My Newest Running Tool

I have been racking up a lot of miles around our neighborhood but I was asking myself how do I track my miles and find more challenging elevation change? I found my answer in gmap pedometer. Its a cool tool that lets you use google maps to make running routes. The maps include a Topo Map view that shows hiking trails too (free topo maps)! It estimates calories used and elevation change. I am stats nerd and this helps me get my fix and motivates me to go a little longer each run.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

12 Miles

So this week my long run was 12 miles. It was hard but thanks to the rainy weather it was cool but balmy 80 degrees. So it wasn't to bad. I was making 2 and 3 mile loops around our neighborhood. I took the dogs for 2 miles each which was good for them and gave me a chance to grab some water from home. My goal for next week is to do a total of 30 miles over the week. This week I did 27 miles. So it shouldn't be to hard to get an extra 3 miles in.
-Paul

Blood Mountain Trip

It seems like a 4th of July tradition for Erin and I to hike Blood Mountain. Blood Mountain is about 90 miles north of Atlanta. Last year we did it and really got a good taste of what balmy heat in GA is all about. We barely made it because we didn’t have enough water or snacks. This year we came prepared with a lot of water and snacks but it ended up being a really cool overcast day. It was a good chance for me to do some training for the Imogene run. We hiked up together then I ran down then back up to meet up with Erin. It was about 4 miles of running and 2.5 miles of hiking. It was a good workout mainly because I haven’t gotten a chance to run down a lot of hills. It worked some muscles that I haven’t really worked out much. I am a little sore today but it was a lot of fun. Erin and I finished the day off with some tubing down the Chestatee River and firework in downtown Decatur with some friends.

-Paul

Photo from the Top of Blood Mountain GA sixth tallest Mountain at 4,458ft