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| The HUGE mess after the storm. |
Well I was MIA for a few days. A powerful storm rolled through Hamilton Friday night. Three waves of it. The first wave knocked the power out. The second wave brought my neighbor's tree into my back yard and the third wave had me running down the street in the pitch black chasing my dog who got out of the house. That was by far the scariest moment because he's black and he was so scared, that he just bolted out the front door when I opened it to yell something to a neighbor. Thank goodness there was a guy at the end of my street who was able to corral him long enough for me to get there and put his leash around his neck. Poor Julien was beside himself because he thought Finn was gone for good.
Other than some property damage from the tree and two days of no electricity, we escaped unharmed. I'm just thankful that Julien is relatively unscathed (he had a bit of a break down Friday night), and Finn is home safe with us. The things that were wrecked can be replaced. And what we got is nothing compared to some others around the Hamilton area. Trees falling on houses and cars. And this is nothing compared to those who lose everything due to tornadoes and floods. We're very lucky indeed.
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| All I could do Saturday night. Thank goodness for book lights. |
The hardest thing for me was being off line for so long. My phone died Friday night and I got to charge it at my girlfriend Elin's place on Saturday. She was good enough to let me keep my meat in her freezer and my perishables in her fridge. Awesome to have friends with power during a blackout. Sunday consisted of yard clean up. My neighbor was able to get someone on Saturday (who was just in the neighborhood helping those with fallen trees) come and cut up the tree limbs for us so that we could get them off our fence and off my deck. My yard looks relatively normal right now. I lost my patio set and there's no fence between my neighbor and us anymore. My neighbor's insurance is going to replace the fence, get the giant tree pruned, and give us $500 for a new patio set.
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| After my 13K this morning. Pace was an acceptable 6:45 per kilometer. |
Yesterday was a total "I can't believe I did that" day. I skipped my long run. I was so anxious about my yard being a disaster and Julien was also anxious, that I decided to postpone my long run until today so I could do yard clean-up. It felt weird. I felt like I was cheating. It was unsettling and gnawed at me all day. I got up this morning and did my 13K LSD up the rail trail and back. I was wondering if there would be fallen trees in the trail. It looked like there was one, but someone cut it out of the way. So because I didn't run yesterday and today was supposed to be my rest day, I'm running for four days straight before my next rest day.
Eating over the weekend was same old. I had a lot of beef. I had steak on Friday night and burgers and steak again on Saturday night. We got to stay at Elin's place for dinner on Saturday. She was having her brother and his wife over because they were without power too. So we crashed their BBQ. I had too much wine this weekend. Yeah it was a stressful weekend, but that's just an excuse. I know better. I think it's time to take a break from wine for a spell. Anytime that something starts to control me, I have to stop it. So it's morning coffee and water from here on in.
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| My eats from the weekend. |
I finally got to see my massage therapist on Friday. He's back from his pilgrimage. He walked 800K from the south of Spain to the north of Spain. That's a pretty awesome thing to do. He stripped my quads, but not as hard as he could have. It did help though and I had a good run on Saturday morning. I did 10K with no phone because it was dead due to the power outage. So I have no idea what my pace was. Makes no difference. I had a good run.
I ran today with no orthotics. I saw Graham (physio guy) on Thursday and we talked about how my orthotics are a total bust and no adjustments to date have worked. I'm pretty sure that the orthotics are not my answer. But maybe changing my running form is. We talked about running form and foot strike and I decided to try running differently today. I'm not sure if it's all in my head or not, but I tried to put more pressure on the outsides of my feet and straighten my ankles more. My toes did not get numb or start to cramp. I will continue to run like this and see if it works for longer distances. Next Sunday is a 16K LSD. That will be the true test.
So I'm officially on vacation. Today is laundry, sheet changing, upstairs cleaning and grocery shopping. Doesn't sound very restful. Oh well, not having to go to work for three weeks is restful. Trust me! I'm off to clean, then answer more emails. Apparently the Everyday Health interview was posted to the Women's Health website. I am truly touched by the outpouring of emails I have received from women asking me for support and guidance. I think that this is a serious responsibility to have and I do not take it lightly. I'm happy to answer all the emails I get, it just may take me a bit of time. Thanks to everyone for reaching out, and I apologize to my blog friends. I haven't been a very good commenter of late. I'm always reading though, I promise!
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| What I wore today. Those are size 6 capris. |