Monday, August 23, 2010

Midnight Monsoon

Training week 6 is off to a wet, ugly start. For those who may have grown up in a military family like myself, the term SNAFU comes to mind. It all started when my wife pulled out of the driveway Friday morning for a girls’ weekend, leaving me at the mercy of my kids and the puppy. The challenge was figuring out how to do my 18-mile run on Sunday. The solution didn’t work out so well.

I knew my wife wasn’t getting back until around 5PM Sunday. 6PM Sunday was the start of a daddy/daughter dance for my little girl’s Y-Princess tribe. I figured with the dance, followed by getting the kids to bed and some stretching, best-case I’d be getting my run underway around 10PM. Not ideal, but I was pretty intent on keeping the Sunday run on Sunday. So, after a day of lawn mowing, house projects, kid wrangling, puppy chasing, and daddy/daughter dancing, I got underway just before 10PM. I was dragging right from the start. The first couple miles weren’t feeling good. Then, in the distance, the first of the lightning appeared.

By mile 5 I was dragging enough that I slowed to a walk long enough to down a Gu and a fair amount of water. At this point the wind had picked up, the lightning was getting a bit more insistent, and the first of the raindrops were wetting the pavement. By mile 6 I was feeling better, but the weather was going downhill. Just as I crossed mile 7 the dam burst, and the rain started coming down in sheets. Hard enough that the water was running in rivers down the gutters and the sidewalks. Hard enough that I could no longer see. Hard enough that the squirrels and rabbits were forming into pairs and crossing the path in search of an ark.
It looked just like this ..... at least the rain did

My run consisted of 2 times around an ~9-mile route, and although I was tempted to keep going and gut out the full 18, I ended up turning around at about 9.5 miles when my iPod was no longer lighting up, and the sound was barely audible. I also had my Garmin on, and the rain was coming down hard enough that I was worried about it as well. By the time I got home I had managed to get 9.94 miles done. After stretching, drying off, hanging up the gear to dry, and doing some Google research on wet iPods (always a gamble including the term ‘wet’ in a Google search – never quite sure where the internet is going to take you), it was almost 1AM. Set the alarm for 5:30AM to knock out the remainder of the run, which I did this morning (8.03 miles), and now I could really use some sleep.

Not sure where I’ll end up with the iPod. It still seems to play music ok, but the screen is REALLY dark. It’s currently in a container filled with uncooked rice to hopefully draw out any lingering moisture. It would appear the backlight isn’t lighting any longer. Kinda like ET, only completely different. I’ll leave it in its hyperbaric rice chamber for 24 hours, and see how it’s feeling for tomorrow’s run. That may turn out to be an expensive 10 miles.

11 comments:

  1. Kudos to you getting out to run at 10 pm! Sorry it down poured on you and you had to cut it short! But you are awesome for getting up at 5:30 am to finish it off!

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  2. Amazing. I love this - no offense intended! - totally nuts idea of running 18M through torrential rain and lightning after a weekend like yours! That marathon will be a doozy after this. In all seriousness good call on packing it in when you did, understandable craziness to finish it off in the am, and re your iPod - I am the iPod killer and have few positive experiences with ones that got wet. But you may be luckier. Don't try to wash them to make them better. And the Garmin - I am astonished that these things - at that price! - are not more weatherproof. But anyway that's the end of my rant and my heartfelt praise. You go!

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  3. You are hardcore mister!!! Hope the ipod survives the torrential rains as well as you did :)

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  4. I hate iPod drama. I'm giggling here cause I've been up and down with mine for a few weeks now. I'll have to try the hyperbaric rice chamber! Hope it works - I'll try anything too! And we all know the hoops we go through to get those long runs in...Way to pull it off! Kinda like ET, but not - so funny..

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  5. Yikes... hope your Ipod fully recovers! I just found your blog, and am a new follower. I'm looking forward to reading more about your running adventures :)

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  6. Thanks for stopping by! I am amazed at your determination to keep to your run. I don't know if I would be able to start that kind of run so late, but am so happy for you that you did. And maybe running through that kind of rain in the dark was an adventure? Except for the whole ipod dying part. Anyways, good for you for keeping to the plan!

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  7. Seriously hard core to even attempt this at 10 pm after a weekend of managing kids and puppy....and then to get up at 5:30 to finish! Way to stick with a plan! Sorry about the iPod...hope it recovers.

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  8. Wow sounds like a very eventful run!! Glad you got to finish it the next morning! Good job! :0)

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  9. This sounds awful! But, way to go finishing the next morning! I hope your ipod recovers and you don't have to buy a new one.

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  10. I think you packed it in at the right time...for you anyway, maybe a little late for the iPod. Well done for getting out there in the first place.

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  11. I hope the hyperbaric rice chamber works. ::crosses fingers and toes::

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