Eric and I were extremely lucky and kept our power throughout Hurricane Sandy last night. I feel terrible for all those who didn't and who suffered damage. Our electricity flickered quite a bit, and actually went out for about 5-10 minutes a few times. One of those times I posted on Facebook that we lost power, and right away a bunch of considerate, well meaning friends responded with kind messages. When it came back on, I couldn't bring myself to update my status, because I was afraid somehow it would anger Sandy and she'd take our power away for good.
I am really embarrassed to admit that's how I think. I'm usually firmly entrenched on the cynical side of these things: I don't believe in psychics or paranormal activity, I'm a strict follower of research backed, western medicine only, and as a child I proved numerous times that Bloody Mary wouldn't appear in the bathroom mirror even if you said her name three times. Yet for some reason I live in fear of jinxing myself and I'm always knocking on wood. So I felt really bad, but I just ignored Facebook after it came back on, and laugh all you want, but it worked.
Of course, I didn't really have anything to fear, except being cold and bored if we lost power. We rent a third floor apartment, so there wasn't a huge chance of sustaining damage, and any damage to the building wouldn't be our problem. Plus, as I said yesterday, I married a doomsday prepper. Zombie apocalypse? Bring it on. He had all this ready to go in case things took a turn for the worst and a tree came down on us, forcing us to evacuate.
He's so much more useful than me. My worst case scenario plan was to text my closest friend to make sure she had enough wine in case we needed to crash there (she had just opened a box, so we were in good shape).
Around 11, we hunkered down and had a slumber party in the living room. There's a huge tree right outside our bedroom window that was swaying like crazy, and we don't like taking chances.
Beautiful picture. I'll probably frame it. I was half asleep and Eric was watching a movie on his phone with earbuds so he wouldn't keep me awake. Then I obsessively checked twitter for the 571st time, and saw this.
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| The white arrow was pointing directly at us. |
I was pretty freaked out, and the winds were howling like crazy, but, once again, we were super lucky and the storm passed.
Today is rainy and cold. I wanted to use the "I can't possibly run in a hurricane!" excuse, but that's really a huge lie. I'll just tell it like it is and say I was cuddled up in a fluffy robe on the couch reading Games of Thrones and had absolutely no desire to go out in rainy, cold, windy weather and force my sore legs to run. Plus, those brownies I baked yesterday weren't going to eat themselves.
I guess I never mentioned in my past two posts that my weekly running mileage for last week was 81 miles. It's really important that I bring that up, because it's never happened before and may never happen again. I don't know if it totally counts because I did a lot of walking in Fire on the Mountain, but it's still a big number.
Here's a picture from the end of Fire on the Mountain that really demonstrates just how thrilled I was to have to run an extra half mile or whatever carrying a log before finishing. Shelly, on the other hand, looks fantastic.
On the bright side, that's my car right behind us, so you really can't beat that parking spot. And all I had to do was wake up at 2:40am to get it.
Do you believe in anything supernatural? Do you knock on wood if you think you jinx yourself?
You said "hunkered down" so I should drink, right?
ReplyDeleteI love that your hubby is so prepared!
ReplyDeleteTrees make me nervous when the wind blows hurrican hard. It's bad enough when I have to trip oveer their roots like alone worrying about them falling on me.
I look crazy happy in that photo because I was soooo freakin happy to be done. My paces were all over the place. I killed myself on the logging road (I will never learn!) So glad we got to run some together but wish I'd have stuck with you and Darla. I would have had more fun!
Haha Patrick has me keep running gear and a small backpack with emergency supplies in my car, so I can run and carry stuff during the zombie apocalypse.
ReplyDeleteThe tree outside our window made me nervous last night, but we live on the first floor so it was like physically impossible that it would crash into us.
I like some eastern medicine, but I'm not a big believer in the paranormal. That said, I'm pretty sure the universe has some very negative feelings about my participation in the NYCM. Between my work schedule screwing with my travel plans, overbooked buses, my training and now the hurricane...I'm feeling some pressure, Universe!
81? Very impressive. But you're over your quota for congratulations for that weekend already, so ... very impressive.
ReplyDeleteYou had to carry a log at the end? Did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteI def. knock on wood. There are many things I wont say out loud just because I know that it will turn the tides and only the opposite will happen. I am not even at 81 miles for the month. a total freaken fail on my part.
ReplyDeleteI love how you see the bright side of things and that you wanted to murder the camera man in that picture, but are jazzed about your parking spot.
ReplyDeleteI kept yelling at Mike to stop saying things like "we still have power!" and "nope, we haven't had any problems" because I thought he would jinx us and a tree would destroy our house or we'd be without power for months.
that is the most fantastic race pic ever!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the complete opposite look on your faces in that photo!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I am so science-y that I yell at CSI for mucking things up, but I still knock on wood to avoid jinxing myself, or my favorite team, or....
Eric sounds a lot like Allan. We were literally the only house on the street prepared to go without power for a week when the tornado in 2011 hit. I assumed everyone had an emergency food supply, water, candles, and flashlights.
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