happy trails

Ever since the http://www.lamarathon.com on 3/21, I have been suffering from a tremendous amount of NOISE inside my head. The noise is mostly about whether or not to take time off from running and if so, how much. The battle in my head is freaking fierce. UGGH! Not pleasant. Some people might think this points to a running addiction. I don’t think that’s it at all. It’s more of a “i want to be out and active” addiction. I have to move my body. I need to move it. I need to feel it work and sweat. I need to feel my heartbeat go faster and my breathing get a little heavy. …running just happens to be my thing, so….

Well, since the marathon, I have not done much, but I have hardly just sat on my ass either. I’ve been trying to give my legs a rest from the pounding. I’ve been trying….The first week post marathon, I did VERY little. The next week, I have done more..but I have also been mixing it up. I’ve been getting on this spin type bike at the gym which has been awesome and challenging. This past weekend, I went for a trail run at http://www.gastateparks.org/FDR . The park is approximately 1.5 hour drive southwest of Atlanta. I’ve really been itching for some time in nature, in quiet, and so on Saturday, I made the trek down there. A beautiful place. I ended up running/hiking 7.1 miles of mostly single track with some good hills mixed in. I wore my Adidas Trail shoes for first time and they proved to be great! I wore my Nathan pack and had no iPOD. It was so refreshing to be in the quiet, big space…to hear my own breathing, the scampering of birds on the leaves, and my own footsteps on the pine ladden trails.

Afterwards, I had breakfast nearby at Eddie Mae’s in Pine Mountain, GA. An old, simple, southern place. breakfast served all day. That’s my kind of joint. I love having breakfast post exercise. Scambled Eggs, hash browns, bacon & a biscuit. Yum!

back to the battlefield…(sort of)

As you have seen from recent posts, I have not written about running. I’ve been taking a little break since the marathon in October. It’s been good, but I don’t have anything more in particular to say about it. Just been running a little. Like I’m sure many of you, I am thinking ahead to 2010 and what races I want to do battle with…so many to choose from. Isn’t THAT great. I’m also thinking of raising money for charity again. Last time I did it was in 2005 for the SF Marathon. I raised over $5000 so I was really pleased and enormously grateful to all who donated. The donations went to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, CA. I have a special interest in that place. Nevertheless, having said that, I am wondering what charity, what cause, do I want to put my energy and legs into? Do I chose the same one? As opposed to how great it is that there are sooo many races to choose from, it’s quite daunting to try and decide what CAUSE  to get behind. There are so many in need; so many causes that are all more worthy than I can even begin to comprehend. I’m not even sure I WILL raise money again, but all of this is certainly on my radar.  I will definitely post about it so stay tuned.

So, back to the battlefield. Kennesaw Battlefield, that is. I texted Jeff on Friday asking if he wanted to meet. We’ve been trying to meet up and just haven’t connected lately. We actually hadn’t seen each other since about September. Hmmm.. I wonder if he was avoiding me cause he KNEW that HILL pain would be involved… hee hee. He texted me back asking when and where. “10am. Kennesaw. rain or shine.”

It had been pretty ugly and cold out so who knew what we were in for on the trails. Actually, it rained all day on Friday but the trails were not as wet/muddy as I thought they would be. I purposely DID NOT wear my new Adidas Trail shoes. I JUST couldn’t bear to get them all muddy just yet. So. I had my old ones on.

Found Jeff at 10am right on the nose. Isn’t it wonderful when you can count on people??!! Love that about Jeff! Since we both have not been running much, we decided to just go 5 miles. And let me tell you, 5 miles at Kennesaw is pretty damn good. All hilly! And, oh…the hills make you remember quickly. I hadn’t been out there for about a year…not since I had done my training for the Chattanooga 50k Trail race. I commented to Jeff that it looked so different out there at this time of year….the trails in their winter dress..barren, still and almost an eerie quiet. We didn’t talk much as we plotted one foot in front of the other, up and down and up and down. How comforting it was to be there with my friend, running side by side in the cold of the Battlefield…each of us with our own quiet thoughts and experience, but still, together.

Soon enough, we were back at the start. I don’t know the mileage cause I was not wearing my Garmin, but time was 58:36…so I’m thinking 5.5-6 miles

I said to Jeff; “you know you’re a runner when you come and run tough miles and you’re not training for anything.”

Jeff: “oh, we’re training for something. we just don’t know what yet.”

Ahhh…so true!

Here we are post run. Thanks, buddy!