Top local runner carves niche on trails

By Pete Colaizzo
Poughkeepsie Journal

You enjoy training on the trails. How much of your running do you do off-road?

I would say I run almost exclusively on the trails, more than 90 percent of the time. I run on the Appalachian Trail near Hopewell Junction.

What do you feel are the benefits of off-road running as opposed to road running?

When you run on the road and the track, every single step you are using the same muscles in the same ways. You are so prone to overuse injuries. On the trail, every step is different. You jump and skip. It's not necessarily safer, but you are using different parts of your body all the time.

What's it like running on the Appalachian Trail during the summer?

This time of year, you see the through-hikers, the hikers that are hiking the entire way. They step to the side and they think I'm crazy.

What are some of the challenges of running on the Appalachian Trail?

I'm fortunate enough to have a half-day of work on Wednesday, so I do my long run in the afternoon. The rest of the week, I run in the early evening after work. In the wintertime, that becomes challenging. I have one of those headlight things, but it's really tough. I run that would take me 50 minutes (in daylight) will take me 1:20 because I just can't see where I'm going.

For someone who has never run on the Appalachian Trail, what could you say to prepare a runner who might want try it?

The thing with the AT is, it's just a straight trail and it's clearly marked (with white blazes). It's very easy to do that run and do it in a group with different abilities. The faster runners can go ahead, but you always know where they are. The side trails are marked with different colors, so you always know where you are going.

So the Appalachian Trail is your favorite place to run?

It's to the point now that if I go to do a race somewhere else I look for it. I was up in Vermont (earlier in the spring) to do a half marathon and I found out the AT was near there. The day before the race, I went and did an hour mountain run so I could run the AT up there to. I'm hooked, oh absolutely.