Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Dad is Always "Waiting on a Woman" :)

The Calm After the Storm
   I guess Calm may not be the right word yet, as some are still recovering and others waiting for power to return.  Amazing what a storm less than an hour in length can leave behind.  No…WV didn’t have a tornado (which I have experienced before) but we did have winds strong enough to compare to.  We were beyond lucky to arrive home without any trees sitting on the house itself, but we do have enough fire wood to last us a few winters and enough branches to have several large bonfires to enjoy soon enough.  It’s amazing how much we take for granted when we realize just how much we depend on things and it throws us for a loop (and most of that depending gesture comes just out of what makes things convenient for us..not what is a necessity).  Something that seems as simple as electricity in the midst of 100+ degree days we don’t realize how much we have become convenience by throughout our life. 
     It also shows compassion in people.  We had several stopping to check in to make sure things were alright once they determined their house was alright…the text messages shared (if we could get enough cell phone service to get it out).  Yesterday on my run I stopped by several of the houses I’ve made friends with along my route to check in.  It was neat to hear everyone’s version of the storm and their updates of when they heard we were getting our electric back (funny how some had it down to the hour and many still heard it would be days).  Ripley apparently was the only place that had gas in the area so there were lines of cars backed up on both sides of the road whenever we would try to get out. 
     During this if I was able to get through the “All circuits are busy” recording when trying to call mom (on her cell due to their phone being out too..and if you know cell phone service that’s a shot in the dark as well), they got power back, lost it, and luckily got it back sooner than others.  Mom had to go to Ellenboro to get her cell phone to work enough to call out to us. I didn’t think they had any trees close enough to damage the house too much but you never know.  Dad’s oxygen runs off electric as well as his bed (it pushes air through the mattress  to help keep it stabilized with air making it easier for him to lay on), so when the power went out, it means dad’s mattress deflates and so forth.  Mom and Kelly were making it work with pillow cushions and had to really create some new ideas of how to get dad situated.   Thankfully they were in a good spot for the power to kick back on sooner than others and were able to get dad back to usual flow of things.  Mom mentioned yesterday she put on the DVD we got dad that was the season episodes of the Andy Griffith Show….he spent yesterday enjoying that.  Which oddly enough, I hate to hear the passing of Andy Griffith today after mom was just talking about that yesterday.  Dad always would have that on TV when episodes would run and whistle the theme song.
As far as the training goes:
Friday:  We went to pick Blackberries at a friend’s farm, which obviously didn’t happen due to the storm, nor did a run happen in the aftermath of everything.
Saturday:  Got a little run in for a short bit…probably only 2 miles..but spent the day, raking, picking up sticks…racking more…dragging trees around…so I’m assuming that’s some sort of cross training…and I’m sad to admit I am sore today J
Sunday:  I didn’t actually run today….did spent the entire day with sunlight permitting of continuing to clean up etc.  I suppose yet again I’ll claim it as a “Rocky” style day of cross training and lifting J  (You’d be surprised how sore your stomach will be after bending down 1000 times) J
Monday:  Ran about 5 miles…took a few little breaks to stop in and check on a few neighbors…checked on another neighbor’s puppy too and changed his water as they went into town to stay for a few days due to not having any power. 
***Also a note…MONDAY started the official start date to the 18 week training schedule our new Team Fox Coach has sent us.  I’m so excited to have a training schedule given to me to work off of and feel like a plan is in place to get this race underway. 

My little note for the day can highlight another WV’ian (as we all love our hometown people) signing and the guest in his video Andy Griffith…but I figure this song is appropriate for dad….he’s spent his whole life with a wife and 3 daughters…. “Waiting’ on a Woman”

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Dad with all his women he has to wait on :)