The 'ol stomping grounds

This past weekend due to Lucy having Friday off work, we were able to take a long weekend with our parents in middle Georgia. Since Lucy's dad's illness, it's nice to be able to spend as much time with him as possible so that extra day helped. Saturday evening, my mom and dad joined her family (her brother drove from Mississippi) and had a cook off at their home. Good family fun had by all!

One thing I accomplished while at home was putting in some good miles on the 'Pig Trail' in Macon, GA. I can't count how many hours/miles I ran and biked on this trail during my 'prison term' working in Macon! Even though I had been enjoying the pleasures trails bring (dirt, mud, breeze, shade, no cars or their fumes, an occasional critter) for years while running in Athens, the Pig Trail (aptly named due to the draining problems after a rain and the slosh pit it becomes!) was were I understood why I liked running!

First to put you in my mindset while living in Macon....I HATED the city and my job! I also knew very few people who had similar interests (running trails, illustration, college football).....so if I wasn't working my full time job or doing my freelance, I was probably running! It was a stress reliever and helped ease my mind (probably after a crappy day at work). I knew several mountain bikers but they weren't interested if it wasn't about frames, tires, derailers, and whatcha-ma-callits.....I say give me a water bottle, some shoes and let me run! Other than them, I saw less than 10 people in 2 years running on the Pig Trails.

I woke up 7:00am on Saturday to make the hour drive to the trails. I started my run around 9:15am and greeted by that rare of days in the south - FOGGY and COOL with a daytime high of only mid-80s! My intention was to do at least 2 laps of 6.1 miles for a total of 12.2 - a respectable distance as I try to increase my distance over the next several months. The Pig Trail isn't a hard trail - there's very few technical spots or big hills. The Macon Mtn Bike crew has done a good job of making the trail longer and a tad more technical since I ran them though increasing the lap total to somewhere around 6.5+. I completed my two laps in 2hrs, 12mins - about the pace I wanted to keep.

It was fun visiting the ol stomping grounds of the Pig Trail. There are just a few trails during my running days that have influence me - a few in Athens, a few in KS, and the Pig Trail. Maybe it won't be as long until I can put in a few more miles there.

(pictured is a t-shirt I've done for the local Mtn Bike race)