Jan. 7 to Jan 13

Where do the days go? One day it is Sunday and then it's Friday again already!!! At the moment I am off from work all week, so the running should be done with a well rested body and mind! Yeah right!!!! The week starts off on Monday with a simple to do list and then all of the sudden, it is packed with chores, running, gym, errands, dogs, and hanging with many running gals from MomsRUNThisTown.....it's all  good!!

Monday; Jan. 7: Opps....day off from running and the gym. Sometimes you just need it.

 Tuesday; Jan. 8: To the gym early for abs, back, and triceps. Then, Traysen and I were out the door for an easy 7 miler. We found a new trail! Peachtree City is loaded with spurs that branch off of the paved paths. The particular trail we found was loaded with rocks, tree roots, a hill or two and popped out at the track where we do speed work! Who Knew? One great find on this trail was a very steep hill (short but very steep) that will be great for practicing some of the climbs in the Georgia Death Race.

Wednesday; Jan 9: Well, I have finally join the 21st century! Not only have I  slowly moved away from running in cotton t shirts (to the moisture wicking techy types), I now have a Garmin. Yep, a forerunner 110 that will do just enough to know the mileage, the time, and the pace. After loading the require data to Garmin Connect, it was kinda neat to see the elevation gain/loss and the actual course on a map. Today, the first outing with the Garmin,  was a good 12 miler. Traysen the doberman skewed the stats a bit with a few tree waterings, one lengthy pit stop, a few "wanna chase the squirrel" slowings, and then several "Hey MOM,, let's see how fast we can make the Garmin go!!!!"

Thursday; Jan 10:  Hill repeats were the order of the day! Traysen and I took off with some barely daylight to wind our way along Hip Pocket, aka: Hill Pocket. After ducking under Hwy 74 and wandering through Planterra, we ended up on our favorite hill in the Line Creek Nature Area for 6 grueling hill repeats. The hill of moment was a 100 foot climb in a quarter of a mile. (These details are easy to see once the run is loaded into Garmin Connect!) Although sluggish on my part, it was a good overall effort for 10 miles total and Traysen once again thought his Mom had lost her marbles with all the repeats on the same piece of ground!

Friday; Jan. 11:  Lazy girl here finally got out the door at 8am! Some days we just need to sleep in and take our time in getting out there and in the run itself. It's outings like these where confidence your overall running plan/commitment are key, knowing you will continue in the big picture of running.
Since the race in March will most definitely have some walking sections (given the vertical profile), I decided to practice that technique. Many folks call it "power" walking. Traysen and I call it an easy day that is a test in walking fast ability and a test in patience since it takes quite a bit longer to cover the distance. Today was a good 5.6 miles (we can now be that accurate with the Garmin!!!) and then boredom took over and we called it a day!

Saturday; Jan 12:  A busy day ahead, Traysen and I were out the door for a nice 12.4 miles in Peachtree City. He has gotten used to Mom venturing through the woods, off the path and hopping over tree roots...which is good because now that the leaves are off the trees, I am finding new trails all over the place! Some are rather short lived, but I can usually link these to other sections of trail and spend quite a bit of time off pavement.

Sunday; Jan. 13: Driving 2 hours to Vogel State Park at 330am provides some serious quiet time. No traffic, no radio, no dogs....just ole Sarah and her thoughts to ponder. Once at Vogel, I met up with good running pals Katie and Angela for an awesome 22 miler along the Coosa  and Duncan Ridge Trail. This was a run on one of the hardest sections of the GA Death Race course. As an out n back, we had over 10,000 feet of elevation change during the 22 miles! Some of those climbs rival anything Colorado can dish out! A great outing to say the least and the weather was perfect! Cloudy, misty, and cool the entire day! This area reminds me of a warmer Mt. Washington! It is always raining!



Coosa Backcountry Trail: running in this mist is perfect! Running in the GA mountains is always a muddy adventure!!!

Summary: A great week of running. The training for the 60 mile race in March is going well and it is full steam ahead. No aches or pains, the head is in the right place and the miles are of good quality.

As a side note: I had intentions of going to run in the mountains both Sat and Sun. With some "life" Saturday did not happen; it was a local run in Peachtree City. Luckily, the schedule was easily adjusted and more miles were actually run over the weekend than originally planned. And that is how it goes for the those of us with real lives. We can't always get the exercise/running completed as we plan or as we desire. But most of the time with a few adjustments, we can still "git 'er done." So, even when "life" gets in the way of running/exercising, make some adjustments and do what you can. Something is always better than nothing.

Total for the week: 70.0 miles
Total for 2013: 130.0. ..which is 37.0 miles more than this time in 2012. Oh well...so much for cutting back on the running!!!

