it just wasn't meant to be

I didn't run TCM today. I didn't even start. Or travel up to the cities.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the apple orchard with my brother and family.

They were all eating apples. They looked and smelled soooo good.

So I ate half an apple. Within about 10 minutes, my stomach was cramping. Went home and spent another couple hours on the couch moaning. This was not a good sign. I managed to eat about a cup of whole wheat noodles for supper, but I knew that would not be enough to sustain me through a marathon and I knew that I was not propertly hydrated as well. (I'm to the point where I'm scared to eat. I'm afraid of getting cramps again. At least I'm finally losing some weight.) I woke up about 2:00 AM and deliberated for more than an hour as to what to do and decided that I wouldn't go, sent Lionel a text message and then went back to sleep.

At 7:30 this morning getting ready to leave for church I sure was thinking about all of you in the Metrodome ... last minute trips to the bathroom, dropping off gear bags, heading out to the start. :D The weather was actually just how I like it and the weather in which I've run my best ... cool, windy and drizzly. Just how it was for my 35:something Fool's Five last year and my 1:12 TC10 a couple years back (that one was actually cold--wore my winter coat, hat, gloves when I was done!). And I've been thinking about you all for the rest of the day, too. Watched a little bit of streaming coverage on Kare11.com but they were having technical difficulties. I did see Eric Woodford cross the finish line when the clock here said 11:14 so he had a very good run. A PR I believe!

Today I just had to go out for a run. I've had 3 off days this week, including Friday and Saturday, and just wanted to feel normal for a while. So I decided to head around the hill, keeping close to home should my stomach start cramping again. When I got to 1/3 marathon (8.7 miles) I had 1:19 on my watch. Could I have kept that pace for another 17.5 miles today? Probably not. Could I have gone another 17.5 miles in 4:40 to beat the sweep vehicle? Maybe, but I guess I'll never know. I decided to call it quits at 2 hours, getting in 12.6 miles after some walking. Good enough for today. I think I made the right decision to stay home. It just wouldn't have been a good day.

The saga of the door: Our front door, both the door itself and the trim around the side lites, was rotting. It's on the north side of the house and unprotected (no porch or overhang). So I ordered a new door unit a couple of weeks ago. Ted and a friend went to install it yesterday morning. Took out the old door unit and discovered ... carpenter ants had been doing their thing in the rim joist along the front of the house. Wonderful. Now the project just got WAY more complicated. They had to take out and replace all the rotten wood. In doing all this, we had a big 6x7' opening in the front of our house all day and the house was a bit cold. More on a little uninvited guest later ...

The colonial Fypon trim broke while they were removing that (so that has to be ordered and replaced) and they had to remove a row of bricks from the stoop to get at the rim joist so those are going to have to be replaced (and they didn't all survive being uninstalled). We'll have to have someone come to take care of any remaining ants. Great. The day just wasn't going my/our way.

Well, they're at it again today. When I came downstairs from changing after my run, I see something scurry across the kitchen floor. I thought it was a brown leaf blowing around, but I looked after it (it went toward the stove). A chipmunk. It headed down the hall past the bathroom and laundry and went into the office and under SOMETHING. So now I'm barricaded in the office with a chipmunk SOMEWHERE. I'm trying to keep my feet off the floor lest it decide to crawl up my leg. :D I don't want it to leave this room and run around the house!!! I'm not sure how this is going to play out ...

Congratulations to all of you that ran TCM today, or another marathon earlier in the season. It's an accomplishment that a very small percentage of the population will ever enjoy. Bask in your success!! You're my heroes for the day!!

Thought for the day: "Nothing happens ... but first a dream." --Carl Sandburg