Tam On The Trail

I didn't think it would happen this quickly. When I drove into Concord, NH on Monday night I thought to myself "it's odd that I've spent so much time in New Hampshire but never made it to Concord before." The next morning, I was out for a run (hooray for getting the shoes on and going!) when I passed a book store that looked familiar. My first thought was "that's odd, I wonder if there are stores like this in many NH cities?" Then I realized, doh, I had been at a campaign event at this very book store less than a year ago! The gears in my brain were clearly moving a little slowly. Wow. Covering campaigns can be such a blur.

Going for a run on the Las Vegas Strip before 7 AM is like running through the streets of Paris and Rome yet significantly more depressing. It's a little like a run along Bourbon Street in New Orleans early in the morning. When I was in New Orleans covering the oil spill, I went on a 6AM run. I have this image seared in my mind of this stripper in short cut offs leaving work for the day, carrying her exhausted shoeless toddler. This week in Las Vegas to cover the Clinton campaign, the enduring images from my morning run are the homeless couple sleeping cuddled on a steam grate...and the man all alone trying to finish off a five feet of daiquiri and barely standing upright. How did he get there? When did his friends ditch him? Did he think that last bit of red daiquiri would make everything right? The strip is glamorous in the dark. In the dawn light so much is exposed.

It's not every day I am up early enough to see the sunrise, but I am so glad I made the effort today. I met up with a source, his wife and their two dogs for a 5:30AM run. Running is better with other people (most of the time) and that was certainly true today. Maybe I just need to find running buddies in towns all over Iowa and New Hampshire.

I landed the radio pooler spot for Hillary Clinton's first day campaigning in Iowa. We were told to meet at a chain restaurant in Davenport, IA at 9:45 in the morning. It turns out that was a decoy and we ended up at a locally owned coffee shop 20 miles away. But all of this is to say, there was no excuse not to run this morning. So I went for a quick waterfront run along the Mississippi River. Last night I went to that same chain restaurant to get dinner and asked an employee where people go running in town. He looked at me like I was a little crazy (because, duh, if you're silly enough to run, you should do it along he river). I'll admit, I didn't realize we were right on the river. The run was lovely with crisp air and plenty of scenery. The only living creature I saw during my run was a Canada goose, who hissed at me. I can't wait to come back and run even further.

Gray’s Lake. More like Gray’s Giant Ice Cube with a trail around it. Despite the freezing cold air outside, it was a lovely run with a view of the Des Moines, IA skyline. It’s a good thing I like this route, because I suspect I will be circling Gray’s Lake through all the seasons between now and February 2016, when the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses are set to take place.

Today, I am traveling with the president (NPR has the radio pool seat) to Wisconsin. The call time is late, 2PM, and it's going to be an excessively long work day when it's all said and done. But that means I could steal a little time this morning to go for a quick run on the trail near my house. The leaf peeping was pretty awesome. Fall color rocks!

A standard part of covering political campaigns is following candidates to events. But when Democratic congressional candidate Clay Aiken showed up at a high school football game in Fayetteville, NC it was anything but standard. Because, well, he's not your typical politician. Aiken is known from American Idol and Celebrity Apprentice. He's a long shot candidate in a firmly Republican district but you wouldn't know that from the way he was received at the football game. The evening by the numbers: 3: people I heard beg him to sing. He declined. 2: cheerleading squads who busted out with custom cheers for Aiken. https://vine.co/v/OAg7gQLPTv1 1: heated debate about gay marriage. (He claims this was the first time this has happened on the trail) Countless: #selfieswithclay It seems everyone wanted a picture with him. Aiken has discovered it's faster and easier to shoot the pictures himself since many people can't figure out how to operate their friend's phones and fumble around. 50-0: The final score. Home team Douglas Byrd took a beating.

I'm in NY21 to do a story about a congressional race. This is beautiful country and so of course I made time for a run. It was dusk and I found a quiet country road near Port Henry, NY for a quick out and back. There were horses, and corn fields and one big grumpy white dog who didn't seem to appreciate my chosen running route. I think I interrupted his nap. There were wildflowers and fall color. Amazing.

I went on twitter and asked for suggestions of where to run in Manchester, NH. This is where I ended up, a mix of trails and streets through neighborhoods and downtown. It was lovely and the weather couldn’t have been better.

Milwaukee, WI, May 13, 2014

Little Rock, AR, May 8, 2014

Sochi, February 2014