Missing in Action -- or -- Missing the Action

It's another one of those "Where have I been?" sort of posts.
Shortly after completing the Pine Mountain 31.5 and attending the GUTS EOY Party, things have been really quiet.  As a matter of fact I contracted a long-lived head and chest cold that lasted for about 20 days.  As it turns out a lot of my friends caught it as well.  Unlike my normal self, this time I went to the doctor, and after taking an anti-biotic along with codeine cough syrup I ended up healing in the same amount of time as others who did nothing.  (Experiment failed and $100 out the window.)

BIRTHDAY RUN / HIKE
When my birthday finally rolled around I found myself at about 80% health and was still suffering from the Conti Crud. (Sorry my friend, but we are all blaming you for it as well as the 'malocchio'.)  I decided the day before that it would be fun to visit one of my favorite trails in North Georgia and head up to Fort Mountain State Park for a 'Birthday Whatever Run'.  We had no real plan or idea how long we were going to be gone, we were just going to do it and try to make it home in time for dinner.

Hwy. 411 south of Chatsworth with Fort Mountain looming in the background.

On the road up to Fort Mountain I thought I saw something peculiar.  No way.  It had rained in Atlanta for a couple of days leading up but was I really seeing snow?  YEP!  I couldn't think of a cooler thing to see on my birthday in Georgia.  I don't miss much of anything from NY except for my family, a few friends, and SNOW!

Snow covered peaks in the distance seen from the Cool Springs Overlook.

Basically, our run started at the Cool Springs Overlook and followed the 302 to the 301, to the 410, back on the 301, and then continued on the Gahuti Trail back to the start.  All in all I think it was probably between 9 and 10 miles!
Of particular note were the waterfalls.  Now I haven't hiked all of these trails that much but I have never seen them like this.  There was a ton of water coming from everywhere.  It had to be a combo of the rain and snow melt.

Base of Frank's Falls.

Ftank's Falls.

Water.

Trail.

What an awesome day!  That's all.  Just awesome :-D

AMICALOLA FALLS CAMPING TRIP
Yep.
I went camping.
Yep.
It rained.
Yep.
I didn't run more than a mile.
Yep.

I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody. Mmm.

Anna's AWESOME panoramic photo of our AWESOME campsite.

Water.

Mist.

FAT ASS 50K
Last year this was my first ultramarathon.
This year it was my first bandit run.
Yep, I'm a bad ass.
This race is run on the trails of Sweetwater Creek State Park, and while I did not run the whole 50K I did get in a good 8 or so miles.  And just so y'all know, it took me going out and sweeping the first section or trail just so that I could say that "I ran more miles than Tom."  Tom.  What a dick.  What a great person.  I enjoy seeing him at these races.  He makes me laugh.

Shoals.

The above picture reminds me of the Pacific Northwest.  While I have never been there, this is how I imagine it.  I really enjoy weather and days like this in small doses, but couldn't imagine it were every day like this.

Ruins.

While sweeping I could not resist the urge to crush some shit with my new toy.  Yes, there were runners smooshed, animals pureed, trees flattened, and I even took out a bus full of preschool children.  A steamroller, as I discovered, is the perfect piece of heavy equipment to sweep a course with.  Fear me bitches!

Grim roller (sweeper).

IN CONCLUSION
I am slowly getting over my running funk with more frequent shorter runs.  I'm even really looking forward to a couple of races this year.  AND I'm logging all of my runs online and hopefully soon will be tearing up the dirt and asphalt with additional accountability to my friends.
Hopefully I'll see you out there doing the same!
Happy New Year!