Monday, January 4, 2010

A New Year That Rocked

This past weekend I loaded up the eco-friendly and “great-mileage-getting” SUV and headed south to meet up with the Redhead. It was our plan to meet halfway, avoid zombies, and ring in the New Year together. And, because this is a running blog—and because we are both currently training for marathons—we decided to incorporate a long run into our little weekend tryst.

Unfortunately for us, the cold and bitter winds known so well by the upper regions of this country followed me down to Chattanooga, bringing a decidedly Midwest winter feel to that southern town. Oh, and in case you are just entirely unaware, there here hills in them there Mountains; hills we ran up, and down, and up again.

Our planned 16M was cut short to 10M after combating harsh winds, 25 degree temps, and a hill of death. I now understand the old saying: “We went uphill both ways.” I even met Boston’s Heartbreak Hill’s little sister, Chattanooga’s Punch-in-the-gut-Hill. She isn’t very nice—by the way.

But our long run misadventure aside, we had a spectacular weekend, filled with wonderful laughs, meaningful and warm words spoken on the Walnut Street Bridge—gapping a river attempting to freeze, and a most excellent post run nap.*

I’m extremely excited to see her again next weekend as I go down to cheer on my cuz as he runs the Disney Marathon. I’m hopeful he’ll have a good race, but I’m worried his injuries may make for a very difficult run.

*And of course we hit up Taco Bell on Friday, it was the first TBF of the new year!!!

12 comments:

Katie A. said...

At least you got 10 miles in - in those conditions I would have stayed in all weekend eating Taco Bell and "napping" :)

Unknown said...

I'm stoked you still managed Taco Bell Friday! Sounds like ya'll had a great trip, despite a little hill action, and I look forward to seeing you and the Redhead at the Disney Marathon!

B. Kramer said...

Sounds like a fine weekend, except for those temps in Chadnooga. But you should be used to it. Cheers!

Jen Feeny said...

I think you knew that the trail was up a mountain the whole time but you were really just trying to show me that you were the superior runner! I can almost see you plotting away... J/K

Best New Year's ever!

Can't wait to see you again so soon! We really need to make this more of a habit! Makes the time apart far more manageable! :)

Amy said...

Ooooooo I LOVE Chattanooga. A seriously awesome bad ass running town. So many trails. Even though it's only 90 minutes away from me I sadly dont make it done there enough for runs. But sounds like a good time.

Sounds like the perfect way to ring in the new year! :)

Me? I had my head in a toilet about 2 hours into 2010.

The Boring Runner said...

See, you have to drive the 15 mpg SUV just in case any zombies jumped in front of you. You can never be too prepared.

You know, Taco Bell is diet food now.

Running and living said...

I bet that hill was way harder than Heartbreak. Hb is really no big deal, you will see! Happy New Year! Looks like no no TB resolutions for you!

Unknown said...

25-degrees sounds warm to me, but then again, I only work in celsius.

Methinks maybe you should have confined this "tryst" to other more tryst-like activities. At least you'd have stayed warmer.

By the way, I have a "great-mileage-getting" SUV too, diesel in fact, but it seems to suck as much juice as my old "fuel-guzzling" V6 sedan. Has the vehicle industry just sold us a pup?

C said...

I love Taco Bell! Sadly (or thankfully) there aren't any in England. Boo.

Happy belated new year!

Ms. V. said...

love is good...

Ms. V. said...

ok. where the hell are you. love is good, yes, but we need you back in the bloggin world!!!

Unknown said...

Nice blog! keep it up and keep loving! :)

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