Posts Tagged ‘weather’
water... water.... water....
When I go out to run in the morning, I make sure (several times) that I have my house key. In the summer I take my water bottle along too. This week I realized I need more than that — especially when I go out alone.
I met two women for a business lunch, and one of them became violently ill and the other woman and I wound up accompanying her by ambulance to the Emergency Room where she was treated for heat exhaustion. Fortunately she was conscious and could answer the medical questions that the paramedics were asking her — and also give me enough information to track her husband down so we could call him to come.
I realized that I really need to be carrying identification with me, and some indication of who to call in case of an emergency.
And keep drinking that water!
Weekend Runs
I think we’ve caught a break with the weather this weekend. But I’ve got water duty on Sunday from Greenberry’s, so I’ll definitely be there for that. Wouldn’t want to be responsible for someone else taking a trip to the ER for heat exhaustion on my watch!
Name that dog!
We interrupt our normally scheduled commentary this week with a brief Public Service Announcement from Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys on how to properly adjust your mirrors in order to eliminate that dangerous blindspot.
When I first made this change several years ago, it took me a couple of days to get used to it, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
It’s pretty cool the first time you watch a car pass you and see it move — one headlight at a time — from your rearview mirror to the side mirror.
EUREKA — NO MORE BLIND SPOT!
Weekend Runs
I’m probably only going to run once this weekend because of the heat, and it’ll probably be Hamilton on Sunday.
excuses, excuses...
I don’t do cold, wind, snow, sleet, driving rain, and I don’t do oppressive heat and humidity. Last Sunday instead of torturing myself on Old Waterford Road, I got out the old air compressor and pumped up the tires on my bike for the first time this season. Ahhhh.. such a relief to have a little moving air crossing my face.
It’s nice to have an outdoor option that is a bit more tolerable when I just can’t bring myself to run.
Let’s hope the last couple of weeks isn’t a harbinger of what the rest of the summer will be.
Weekend Runs
I’m probably game for the short route from Faith Chapel on Saturday. Shade on the W & OD on Sunday from Greenberry’s will be nice, too.
Casper, WY -- 5/12/10
You thought I was kidding, didn’t you? I told you spring in Wyoming meant there was one last snow storm coming and you thought I was making it all up.
I’m going to Wyoming tomorrow morning to see my Mom and I’m going to have to pack my winter coat! =:O
But that’s not what I wanted to talk about this week.
Over the weekend Todd and I went to Hot Springs, VA so he could play in a golf tournament. We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast located just next door to The Homestead. I was looking for a place to walk/run Sunday morning while Todd golfed, and the proprietors of the bed and breakfast told me there was a lovely little hiking trail through the woods that was about three miles long. That sounded perfect. They said the trail was very well marked and I couldn’t get lost.
Of course, they don’t know me. If it is possible at all to get lost — I’m the one that can do it.
Since it was cool and three miles isn’t that far, I set out without the water bottle that I had purposely brought with me for the weekend. I also didn’t bring a cell phone along. Hey.. I’d be up in the mountains were coverage was spotty and I couldn’t get lost. It would just be an annoyance in my front pocket.
The owner told me it was a loop that could be joined in several places. Just keep following the South Trail signs. She said there would be a sign that pointed how to get back to The Homestead from the trail.
Now, the only thing worse than my sense of direction is my memory, so at the critical moment when I saw that sign, I couldn’t remember whether she had said to follow it or not. I had been walking already for about an hour, so I figured even with all the hills and rough terrain, I must have been pretty close to the end. I was also getting really thirsty.
Shoulda brought the cell phone. Shoulda brought the water bottle.
I took a chance and followed the sign, reasoning that even if it took me to The Homestead, at least I would be able to get back to the bed and breakfast from there.
I walked for another ten minutes and started to get real nervous. Was this little side trail going to take me to The Homestead by way of the far side of the golf course? I started considering options. Keep going (maybe it’s just a bit further….), or turn around and go back to the fork and take the other one.
I eventually went back and took the other fork. After another ten minutes in that direction, I encountered the first two human beings I’d seen on the trail and asked them if they were familiar with it, and was I anywhere close to the end? They said I was very close to The Homestead.
