Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Salli’s Senior Workout: 23 years and counting

3. September 2010

0 Comments

Salli’s Senior Workout: 23 years and counting

Salli Benedict thought she was over-the-hill in 1987.
“I had just turned 40 and I thought, ‘I’m so old.’” Not a sentiment Benedict would tolerate today from her workout class, most of whom are twice that age.
It was the same year Benedict, now 62, turned 40 that she took a “wellness retirement training” course through the [...]

Continue reading...

Weekend plans? A river of runs

2. September 2010

1 Comment

Weekend plans? A river of runs

It’s Labor Day weekend, and thus you are obligated to play. Some thoughts on the subject … .
Coast
Earl permitting, there’s good reason to head to Wilmington this weekend: the March of Dimes 5K Run for Healthier Babies. I mean, who wouldn’t run 3.1 miles for a healthy, happy baby? Or walk a mile? Or sleep [...]

Continue reading...

Weekend plans? Paddle, swim, hike

26. August 2010

2 Comments

Weekend plans? Paddle, swim, hike

No plans yet for the weekend? Perhaps we can help.
Coast
By “coast” this week, we mean the coastal plain, of which Fayetteville, home to Saturday’s Lake Rim Paddling Festival, is firmly a part. There’ll be canoe and kayak racing for more accomplished paddlers, and rentals for newcomers to the pursuit. The festivities begin at 9 a.m. [...]

Continue reading...

Weekend plans? Paddle, peer

12. August 2010

0 Comments

Weekend plans? Paddle, peer

This weekend, explore a swamp, paddle a lake, hang with the stars.
Coast
The 22-mile Dismal Swamp Canal runs south from the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia to the Albemarle Sound. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the U.S., opening in 1805 after 12 years of construction. It’s longevity is especially impressive considering the vast [...]

Continue reading...

Tax free weekend: Save on jocks, shoes, rubber pants and more

6. August 2010

10 Comments

Tax free weekend: Save on jocks, shoes, rubber pants and more

When the state first introduced the concept of a tax-free weekend the first week of August it was pitched as a way for cash-strapped families to save money on back-to-school supplies. Then people started asking questions like, “What does a wedding gown have to do with going back to school?” So the N.C. Department of [...]

Continue reading...

Weekend plans? Surf’s up in Wilmington, finding treasure in Charlotte, seeing polka dots in Boone

15. July 2010

1 Comment

Weekend plans? Surf’s up in Wilmington, finding treasure in Charlotte, seeing polka dots in Boone

We usually go to outdoors events  to participate — to run, to ride, to play. Sometimes, though, we go for inspiration.
That could be the case this weekend at the 6th Annual Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest in Wilmington. Some 96 pro surfers are scheduled to attend this year’s event at Wrightsville Beach, which offers up $20,000 [...]

Continue reading...

Braving the wilds of Cary

12. July 2010

3 Comments

Braving the wilds of Cary

Curiously, when Marcy suddenly sounded like Curly in “We Want Our Mummy,” I thought back to a phone conversation we’d had last fall. I was on the Appalachian Trail, she was in our Cary backyard. I was in the wild, she was in suburbia. I was lounging at my campsite in the woods having tea, [...]

Continue reading...

Introducing the GGNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection

1. July 2010

4 Comments

Introducing the GGNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection

The weekend approaches. You’re eager to do something, but what? And when? And where?
Behold the GetGoingNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection. For a while now I’ve been mulling a unified calendar that would include every outdoor activity — from nature hikes, to bike rides, to paddle trips, to 5Ks, to Yoga-in-the-Park to whatever — going on across [...]

Continue reading...

14 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds: Use it all

21. June 2010

3 Comments

14 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds: Use it all

Today is the longest day of the year.
OK, so technically, at 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds of daylight there’s only one second of daylight more than there was yesterday and three more than there will be tomorrow. And we won’t be seeing appreciable changes in the length of day until late August. But [...]

Continue reading...

Stand-up paddleboarding: The video

23. May 2010

0 Comments

Thursday, I went to Lake Crabtree County Park where the Great Outdoor Provision Co. was holding a boat demo. Included in the demo fleet: stand-up paddleboards. I took my river shorts and my video camera and came back with a 5-minute video about what this modern-day sport that grew out of Polynesian mass transit is [...]

Continue reading...