A weekend of thanks...

For great friends, great weather, and 2 healthy feet that have been treating me to many great adventures lately!

Thanksgiving morning, I went on a road ride with Dan & his dad, before feasting that afternoon. Friday, Rebecca and I hit the new Raccoon Mountain Trails on our our mtn bikes. These trails are only about 30min west of downtown Chatt! The local SORBA chapter has really done an incredible job up here - there will be lots of trail building throughout the winter and I hope to catch up with them and give a little back. The trails aren't too technical and should be good to work out some of my bad habits.


> see more pics from Raccoon Mtn

Saturday was reserved for catching up on work, cleaning, yard work and good football! Sunday I met up with the running crew for another long one on the Cumberland Trail. We actually did the same Soddy segment as last weekend, but I still took my camera for some new pics. Unfortunately we still couldn't find a way across the creek, even though the water was down a good foot. At the end, we did a short preview of next section (Possum Creek Gorge), to bring our mileage total to approx 20. I'm feeling pretty good running and should hopefully be fairly prepared for the upcoming ALTAR.



>see more pics from the Cumberland Trail

12 Hrs of the Hill of Truth

The race a few weeks ago was a mudfest, but we had a blast! The competition in the female team division was much tougher than expected. We did get 3rd place (9 laps total), scoring some cool pint glasses & tshirts. My BOD friends were up there in full force, setting up a fab pit area, complete with heated room and a disco ball. This was a well run event with lots of happy competitors everywhere - definitely one for the calendar next year!

more pics here

Cumberland Trail Hike

Sunday, I joined some friends for a run on the Cumberland Trail, a 300+ mile trail that runs from Prentice Cooper & Chickamauga in Chattanooga, up to Cumberland Park in Kentucky. I think there may be an idea brewing to run all of it at some point - in stages, of course. We tackled an 8.9 mile section in Soddy-Daisy, called the Board Camp Creek Trail. Finding the starting point was a bit challenging, but once located, we were led through gorgeous hardwood and pine forests and along scenic gorges, with water misting over the rocks above us (luckily we didn't get too wet, as it probably didn't make it out of the low 40s). We were not able to ford the creek near the end for the final ascent to Hotwater Road (we estimate we were about .5-.75miles away), so we probably ran about 8.25miles of the trail... x2 (out & back), plus another 4 or so in our efforts to find the trail head, we logged a solid 19+ miles.

A few pics are below; more are here.

Ladies Cycling Fashion Show

I went to a Ladies Cycling Fashion show last night, hosted by Suck Creek Cycles here in Chatty. A small group attended (10ish), so we had the full attention of the Hincapie rep that was there. She showed us some great new clothes and offerend a 15% discount on anything that night (Hincapie stuff is primo, so the discount came in handy! I have a nice base layer and long sleeve top coming soon...) We also got a preview of the Spring '07 line from Terry and discussed a new line they will be carrying by Craft. At the end of the night, freebies and raffle items courtesy of Hincapie and Suck Creek Cycles were handed out (thanks!).

Now for my constructive comments... if you want to entice us to buy lots, give us wine. The tea & coffee was nice & cozy for the cold wet nasty weather, but a bit of alcohol emancipates us from our wallets :)