They wanted to know had I seen any bears.
Bears?
Bears?!!
I said no, and we each continued on. Then I saw the sign about the bears. Do you know what to do if you encounter a bear along the trail?
- Don’t make eye contact.
- Back away slowly — do not run.
- If attacked fight back and try to intimidate the bear.
All I could think about after reading the sign was “And of course, I don’t have my cell phone so I won’t even be able to call 911 as I lay bleeding and battered afterwards. Good planning!”
The point is — I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started out.
I think that’s true of a lot of things in life, and apparently it’s true for a lot of runners. It can start innocently enough with a little 5K and the next thing you know, you’ve entered a marathon.
Or so I’ve been told.
Weekend Runs
Saturday’s run is the Loudoun Roadrunners Invitational at Rust Library. We’ve invited members of other local running clubs to join us for a run through Morven Park and enjoy refreshments at the Ida Lee Picnic Pavilion afterwards. Please bring a dish to share for the potluck afterwards. The club will provide beverages.
I’m sorry I’ll miss that. I’ll be snowshoeing in Wyoming!
Can Spring be far behind?
I went for a walk with my little grandson Tuesday afternoon and was excited to be able to point out undeniable evidence that spring is coming. There it was – a tiny little purple and yellow flower amidst the dried up leaves and twigs in the mulch of a neighbor’s landscaping. We bent down and inspected it and he said it looked like a butterfly. I suppose it did.
When we resumed our walk, he looked up at the cloudless blue sky and said, “What a beautiful day!”
No question about it.
My family is anxiously awaiting the arrival of another new life this week — my son’s first child, Amelia Elizabeth. The doctors have said that if she isn’t here by Monday, they will induce labor. I look forward to sharing a picture of her next week!
It’s that time again
Daylight Savings Time returns this weekend. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward Saturday night before you go to bed, or else you’ll miss the Sunday run — which is the trail cleanup, beginning at the high school — on the corner of Dry Mill Rd. and Catoctin Circle in Leesburg.
I’ll be there — unless Amelia has made her entrance, or the drops on the weather map turn out to be a deluge (which it looks like could happen on Saturday).
This could be really ugly when the sun comes out...
My insurance company sends me too much snail mail, and so does my mortgage company. Since I’ve got my payment going out automatically, I don’t need to see the monthly statements, or pay attention to the equity loan offers and refinancing deals.
I make several different piles when I go through my mail:
Bill — set aside to pay.
Statement — set aside to reconcile.
Junk — straight to trash.
Other junk — to be shredded
Other stuff — worry about later.
The envelope from the mortgage company was going into the last pile, but since it was a pretty slow mail day, I went ahead and opened it.
Holy Canoly, there was a check for $200 in it! Seems my escrow account has gotten larger than it needs to be (the bad news is this has happened because my taxes have no doubt gone down because the value of my townhouse has gone down), and they are going to be lowering my monthly payments, and they sent me the overage.
Woohoo. Found money!
Grateful for small favors
And I wasn’t under this when it fell from my neighbor’s roof:
Yeah.. I’m putting this in the “It was a good week” column.
I’ve spent my time this week running at the rec center, and walking indoors at Dulles Town Center, where I’ve been enjoying watching some Police K-9 teams training some dogs in the food court in the mornings.
(At least I hope it is a training exercise! )
Weekend Runs:
The parking lot of Dulles Town Center has some mighty huge MOUNTAINS of snow piled here and there within the lot, but for the most part, the perimeter is clean. I’ve run around the perimeter in the past before the mall is open and it works reasonably well. It’s about 1.4 miles in circumference, and it’s not completely flat. I might head out there Sunday morning.
If anyone else is interested, let me know.
Does my insurance cover a collapse?
After I had finished digging out my driveway last weekend, I saw some of my neighbors tossing snow off their decks and I considered whether or not I should follow suit. My initial decision was negative. As predictions for yet another major snowstorm started to bubble up in the forecast, I started to think seriously about the possibility that my deck would collapse.
