And Then The Plow Came By ...

Oh my. This is quite the storm. And of course, everyone is talking about the weather. When it's this bad, what else is there to talk about?

This is what it looked like out front about 7:15 AM.

Not too bad. I was able to get out of the cul-de-sac to greet the crew at Panera. There were about 15 of us there.



Joe, Trevor, Jean




Aaron, Tom, Dan, Millie (foreground)

 We decided to head up around the lake. It was too dangerous to be on the roads. The paths hadn't been cleared, so making our way through many inches of snow was a LOT of work. At least it felt like it to me.

When we got to the park at the lake, Paul just couldn't resist that slide!!

Brings back memories of a warmer trip down a slide earlier this year ...

Back to the snow ... as we continued around the lake, the snow continued to fall. Even though it was hard work running, it really was a beautiful wintry morning.

I was the first one through the snow for the first mile, at which time I literally ran into a snowbank. I guess I must have had a little snowblindness and there were no footprints ahead of me and I totally didn't see the mound of snow. And I tweaked my hamstring AGAIN. It hurt. (I'm getting a treadmill as soon as I can get some help getting it to my house. Anyone who's interested in helping, please let me know. I'm looking at next Sunday. Trying to mesh schedules with the guy I'm buying it from is proving to be a challenge.)  So I favored my left leg for the rest of the run. :-(  I opted to run through downtown hoping for some of those heated Mayo sidewalks to spare my hamstring.

I was turning into Frosty!!

Then a few more of the crew happened by.

And so I headed back to Panera with them. I got in about 7.2 miles, but it felt like much more. Especially after 15 yesterday. This is what my car looked like when I got back to Panera.

A quick change of clothes and then joined the others for coffee (or in my case, since I'm not a coffee drinker, water. :-)

Millie and Pete

Me and Jean

It got most interesting trying to get home ... and into the garage. The plow hadn't come by yet, and the car bottomed out in front of the driveway.

Backing up and gunning it wasn't doing the trick. My neighbor Ellie was out shoveling (a woman's work is never done) so I grabbed the shovel from my trunk and we started digging. I got some salt from the garage and put it in front of the front wheels and that got me up the driveway, at least 'til I was about 3' from the garage when my wheels started spinning again. So we pushed it into the garage, where it's been ever since. There was no way I was going back out. BTW: The plow finally came by about 6:30 I think and deposited about 3 1/2 feet of snow at the end of the drive. I am totally spent. I don't want to see another shovel for a very long time.

But .. here I sit, in a warm house wrapped in a fleece blanket, Mannheim Steamroller on my iPod, a salad and asparagus soup in my tummy.

Life could be worse. As I look back through the week, I ran 5 days and got in 62 miles. That, plus several hours in the pool and several on the Stairmaster. Good enough. This week I hope to FINALLY get out on my cross country skis.

Congrats to my friend Summerson who ran a BQ and PR marathon today at Kiawah Island. Whoo hoo!! And her hubby Brian ran his first half marathon. A VERY good day for the Springer family. :-)

The TriRochester end-of-the-year party was cancelled today. Rescheduled for 2-4 tomorrow at Glynner's. I can't go. :-( I'm having my cookie exchange. :-)

It's a busy week. Cookie exchange here tomorrow. Cooking Light holiday get together Monday at Kathryn's. Tuesday Beetles, and Eric is coming down to pick up a Honda Civic he bought Thursday. I'd test driven it for him on Wedsnesday, and then on Thursday at 5:18 PM I was coaching him through making offers with car dealers while I was expecting a bunch of runners here, for dinner, at 6 PM. :-) All good. We got 'her done. Eric asked me to go with him to pick it up. Of course I will ... Wednesday, possibly a movie with the gals and KC's retirement celebration at the gov't center in the afternoon. Thursday up to St. Cloud for the River Runners Christmas Lights Run and dinner (bringing bread and cookies and staying with Donnie and Cindy ... thank you guys!) Saturday OSS breakfast run here and KC's retirement party in the evening. All good. All fun. :-)

My sympathies to River Runner pals who lost a spouse and had a spouse diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, both this week. You are all in my prayers. I will close with some lyrics from Lady Antebellum ... Never Alone.

May the angels protect you
Trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when its time to go home
May you always have plenty
The glass never empty
Know in your belly
You're never alone

May your tears come from laughing
You find friends worth having
With every year passing
They mean more than gold
May you win but stay humble
Smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble
You're never alone
 
Good night.