Nantucket

Walking on Nantucket

Nantucket, in the off-season, is a great place to rehab

Up until about a year ago, I was a pretty active guy.  Even though I was about 275 lbs. at the time, I used to compete in triathlons around New England.  For those of you who don't know anything about triathlons, it's a swim, bike and a run (in a row) of varying distances from a "sprint" (500 yard swim, 10-12 mile bike, 3 mile run) to an "Ironman" (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run).  Organized triathlons have a special category for us uber-sized male "athletes".  We're called "Clydesdales".  Plus-sized women by the way are referred to as "Filly's" or, sometimes "Athena's".

In the summer of '05 however, my back started to hurt.  Bad.  It got to the point where I had to stop running.  Then, over a period of months, I could barely walk.  A trip to Mass General resulted in the good news that I had a fractured vertebrae and a herniated disc.  Genetic they said.  Turns out running 10 miles 3 or 4 times a week at 275 lbs.  wasn't that great for me.  So, at the end of September I went under the knife and had a spinal fusion.  Now, eight (8) three (3) inch titanium screws and two (2) titanium rods later, I'm all "better".  Except for the recovery.

Nantucket, in the off-season, is a great place to rehab from injuries.  Although I'm frustrated by the pace of my recovery I do get to walk outside for an hour at a time while my back heals. Normally walking just annoys me because I'd rather be running or riding my bike (honestly, I can do without the swimming) but the doctors say that walking is all I'm allowed to do for now.  Walking on Nantucket this time of year is great. 

There's  lots of places to walk on Nantucket, but my favorite is Ram's Pasture a/k/a Sanford Farm.  This property is managed by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and is about 600 acres of pristine moors and woods and fields leading to the ocean off of Madaket Road.  It has a series of walking trails and a "loop" between the east and west sections of Hummock Pond.  There are Osprey nests (now vacant), lots of deer and deer trails and circling Northern Harrier hawks.  On the ponds that line the sides of the walking trails, there are Canadian Geese, flocks of  ubiquitous seagulls and during certain times of the year, loads of swans.  I once counted 84 swans on the west end of Hummock Pond.  There are no vehicles allowed on Sanford Farm (although you can ride your bike) so the dirt and grass trail are smooth and, for the most part, easy to walk on.  This time of year you usually have the whole place to yourself and you don't run into other walkers very often.

One thing to remember:  it's hunting season out here.  Although Sanford Farm is typically "off-limits" and a posted "no hunting" property, the Conservation Foundation does open it up for about a week at the beginning of December for hunting deer "by written permission".  Walking on Nantucket for the next two (2) weeks requires bright colors and usually staying on the bike paths.  I went to Sanford Farm yesterday and saw a number of deer stands in and around the trees on the property leading into Sanford Farm. 

There are many people concerned with the rate of development on Nantucket.  I always try to remember that almost 50% of Nantucket has been preserved as open space by the Nantucket Islands Land Bank (established in 1983 as one of the first land "banks" in the country; 2% of every real estate transaction goes to buy open space) and various conservation groups like the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Nantucket Land Council.  Hopefully this means that there will always be lots of places to walk on Nantucket if you like that sort of thing.  I do. . .  at least until I can start running again.