sidebar | life and training 9.23 – 9.29
I’ve lived in Florida my whole life, and I’ve never feared a hurricane more than I ultimately feared Helene.
And trust me, fellas, I’ve bowled through many of the state’s largest impacts: Idalia, Ian, Charley, Irma, to name a few. Helene was a special kind of beast, though, and one that perhaps I and many others in the area (stupidly) underestimated, since her landfall was projected to be so far from our homes.
I’m not Jim Cantore so I won’t be too detailed on Helene’s specifications. All I’ll say is she was massive, large enough to devour the whole of Florida and then some, and she became powerful, a cat 4 at landfall. But, many of us figured, her eye wouldn’t close in near enough to the bay to cause anything more than maybe Idalia last year. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.
I know of folks who lost their homes in Bradenton, Sanibel, Venice. Two feet of water slipped up the garage of a friend who lives on The Big Island here in Tampa. Massive, well-established trees lifted from the earth and collapsed on the sidewalk. Property destroyed, debris scattered, lives overturned like the jet ski I saw tossed by the seawall on my running route.
As for me? I had a fright of my own. Most of the day Thursday was pretty uneventful: hot wind, fast-moving clouds. Around 7 or 8 in the evening the squalls started, but I was cozied up in my house eating pumpkin ice cream and vaguely disturbed by the sounds – 65+ mph winds are still spooky even though they don’t usually yield much damage. I slept on and off for a few hours. The constant whistling outside was enough to prevent a good snooze from happening.
At midnight I heard J leave the house for maybe the third time – he kept going to the water to check on the levels. I watched his truck drive off and then I beheld the water. It didn’t process at first, but yep – a rush of liquid spilled just beyond the front gate and near me on the drive between my building and the one across. I freaked. When I called him he declared rather forthrightly: We need to move to your car. That certainty freaked me out even more.
We tucked into Lil Car/Cruzita and I let him navigate my trusty sedan a half mile to a parking garage. The ride was harrowing – we broke at least three traffic laws while trying to avoid the deepest water. He assured me that Cruzita would make it, he tested it himself in his truck, but I flipped shit still while he cruised onto a median, then drove on the wrong side of the road, and blew a red light. Why did the lights even bother being red?
But, we deposited Cruzita safely, and just as we emerged from the parking garage the night’s last squall roared through the city. Rain pounded against my glasses, the massive gusts broke through the buildings, and not even thirty seconds in I was rendered practically blind by the liquid covering my glasses. I cradled my wallet and cell phone in my *soaked* shirt, bowed over, and plowed against these resistances plus the madly flowing foot plus of storm surge rushing up from the harbor.
I tell you what, it was the most frightening 10 minutes of my life. I remember a moment of gratitude slipping into my mind as I huddled against the storm: Thank God I work out. Strong legs helped me plow through the moving water. Thanks, running.
We opted to evacuate right then and there, before the water could rise any higher. I threw some clothes, laptop, and my journals into a duffle…and a fucking bag of pumpkin bagels and an avocado. My priorities are fucked, man. Mr. Truck navigated us off the island and we drove over to a friend’s house. Dude was out of town and offered us the door code, then promptly fell asleep and didn’t text back on time.
So, yep, we sat in the truck for 3 hours in the guy’s driveway. Dozed off intermittently, the calming but still steady wind as convoluted white noise in the background. We gave up around 2:30 am and swung back to the island (after a pit stop at a hotel to use the bathroom. I considered just doing my business on the guy’s car tire cos I was PISSED), which was thankfully passable. The 8 foot surge had reduced by at least a foot at that point.
I rested fitfully, then gave up at 6am after two hours of “sleep” when folks started texting me back from the night before. I went for a very eerie run to scope out the area. The debris flocked over the sidewalks, the smell was putrid – a surprising amount of folk were out with headlamps (all the streetlights were dead) navigating the rubble. I felt as though I were trail running in some respects. After I finished my session I walked over to retrieve Cruzita – she was doing well.
Friday and Saturday were all about resting and processing what happened. I’m sure my therapy session will cover a lot of these strong emotions, too. I’ve had several conversations with friends (including way too much recanting of the above narrative) which comfort me to no end, and on Saturday heard from another friend assuring me that he was safe in an area that actually got pummeled by the storm.
I’m hoping things normalize this week, though the area will have a stain for quite awhile. A couple I adore from work had to cancel their wedding – in NORTH CAROLINA, due to the mudslides from Helene’s rainfall. Another customer lost his house from the insane flooding. The whole event was incredibly humbling and sobering. I’m grateful for my safety and for what I have, and I’ve learned even more concretely that you just cannot predict how bad hurricanes can be even when your area is so far removed from the eye of the storm. It infuriates me even more that businesses are more focused on keeping the store running up until the last minute rather than giving employees time to not only physically prepare for the storm, but mentally, too. Even though I didn’t have to do much around my house to get ready, the mindset shift required to weather a natural phenomenon like this is difficult.
