A year ago today, I wrote about all the things I planned to do in my 55th year. 55 things, in fact, all tied to the number 55. My inspiration came in large part from a National Institutes of Health report noting that men generally start dropping weight and, the report added, start falling apart at 55. If that’s the case, I thought, then I need to start working extra…

It’s what you’ve been waiting for since September: the first weekend of the year that will feel like summer. Celebrate with a 100-mile bike ride in the coastal plain, a hike under a full moon, or celebrating one of the mountains’ most popular and playful rivers, the French Broad. Coast If you’re a cyclist looking to do your first century ride, you have a big ally in the coastal plain:…

A run with romance! A walk/run/bike for a cause, a wild hike for wildflowers highlight the action in North Carolina this weekend. Coast Did you know that before Nicholas Sparks was making women and girls misty-eyed with his tales of romance he ran track at Notre Dame? Surprised by that plot twist? That being the case, though, it shouldn’t surprise you that a 5K and 1-mile Fun Run are part…

If you’ve been driving Raleigh’s Beltline between Wade Avenue and Glen Eden Drive, sneaking peeks into the woods and wondering when on earth the House Creek Greenway is going to open, the answer is June 25. That’s the official answer. In reality, it should be passable by Memorial Day. The eagerly anticipated 2.9-mile greenway will link the 11-mile Crabtree Creek Trail to the north with the Reedy Creek/Museum of Art/Rocky…

I know it’s just Tuesday, but what better time to start planning for the weekend ahead than while the memory of the weekend past is still fresh Coast Two great options at Dismal Swamp State Park this weekend. Saturday, it’s Bike to the Bull North Burn, an 8-mile round-trip bike ride to the site of last year’s Bull North Fire. There’s a 20-minute program at the site, followed by a…

A 5K/10K kicks off the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, there’s a ride with lunch in the Triangle and at the Nantahala Outdoor Center they’ll be celebrating hiking and long trails. A good cross-section of sweaty fun this weekend in North Carolina. Coast What better way to kick off a festival than with a run? This Saturday’s Azalea 5K/10K/Fun Walk, for example, which kicks off Wilmington’s annual Azalea Festival. (Kicks off…

I’ve been spending a lot of time along the Blue Ridge Parkway of late, exploring the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. I’d be spending even more time if the Parkway facilities, specifically the campgrounds, were open. Which they soon will be. The National Park Service has announced 2012 opening dates for their seasonal facilities along the Parkway. I’m finding them useful for trip planning, figured you might, too. Here are some key locations…

It’s not your stuffed-up imagination; the spring allergy season really is off to early start this year (and, thanks to climate change, may be trending in this direction). You can read all about it in today’s Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, in a story I contributed to. That story is about spring allergies in general. But what about their effect on the more active among us? How does…

31.5. It was a mileage marker by the side of the greenway. Having spent last week hiking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I was accustomed to seeing mileage markers in the form of the parkway’s knee-high stone obelisks that tick off every mile. And I have seen them before on greenways, but never with such a high number. Rarely, in fact, in double digits. The 31.5-mile marker…

This weekend, there’s a walk for non-walkers, a 100-miler in 100 days, and the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, two days of film-watching guaranteed to get you up and moving. Coast We’re always on the lookout for good reasons to walk for people who don’t like to walk. Such as Sunday’s African-American Historic Downtown Walking Tour of Tryon Palace in New Bern. This ramble through New Bern’s Historic District…