Moving to VT

You’ll find the greatest concentration of people your age in the greater Burlington area. There are other good areas but more skiing/biking oriented.

It's very cold in Vermont with snow and ice covered ground for months of the year. Running can be an issue in these months. Stowe Vermont is very picturesque. If you want real outdoors look into northern New Hampshire.

If you like New England but want a milder climate you may want to go more south, like into Rhode Island. It's not wilderness there's a lot of rural areas that are flat to hilly and there is a magnificent coastline.

Don't move to VT for running. Go Boston or Providence. Both cities have tons of races.

I'm a grad student at UVM that wanted to focus on running in my free time. The running community is very small even in the Burlington area. There are very few members of the local running club in the 20-30 age range but there are plenty of very good masters runners. Lots of dirt road routes in the surrounding area but not many options for running within Burlington. Its also very expensive living in the city.

Look, I'm not young or a good runner or anything like that, so take my advice with a grain of salt . . . but if this is what you want to do, you definitely want to go to someplace where there are other good runners (runners better than you) and train with them.

Bad move. It's too expensive for a substitute teacher, and the running sucks 5-6 months of the year.

If I were you I'd buy a van and live in it, with a $10/month Planet Fitness membership for showers, and just follow the weather so that you end up in Arizona or New Mexico for the winter.

You could even drive your van to Vermont and spend the summer there, without paying any rent. Enjoy some of the fall foliage and then BOUNCE to someplace warmer.

Some small town in Arizona or New Mexico probably needs a substitute teacher, some place where you can spend a few months in the winter, and maybe even rent a room on a month to month basis.

Maybe you could even save up a few bucks, especially if you secretly lived in your van, and then when the weather warms you'll have money to travel around and hit the running hot spots like Boulder and Flagstaff and Eugene, and maybe even check out some top track meets in person. You could even volunteer at some meets and road races.

In the summer you could work in a national park, save money, and run in splendor.

I wouldn't get stuck in one place while trying to make ends meet as a substitute teacher, but if you do, make it some place where you can run enjoyably in the winter months.

wakoo wrote:

Don't move to VT for running. Go Boston or Providence. Both cities have tons of races.

Joanie has made a go of it in Maine, which has the same climate, but she credits lots of cross country skiing

you would probably like Burlington, but has been said, be tough to afford on a subs salary.

Is Ben& Jerrys hiring?

You should do well pretty much anywhere. Burlington and the Champlain Valley are the most expensive place in the State due to rents but will have the most job opportunities. There are big HS in St. J and Lyndonville which might give you good work chances and the NEK has low cost of living. Another area to check out is the Upper Valley near Hanover NH. The running community is active and there are many schools but the rents are higher. South Royalton is a manageable commute to that area and has many rental chances due to the law school there. There would also be many opportunities for side work in the Upper Valley to augment your teacher pay. Any small town will afford you lots of dirt roads to train on. The biggest issue will be finding somewhere to live and to work.

I believe Craftsbury has a summer cross country training camp. You could look to see if they need counselors or staff.