Alright, I’ll get off that soapbox for a bit. Long story short, it was a brutal, traumatic night, but I made it, everyone I love made it, and I’ll move on from this hopefully with more knowledge and an abundance of gratitude.
Everything else that happened this week feels obsolete, but I did have some enjoyable moments. Bright Ice post-therapy as always – this time with half an apple bran muffin as my treat-within-a-treat, and Oxford Exchange Wednesday right as some of the first bands of rain from Helene started popping up. I also completed my fall puzzle on Friday! Should I get it glued to preserve it? Definitely considering doing that.
Saturday I visited Michael’s to get some supplies to construct an autumn wreath. I LOVE how it turned out, and it only took maybe 15 minutes total and cost around $30. Not bad, considering I might spend $50 on something similar. I felt rather blah that day, especially since it started raining again, so this was a nice creative pick me up to break up the afternoon.
Sunday I invited my best friend and his fiance over for a cheeseboard night. We had a splendid little evening chatting and snacking, and I whisked up a batch of Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate to finish off our nibble platter. A delicious, cozy end to a tumultuous and stressful time.
Hope ya’ll are well, and this week is more peaceful for all of us.
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A filling, hearty veggie soup.
…A decadent autumnal layer cake!
A Few Things I’m Digging
Reed diffuser…I bought this Landon Tyler Toffee Apple diffuser on Monday and absolutely adore it. I set the dude up in my bathroom: it’s potent enough to notice when you walk in yet doesn’t assault your nose.
Pumpkin bread…Whipped up a new punky bread recipe that I’m hyped to share, but if you need one now, check out my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread! Perfect treat with a mug of coffee or tea.
Pumpkin Happy Hour
Fabulous fall imbibements featuring our favorite seasonal gourd. Bottoms up!
Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini
Week in Training
Monday, 9.23: 7.5 miles, 9:26 pace + 13 minute lift
Starting off the week the best way I know how: speedwork! I like getting my hardest workouts out of the way early so I don’t have to think about them for the next 7 days. This one went quite well. 2 mile warmup, 2 miles (8:07, 7:57), 1 mile (7:47), 2 x 400 (1:47, 1:50), 1.5 mile cooldown. My legs were definitely gelatinous during the final 400m, sorta like at the end of a race effort which was more or less what I wanted to simulate.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 diamond squat 60#
- 3 x 10 chest press 25#
- 3 x 10 alt. lunge 60#
- 3 x 15 stir the pot
Tuesday, 9.24: 4.21 miles, 10:41 pace
A little last minute storm prep after work, but the morning was calm for a nice recovery run.
Wednesday, 9.25: 5 miles, 10:02 pace
Usually I prefer a Monday/Thursday speedwork split, but since tomorrow might not be the best day to trek out on the path I decided to shift things up to today. Really good workout! 2 mile warmup, 600m (2:46), 400m (1:45), 300m (1:16), 200m (:50), 100m (:24), with a 1 mile ish cooldown.
Thursday, 9.26: 6 miles, 10:51 pace + 16 minute lift
A little bit of whoosh and a little bit of plink-plink-plink but very uneventful morning. Most of Helene’s impacts will arrive in the afternoon so there was plenty a window to get in an early trot.
Strength:
- 4 x 6 deadlift 110#
- 2 x 8/1 x 10 shoulder press 20/15#
- 3 x 10 plie squat 65#
- 4 x 6 clean and press 25ish#
- 50 crunches
Friday, 9.27: 4.35 miles, 10:25 pace
Absolutely terrifying night. I wrote about it above so I won’t repeat, but I got up around 6a for this run mostly to survey the area. Lots of debris, many lights on the sidewalks out, a couple stalled cars – huge mess, not to mention it smelled putrid outside. Finished my run back at home and walked to the parking garage to retrieve my car (who was thankfully doing just fine!)
Saturday, 9.28: 9.35 miles, 10:56 pace
Long run to tour around The Big Island. So eerie: extremely dark (I wonder if some spots have no power or just have their power cut?), whirring generators everywhere, debris still lining the pathways and some remnant puddles. I even saw a jet ski flung up against the seawall by the bay. Felt good this trot and thought about extending to 10 but didn’t much want to do another loop.
Sunday, 9.29: 4 mile walk (1:02:16)
Total running mileage: 36.4
Leave a Reply