  Every team either pro or novice both said "We'll need it" in a very relaxed tone.  All of the teams seemed very ready and I'm sure that they are having a blast out there today using all of their skills, not luck.