Winter vacation '10-'11

Scenes from winter - one warm and cozy, one bitter cold:

From my Tennessee log house on a cozy evening:

and....

From my parents estate on the Susquehanna River in Conklin, NY - Christmas evening, 2010.

Starting 2011 with a 10K run up Signal Mtn

What a better way to start the new year than a 10K run up Signal Mtn. ... at 8 am in the rain and fog? Fortunately, it was relatively warm with temperatures in the 50s.

The so-called "W Road" is a twisty 1000' climb up Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, TN that is often closed during snowy weather. But today, after a horrendous sleepless night of thunderstorms, the road was open and my friends were waiting when I got there. About a dozen of us - from college aged to 50 something, including 4 women, made the annual run up to Lee's beautiful log house for a party.

It took it us about an hour and thanks to Bill M., maybe I'll join the group again next year.

I've logged about 16 miles in the past 5 days. I expect to decrease my mileage and begin speed and strength work in hopes of sprinting in a few races this year. I'm getting a very late start training for the indoor track season. Also, I'm on a low carb low fat raw vegetarian diet to cleanse my digestive tract and drop about 15 lbs to get to my competition weight. I was as high as 160 lbs., now at 152 and target weight is 144ish.

Check out this tour of the hairpins of "W Road" (H/T Jeff):