Plainfield to Meriden

Distance: 6.49 Time: 1:05:35

Took a day off work to get this last minute leg addition done. Plainfield has a town hall (starting point) on route 12A (near the Connecticut River) and has its town offices 6 1/2 miles away in the hamlet of Meriden (part of Plainfield).

I put my original list of locations for each town based on Town Offices as the addresses are readily available on-line. What I'm finding is that original town halls are often not used by the towns in favor of newer / alternate buildings. I want to visit the center of each town, so on the scouting missions if I see that the town hall and town offices are two separate buildings I opt to chose the original town hall whenever possible.

The next leg to Grantham is 24 miles away from the Plainfield Town Hall - so for this town I've opted to add in a leg that connects the original town hall to the town offices and see both locations and cut the distance on the Grantham leg to 17 miles. OK - TMI - but there is a reason to my madness.

The day was wet and cool at home, but as we got closer to Plainfield the skies lightened, the air was warmer and not a drop of rain to be found. A very pleasant day to run. On the way we detoured off 12A to Mill Street so I could see (and drive over) the 4th Cornish Covered Bridge -- Blow-Me-Down. Also had an opportunity to drive across the Cornish Windsor bridge as the best route from home was up 91 in Vermont and then across the bridge back over to Cornish.

Plainfield is a nice, wide, quiet sleepy town (so it appears) with 12A running through it. Expect that most north/south bound travelers in a hurry opt to take route 91. We stopped in a the library across the street before heading out on the run. The first thing Nancy hears every time we get to a leg starting point from me is "I'll be right back - gotta go". Ah, the life of a runner. Similar to getting older (and magnified!) - always on the look out for where I can go to the bathroom, especially at the start of a run. My body knows something's up. One of these days I'll add to the spreadsheet about optimal place to go to the bathroom before each leg :)

The leg itself was mostly uphill, but only a couple of steep sections - one early on and the other just near the end. Trees are really turning up here (about 50%) and the paved road was lightly traveled. The route starts with an immediate turn on to Daniels (off of 12A) and then a merge on to Stage Road which is followed for 5 1/2 miles to 120. Take a left and then an immediate left on Bonner. Past the Central school up the hill to Main Street. Take a left and you're there with Meriden Town Hall / Plainfield Town Offices / Police Station all in one building on the right.

Meriden is it's own unincorporated town, home to Kimball Union Academy prep school. Beautiful bucolic hamlet that will be the launch for the next leg to come. Looking forward to it (not the 16 mile distance :)) as Haley is planning to run it with me as she prepares for her upcoming Marathon.

Blow-Me-Down