Running in 'Hot'lanta...though it wasn't so hot, thank goodness

This past weekend, I had a great little mini-vacay to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and it was great to see my family (aside from some minor heckling about when I was going to get married...). Sometimes it just feels good to get away from the city for a few days.

I decided it'd also be a perfect opportunity to ramp up my mileage a bit (have I mentioned that I signed on to do the marathon a bit late in the training game? Not to worry though...gulp).

Saturday morning I set out to run 12 miles along the Chattahoochee River.  That just has such a nice southern ring to it, doesn't it?  Alan Jackson anyone?







Well, the way my route ended up, I actually only ran 11 miles but felt pretty good about it. My dad joined me for the first three miles, which was awesome, but he wasn't quite up for 12 so I took off on my own.  Poor guy ended up tripping and falling after I left him (although as he later proudly described it, he "caught himself in an 'ai ki do roll' and everyone around him was quite impressed").

People in Atlanta are SO NICE.  I was hella thirsty on my run and all the Team in Training people kept offering me water at the water stations they had set up for their training run, even though I have a guilty conscience so I kept telling them I wasn't with them.  Not only that but people smile and wave at you when you pass them.  Ah, the things I miss about the south.

The next day, with some pretty sore hamstrings, I went back with more of the family to do a much shorter, more relaxing run. My brother and I ended up paired off and he took off at something pretty darn close to a sprint in my book (he used to play college soccer). So much for relaxing. I summoned up my energy and willed myself to ignore the throbbing in my head (a result of Saturday night's festivities - although, seriously, I went to sleep before my parents).

Long story short - I schooled him. The four mile run ended with him in the dust and me doing a victory dance.  How about them apples?

Reenactment (we're big on these in the south)

Version of my victory dance

Overall, I call it a successful weekend with a total milage of about 15.

Brother and I after I kicked his butt.

The boys...Dad doesn't look like the fall did too much damage