Now, since I’m not able to immediately lay my hands on the latest epistle from my insurance company outlining precisely what my coverage is, I finally decided on Monday to eat my Powdermilk Biscuits and do what needed to be done. My deck has a southern exposure and with the sun shining that morning, it was actually quite pleasant out there. I got most of the snow off — definitely to the point where there was no longer a danger of collapse — and then a funny thing happened:
All clear -- at least for 48 hours...
I hit wood. A little bit here and a little bit there, and then I started to see the possibility of the entire deck being cleared off down to the wood and I just kept going. The longer the remaining snow was exposed to the strong sun, and the more I kept shaving, the softer the icy/slushy stuff at the bottom got and the easier it got to keep going.
I suspect it is something like this that must happen in order to turn a wimpy runner into an ultra-marathoner.
Weekend Runs
I see absolutely zero possibility there.
I just hope the rec center opens again one of these days. Never thought I’d say it but… I need to run!
...before the melt...
The arrival of Groundhog Day this week, plus the now-familiar forecast for more snow have not surprisingly brought back memories of the 1993 movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Evidently there’s still more to come.
With a 90% chance of snow on Saturday and predictions of an accumulation to rival that received last December 19, I don’t know what else to say except… who am I kidding to even pretend that I’m going to be outside running this weekend?
I have made a rather interesting discovery — listening to a podcast of This American Life or Radiolab seems to work just as well as music does to give my mind something to do when I run. That was a bit of a surprise.
…and I’m sorry that you’re not going to be able to get Sonny and Cher out of your head for the rest of the day.
Really. I’m sorry.
I can do it myself!
I was glad to see that Meryl Streep won the Golden Globe the other night for her performance as Julia Child — I thought Julie and Julia was one of the most delightful movies I’ve seen in a very long time.
Because I enjoyed the movie so much, a few weeks ago, I watched a special on PBS that aired three of the classic episodes of The French Chef. I watched dumbfounded as Julia Child made am omelet in 20 seconds.
All these years I’ve been doing it wrong (which is probably why I’ve always been so sorely disappointed by my omelets!) After watching her make about 10 of them, I decided to give it a try myself and you know what? My omelet flopped around just the way hers did, and it folded over on itself just like hers did, and after 20 seconds it was on the plate and it was tender and light and absolutely delicious.
I’ve been looking forward to breakfast ever since. I added some sauteed mushrooms first and that worked out well. Then, I added some guacamole. I’m sure I could easily move on to various cheeses.
What fun to discover something new to cook!
Yesterday I straightened up the shelf in my kitchen where I keep my cookbooks and I realized that I don’t have to accept life without mushroom soup just because Wegman’s doesn’t fix it for me anymore. I opened my Williams Sonoma SOUP book and there it was — a recipe for Three Mushroom Soup with Sherry.
With Sherry!
It will be on my table tonight. I’ll let you know…
Weekend Runs
Looks like it might be possible to thread the needle in between the wintry mix tomorrow and a 60% chance of showers on Sunday and do Greenberry’s on Saturday.
I do not like it, not one little bit!
The sun it was shining, though the windchill was low.
The ice was not melting, wouldn’t you know.
But I put on my gloves and I put on my hat
And I laced up my shoes and said good-bye to the cat.
“I am no wimp!” I said, as I went out the door.
“I can do this today, I’ve done it before!”
I plugged in my iPod and selected some tunes
And charted my course, around the ice dunes.
“This isn’t so bad” I said as I ran.
“Are you out of your mind? I don’t think I can!”
My forehead was stinging, my cheeks were beet red.
My fingers were tingling. “I hate this!!!” I said.
“You’ve got to keep going, it won’t be so long
Just another two miles — think of the song!”
“I want to go home, I don’t like it out here!
It’s cold and it’s windy and I can’t feel my ear!”
“OK, then, you wimp. Cut your running time short.”
“What a splendid idea,” I said with a snort.
Weekend runs
Snow showers tonight, and on into tomorrow.
Not so great for the weekend, to my greatest sorrow.
Sunday’s no good, I’ve got plans for that day.
Though the weather looks better, I have to say.
Possibly Saturday, out at The Woods
Though I must admit, it’s not looking good.