What a wild year so far. First I couldn't race the Gulf Coast Half because I got overtrained and had to rest, then thankfully I got to do Lubbock and Vancouver....but decided not to do Timberman because of timing, then Sandestin was cancelled due to Tropical Storm Fay, and now Cajunman is out of the question since Gustav will attempt to erase Lafayette from the map in a day or two. I don't even need to check the website to know the race is cancelled. After Katrina, they cancelled it and donated all the t-shirts and goodies to the Hurricane effort....I expect the same thing to happen here.
The chaos began on Tuesday - when Gustav was in Haiti. The local news wouldn't drop it and it was bringing up a lot of buried "katrina stress" in people all around the area. at the same time, most of us were in a state of denial - like..."how could this be happening 3 years later? No way.." Katrina like storms only happen now and again - not 3 years apart - and NEVER in the exact same place. I kept thinking to myself - maybe this will be just a hurricane, with no major katrina like effects. this way everyone will remember what a "hurricane" is and not have Katrina as a baseline. just trying to stay positive while all of the hyp was building...
On Tuesday, I decided to be safe and get a room - just in case. I called Jackson and it took me 2 hours to find a room. Thank GOD I did that. Since then, it has been a sort of scramble. There would be no more groceries as we had to eat everything in the freezer. After a hurricane - we lose power and everything in the fridge and freezer spoils. after Katrina, we didnt even get to the house till a week later - and for others it was even longer - and the foul smell of the fridges? well, i'll never forget it. foul. people just duct taped them and threw them out on the street instead of attempting to clean them. it was really gross. I got a new fridge after that.
So we ate what we could from the freezer, and cleaned out anything that would go bad. Then it was time to prepare - and that takes a lot more time then you might think. I picked up my Granny on Friday and brought her to my house to keep watching the storm and prepare to evecuate. We headed out on Sunday morning at 6am and it took us about 41/2 hours to get to Jackson in the contra-flow on I-55 (normally a 2 1/2 hr trip). It was kinda long, but not too bad. at least it was moving. We made it to Jackson and are happy to be out of harms way.
The hotel is full of evacuees from all over louisiana with all their animals in tow. every time i get in the elevator there is a new pooch just excited about all the fuss. the lobby is like a dog park. big dogs sniffing small dogs, small dogs barking at big dogs. i love it. i'm glad i dont have one at a time like this, but i miss having a dog. i will probably go down there again soon to play!
When we got all settled in yesterday, I decided to go for a run. I initially gave it a try for 20 minutes yesterday (saturday) after my bike, and i didn't feel very good about it. the foot still hurts. But Dr. G said pain is my only limitation right now, so if I can handle it, then run. So I did, but came away from it not feeling very good about things. So, when we got up here to Jackson, I wanted to DO something, and running was all I could do since there is no pool open on Sunday evening and biking - well, I just WANTED to run.
I mapped out a 1.3 mile loop at the hotel that goes around the baseball stadium here and took to it. in the first 10 minutes i was so upset with the foot. it hurt. I could tell I was running funny and was tring not to because I didnt want to make something else hurt. I was about to cry out of frustration.... i just wanted that feeling I get after getting my HR up in a brisk run! But I stuck with it, and then the foot began to feel a little better about 15 minutes in, and progressively better. I could still feel it, but I got my groove on and went for 45 minutes. It felt so GOOD! I felt so good. I was so happy afterwards. It was great. not pain free, but do-able!
After my run, I went across the street to watch the Mississippi Braves baseball game (they gave all of us from LA in the hotel free entry) then it was back to the hotel and to bed. It was nice to get away from the radio and the TV with all the storm info for a while. Granny was up watching TV when I got back - and thankfully it was NOT cnn or the weather channel or Geraldo! We are so overwhelmed with information these days from every angle that I just didn't want to see it anymore...it can't be healthy to watch it that much. fat chance though...it's like that train wreck you can't help but stare at.
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