Where have I been? Crazy weather and other things.

I know I mentioned earlier this year that blogging and internet were going to be lower on my list of priorities for this  year, and they really are.  Since we got back from vacation, things have been really crazy over here.

First, we have had the most unusual (and deadly) weather.  Last week was nuts.  It was very warm, with high winds, and then we had a cold front come through and bring tornados.  We were thankfully spared, but on Wednesday of last week, we had our neighbors lose a chimney- it came detached from the home and toppled, a window plus surrounding trim be blow off, and several homes lost their playground equipment.  I copied these photos from my neighbor's facebook page.  Her home was fine this time around, but last time we had high wind, she lost 30 feet of her fence.  This wasn't deemed a tornado (and as it turns out, I WAS home during this, but had just decided to not take Soren for a run, BEST DECISION OF THE WEEK EVER!)  All the garbage cans went crashing to the ground, and there was trash everywhere, because it was garbage day. 

Then on Friday of last week, severe tornados ripped through KY and Southern Indiana.  We watched the news as long as we could, but were invited to go across the street to take shelter if we wanted.  Ryan was at work, and I knew he would not be home before the storms hit, we could go to have more company.  I had actually invited another family to our home since they had a huge walkout basement with glass windows, but were able to walk to a neighbor's house.  While I felt fairly prepared at our house, since our basement is actually very well equiped for a disaster with our food storage, cable, radio, water (we have a full bath), I still went across the street for the company.  I had been watching the radar and felt it would miss us.  I had just put my tri bike in the basement (as a precaution), and packed up coats, crackers, and beverages to take when they announced a tornado warning for our county.  We bolted next door, and hung out in the basement for a good half hour or so, and had strong winds and rain.  After seeing the devastation in Henryville, it made me feel so blessed and fortunate that were did not suffer more damage, and that I had my kids all home.  It was slightly unnerving that Ryan was at work, and cell phone coverage was a bit spotty.  I didn't talk to him until much after the all clear was given.  I think the next time we need to take shelter, we will stay here.  We have a full bath, with no windows, unlike our neighbor's basement that is almost all open.  I feel bad that I had even thought about putting my tri bike in the bathtub and taking a picture of it because of the seriousness of the situation.  Also, they warned us on TV that we should put on helmets if we had them available.  We had our ski helmets in the basement, as well as my aero helmet.  I told my new running partner, Erin, that I didn't want to wear my aero helmet since it was the most expensive of my option.  Her response was, "you should have, then you would be flying faster than everyone else in the storm".  It did feel good to laugh at that because it really had been such a tense week.  I was really glad it was a recovery week for me, because it was rather high stress!

So, with last week being a recovery week, I realized I skipped over blogging about my biggest week of training to date!  When we got back from vacation, I started a new diet, basically cleaning up my eating.  I did had a bit of trouble with portion control, I think.  I didn't lose nearly the weight I did last year when I did the same diet, but I was eating more this time around, and not starving myself.  I had 2 five mile runs, a 10 mile, and a 20, plus I started coaching three neighbor girls (daughters of the neighbor who's pictures I posted above) in the Couch to 5K program, so I was run/walking with them two days a week.  I also got in 3 swims (including a 30min lesson where I learned that I am doing EVERYTHING wrong), and 1 sufferfest DVD.  I was using Advocare products, and felt great all week, and I had my percent body fat drop by 2%.  That was huge for me, especially since my weight didn't change much.  It meant I kept my muscle this time around.  My 20 miler went really well, and my track workout last week went well too.  I am now pretty much off the advocare products (due to cost), and just eating the food recommendations, and I don't feel nearly as good as I did before.  Maybe it is just the stress from last week catching up with me.  I didn't quite use everything from the diet yet, and plan to use them on my remaining 20 milers and for race day.  This week is another big week, with the same mileage essentially as the week I described above.  I passed out on the couch last night and woke up around 2am to go to bed.    I am not sure if it is the marathon training just getting to me, or the continually getting up so early to get Keira to school.  Soren has been waking up really early too, because it is getting lighter out earlier.  I am looking forward to daylight savings time to give me more time in the evenings and hopefully get my little buddy sleeping later.

Finally, we have been spending a lot more time outside.  We had snow yesterday morning, and Soren was playing in it by 7am. 

I did manage to injure myself yesterday, preparing everyone for snow play.  We had put all the snow gear away since it was 70 last week.  Instead of getting a stool to get Soren's hat and mittens down from a high shelf, I jumped and grabbed.  As I did this, an umbrella was caught in the hat, and I pulled it right into my mouth!  It cut the outside of my lip, the inside of my lip, and bled everywhere.  This was all before I had gotten Keira on the bus too!  I tried to hold it together to get Keira on the bus, and none of the other parents were actually outside this morning. Darn!  I felt really bad, and was afraid to stand up else I would pass out.  I hugged Keira, put her on the bus, and as I was making my way back home, I wiped my face and it was still bleeding.  I hate blood, and I was paranoid that I would go down, but couldn't keep it together much longer.  I scrambled up my porch steps and laid down in our foyer while Soren stayed outside.  I couldn't get him to come in, but I couldn't risk being upright anymore.  When I was in college, I passed out while standing from a similar bloody incident, and really messed up my teeth.  I was freaking out because I did hit those teeth I messed up, and was worried I would need more dental work.  Ugh!  I finally felt that bad feeling pass, but I felt off all day.  I did get my swim in, as well as more playing in the snow and coaching, but I am sure this contributed to me falling asleep on the couch!