Let me explain.
My hometown (where I lived until 2nd grade) and my second hometown (where I lived until 4 years ago) are going to be under water. Modale (the 1st hometown) is predicted to be under 4 foot of water...and that water could be there until December.
We found out for sure on Wednesday, and I've been there helping pack grandma up ever since. Everything is out of her house, it's 100% empty now.....she's moved in with my sister, safe and sound. We can all relax. Yes, her stuff is safe and dry....but HER being safe and dry was my ultimate worry.
No one is really saying how soon they could be seeing the water. It could be tomorrow...it could be Wednesday...but it's coming.
Getting trucks loaded and ready for the first trip to storage.
Making the best of an unfortunate experience.
"Open Til Doomsday"
When we drove by later, the sign was down. Someone must have complained???
People were trying everything they could think of. Piling dirt around their homes...wrapping their homes is plastic. You name it, they were trying it.
"Closed until further notice." This is the sign that did me in. I couldn't keep the tears back. :-(
So, there you have it, the reason I haven't run since Tuesday.
But I've gotten PLENTY of exercise. There's no doubt about that. Packing, lifting, moving, stairs, trailers, truck beds, heat, humidity, mosquitoes.....everything is moved and stored. Now we just have to wait and see what happens.
Hopefully, the water stays away, and all we did was provide grandma a blank slate for redecorating. :-) :-) :-)
So anyway....back to today's run. I met up with the Omaha Running Club for their weekly long run. This week, the venue was Lake Stinky...I mean, Lake Zorinsky. They've drained the lake, hoping to control the population of zebra muscles. (My wetland biology major hubby seems to think the efforts are futile.)
There are actually two lakes, kinda. The larger side has a trail that goes 4 miles around...and the smaller side has a 3 mile trail. I ran both, getting in my 7 miles for the day.
Because of my legs, and now the flood waters, my running schedule has been thrown out of whack. The schedule from the ORC "coach" had me running 8.....the modified "I've been in physical therapy for two months now" schedule I drew up had me running 6. I think running 7, splitting the difference, will be just fine. :-)
I started off in a group of about 7 other people.....but after six minutes I put my pride aside and started into my 2 min run/1 min walk intervals. I spent 5 miles playing leap frog with a group of 4. They would just catch up to me, and my Garmin would beep, alerting me to start running again. I think they thought I was just wanting to stay ahead of them.....but that wasn't the case at all. It would just happen that they'd come up behind me, and my Garmin would beep. Surely they heard that?????
Anyway.....right about then another runner in the group joined me on one of my walk intervals. When she found out what I was doing....she joined in and finished the run with me. It turns out that she used to run intervals as well. So now there are three of us in the group (that I know of) running intervals. It's fun to see that I'm not alone, and funny to think that we're starting a sort of revolution within our group.
"You're really pushing me....did you realize you run with an 8:15 - 8:30 pace when you're running?"
I've tried slowing my pace like I'm supposed to on longer runs....but my music background makes it hard. I pick a rhythm and stick with it. I adjust my heart rate, my breathing, and my pace by speeding up or slowing down while I walk....or by adding longer walk breaks. It's gotten me to where I am. I've lost weight, I've gotten PR's in my half marathons, and I'm still out there running and enjoying it...so why change? :-)
So the run felt great, the humidity didn't totally kill me. Win/win. :-)
7.04 miles, 10:42 overall average pace
3 comments:
Great run Jen. You just run what feels good for you girl. I have to run my longer runs slower than I do to but as long as it's not bothering me: why change.
I don't completely understand about the water. Where is it coming from and what's causing it. And might be there till December?
So Sorry to hear about your Grandma's place. That is so scary. Hoping the best for her. But at least you've gotten her things out and she is safe.
@ Fran - the water is coming from the Missouri River...one of the major river in the US. The dams upstream are overloaded and opening up their spillways, releasing large amounts of water downstream. This is sending the river out of it's banks all the way to where it (after it joins up with the Mississippi River) end at the Gulf. Omaha, Missouri Valley, Modale, etc are all affected....because we're so close to the river itself. The farm fields all around are already filled with standing water as it is. On top of that, the higher elevations upstream have seen TONS more snowfall and rain this year then they have in quite some time. So they are going to have to release higher volumes of water from the dams for most of the summer, and maybe into the fall.
@ Heidi - scary and very surreal....but yes, her and her stuff are dry and safe. I think the latest update was that the water should be arriving in the next day or two. So now we all have to sit back and wait.
My parents (who live in another town close by) will keep their house dry - they live on a hill. But they may not have clean water to drink, power, or a WAY to get TO their house. Many of the roads are predicted to flood. Guess we just have to wait and see what happens.
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