Dec. 31 to Jan. 6

Starting a new year is always a fresh beginning with the running. Many folks set new goals, make resolutions, and vow to keep striving towards a healthy lifestyle. And while we all know that those resolutions often get tossed aside rather quickly, the fact that people recognize they need to make lifestyle changes is a step in the right direction.
So what is the difference between a new goal and a resolution? A goal keeps you focused and is specific. An example would be: "I want to run the St. Patricks Day 5k race in my hometown." An example of a resolution would be: "I want to run more." One more example we are all familiar with: "I want to lose 15 pounds by May." verses "I want to lose weight." See the difference? Setting specific goals allows us to keep the focus and determination going over the long haul.

Instead of analyzing each day this week, here is a summary. Work was in full swing this week so getting the miles in was a challenge but yet it happened. A mixture of runs with a good effort of hills repeats on Wednesday, a long run on Sunday, and two days in the gym. Energy levels were good and the perfect, cool GA weather made the running easy.

So, a good start to the new year!!!

Total miles for the week: 60.0
Total miles for 2013: 60.0

Dec. 24 to Dec. 30

It's Christmas week!!! Where did the year go? Luckily, our family keeps this holiday very simple so there is no madness, no all night wrapping sessions, no stress, and no hustle and bustle. Some folks enjoy the mayhem and I say: "more power to ya!!!" So, without all the holiday distractions, it is running as usual, although work is likely to curtail the miles this week.

Monday; Dec. 24th:  An early morning departure for San Salvador yielded a day off from running. It was needed after a solid previous week. As we pulled into the gate, this guy was guiding us in!!!

He's a bit skinny!! Maybe some of those Biscoff cookies from the airplane would help him out!?

Tuesday; Dec. 25th:  No idea what happened but it was a second day off!!! Merry Christmas to all!!! Sometimes we just need to pull the efforts back and since the 3000 miles will easily happen with only 25 miles total for the week,  an easy week is in order.

Wednesday; Dec. 26th: With the early report to work, running took place in the afternoon. The schedule had me overnighting in Savannah, GA and the hope was to find some good trails/paths, etc to see the sights. Well, with limited time, the run was actually along the short riverfront walk and loops around a deserted subdivision development along the water. At least 6 miles were logged and that is better than nothing. With more research and time there are some good areas to run in this town.



Thursday; Dec. 27th: After flying all day (very early out of Savannah), running did not happen. What? Three days off this week??!! Yep, happens a couple of times a year!

Friday; Dec 28th:  Finally to the gym. Seems that area is still slacking. For those with "real" lives...jobs, dogs, family, house to clean, etc....we have to keep trying to do what we can and then keep trying to improve where we can. With abs, back, and shoulders done, it was off for a nice 7 miler with Traysen.
One thing that is truly being enjoyed here in the southeast is the wet winter. Most folks are complaining of cold (27 degrees at 6am is not cold as compared to Colorado!), the wet (lots of rain lately), and the constant damp. At this point I am enjoying this weather as a nice change to the Colorado dry and it is really beautiful.

Saturday; Dec. 29th:   With work looming, out the door early for a basic, quick 7 miler. Then off to San Salvador.

Sunday; Dec. 30th: WooooHoooo....what an awesome day of running with Angela. We started at Amicalola State Park visitor center, climbed up East/West Ridge Trail, ran the Approach Trail to the Appalachian Trail and past Nimblewill Gap. The highlight of this run...: SNOW!!!! Yes, about 2 inches of good snow to coat the trails! It was perfect temps, perfect terrain, and perfect snow!!!! We logged 19 miles of pure bliss!!!

The Approach Trail with a light coating of snow. One of the many differences between running in the snow in Colorado verses the snow in Georgia is the ice that coats the trees. Hard to see in these pics, but most of the trees/shrubs have a light coating of ice over the branches. 

Total for the week: 39.0 
Total for 2012: 3015.0...

Summary: This week ended the year 2012. I ran more miles than I have ever run in any one year! Not bad for a 47 year old! When the year started, it was to be a reduced mileage year; well, that did not work out....even with the move, the new job, and a few other life changes, the ole girl managed to crank out one of the best years of running! About 10 pounds of extra "padding" was dropped, the quality of the runs were better (track intervals, hill repeats, tempo and long runs), and the enjoyment of the running could not have been better. Over the year and with the move, I met some new running friends. This has been the most rewarding year in terms of watching others start running, see some challenges, set some goals and then exceed their own expectations. So many gals have turned their lives around with running and healthy living and it has truly been inspiring.