The Storm Aftermath

Running on snow/ice is difficult, especially without traction.  Dodging fallen branches, trees and random crap is tough too.  Our community was hit with a crazy snowstorm, ice storm and THEN a wind storm to top it all off.  People up the street were without power for days, and it SUCKED.  There are trees all over the place that broke in half.  Poor trees!  Here are some pics of the damage from my neighborhood:

View of the tree in the front yard. It was heavily weighed down by thick ice, but luckily bounced back after a couple days.  The trees across the street were bent/broken permanently. :(

Flooded farm

Downed tree that hit a fence and house

Snapped

The "branch-slap" tree fell

Another huge evergreen fell. Good thing it didn't fall onto the house!

A bunch of marsh trees fell or snapped in half

The sidewalk I was running on. 

Quickly!

My Internet was restored yesterday afternoon! Yay! But I'm posting again from my iPhone because Trav is on the computer AND another wind storm is threatening our power again. *sigh*
The gusts outside are extremely loud, I'm surprised Goober hasn't woken up yet. Hopefully power will stay on this time (but it's been shorting out a half dozen times in an hour).
Treadmill hill interval workout kicked my butt, but it was necessary. A butt-kicking is always good for training, right?

Stay safe out there!

Power

Hi all! Just a quick post from my iPhone again. We got power again on Friday afternoon after being without it for 30 hours. But, no internet yet. Bummer. We got hit with a nasty wind storm on Friday night that nearly made us lose power again (houses up the street are STILL in the dark right now). The wind broke a ton of trees and even made some completely fall down. :(
Last night I put on my uber bright reflective vest and set out on my first run outside in a couple days. Boy! It was more of an agility course run as I dodged ice clumps and branches. I found a lot of damaged trees in my neighborhood, it was really sad to see the destruction from the ice, snow and wind of the past week. The tree that "branch slapped" me a few years ago fell down, as did this big droopy pine tree on my route. It's sad. I will post more pictures once I get Internet back. Hope you are all stating safe and warm out there!

Snow Days

Posting via iPhone because we haven't had power since 5 AM. Over 12 hours without power because of snow is no fun, except when you have a 14 month old who loves to chase the cat, a gas fireplace and stovetop, a ton of candles left over from your wedding 5 years ago, wine and....GLOW STICKS!

We've been listening to and witnessing tons of branches crash and fall behind our house because of the excess ice weight. Kinda creepy, but at times it looks like the trees are hurling snowballs at our house. ;)
And we are passing the time playing with some $1 Target glow sticks from Halloween. Yay!

I'm No Brian Boitano

My solo footprints

Last night I attempted a run outside.
In the snow.
With just my running shoes on.

Really, people?  Of course I had clothes on, but no traction control helper thingys on my shoes (aka Yak Trax) or magical non-slip pixie dust on my soles. :)


So anyway, my original plan was some hill repeats but that was scraped as soon as I stepped onto the slippery sidewalk.  Visions of me sliding down half the hill on my butt kept me from repeats, and going full-force down a hill.  Ok, I'll take it slow...real slow.

The actual run was both stressful AND peaceful at the same time.  My stomach muscles were working overtime as I was preparing to slip but keep my balance.  My mind was just hoping to not slip and fall.  However, the snow makes everything so serene and quiet.  It was just beautiful and calm.

My shoes didn't have the greatest traction, but sticking to the "snowy" parts of the sidewalk was the best bet, as the dark "dry" parts were not necessarily dry.  In fact, some of the dry parts were black ice.  I found this out at around my 2nd mile...and I totally avoided a big 'ol butt bruise:
I was just running back up this little bitty hill that I had just ran down when my front foot (left) had stepped on some of that pesky hidden black ice and slid right out from under me.  Instead of falling on my butt, my momentum made my right foot slide two feet forward.  Now, if I was graceful and totally awesome, I would've kicked that left leg backwards into a lovely little ice skating arabesque, a la Brian Boitano.  Not me.  Instead I yelped, sliding forward on one leg, with arms waving in big circles to keep my balance.  Writing it does not do the near-accident justice.  Too bad no one took a video because I probably looked really stupid.  Actually, I HOPE no one saw me.  But I'm just glad I didn't fall, and I laughed after the fact.  It was funny stuff.  Although I shamed Brian Boitano.  Sorry dude. (I'm pretty sure I did make that face, though!)

It was pretty fun being the only set of footprints in the snow most times.  Looks like I'll have more chances at making a fool of myself running in the snow as the forecast is calling for 8 inches Wednesday.  In the meantime I'll run on the treadmill...and practice my arabesque...

 

Olympic Marathon Trials...WOW!

Went over to Kerrie's house today for a little viewing party of the Olympic Marathon Trials with Miss Kerrie and Karla.  All I can say is WOW.  These athletes are amazing!  We marveled at the speed of the men AND women, the bikini bottoms of the women, the compression socks, the swim cap-like hats, the dude with the spandex shorts that cut his junk in two (NOT a good look BTW), the sunny loop course, the awesome finishes, and the "ugly" crying.  It was just too cool to see all those athletes cheering for each other, motivating each other and just being happy for the Olympic team.

What did we do after watching the marathon?  We went for a little 3 mile trail run with Kerrie's youngest boxer, Bennie. We weren't going to watch super runners and NOT want to go running after.  Geez! ;)
The run was quick, cold, beautiful and it smelled like evergreens.  Perfection!

Proceed with photographic proof of the events...

As Kerrie put it...Olympic Marathon dreams

Karla and I in our "strong pose"

Karla and Kerrie

So excited for the OLYMPICS!  YEAH!!

Quick Post

Went on a long 7.5 mile running adventure yesterday with Goober. More pics and details to come, but for now I'm off to watch the Olympic Trial coverage with Kerrie and Karla! Yeah!