Georgia on my mind

Easter weekend, the weekend of March 21st, we were in Northern Georgia with friends. The idea was to have a mini vacation and squeeze in some good mountain training runs. Well, we got some hard runs in alright. Friday we did a 5.7 mile run which was about 1/2 up 1/2 down, it was challenging but didn't get the best of us. I finished feeling strong and in shape!

On Saturday however, was a different story. Our 10 mile run was extremely challenging, the first hour was up a mountain. When we got to the top the views were amazing. The downhill was nice, but overall one of the toughest runs I've done. During that first hour I definitely felt defeated, it was tough!

The picture you see above is a view from the top of Springer Mountain. I went with Bill, Tucker (my running pup), and some good friends Beth, Aaron, their little boy Leon, and a friend Kailey (Beth, Tucker and Leon are pictured on the right). It was just a 2 mile hike but it was one of the highlights of the trip. We were able to hike to the start of the Appalachian Trail (AT), which I have been fascinated with since reading a Walk in the Woods. My plan is to start the AT at Springer Mountain in March of '09 and hike to the NC/TN border. All in all the trail is over 2,000 miles and runs from Georgia to Maine, but my plan is to do about 6-8 weeks on it rather than the 6 months it would take for a thru-hike.

Now we are back at home and I am dealing with another injury. Came up suddenly on last Saturday's run. I think I have figured out what it is, and without going into the details I believe it is subluxated cuboid syndrome (if you are really interested see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuboid_Syndrome). Of course this comes from my overpronation problem, that has caused almost all of my running injuries. But, as always I am determined not to let my physical "deformities" get the best of me, and to find a work around to get me back out there. After some research I've rigged up a small pad to place under my cuboid bone in my foot which is said to help, so hopefully it does, otherwise I'll bring in a professional.

I'll keep you posted!
Happy Running!