Sometimes February is the Longest Month

Nassau, Bahamas February 1...The month started out well

February may be only 28 days, but this year it was VERY long.  Oh, it started out well enough at the end of a trip to the Caribbean...but it was sort of downhill from there.  And it seems to be lingering. Recently, these words  from Jim Croce's Hard Time Losin' Man popped into my head.

Oh, sometimes skies are cloudy
And sometimes skies are blue
And sometimes they say that you eat the bear
But sometimes the bear eats you
And sometimes I feel like I should go
Far far away and hide
'Cause I keep a waitin' for my ship to come in
And all that ever comes is the tide

Melanie

As many who are reading this already know, my daughter Melanie has been struggling with health issues in recent months.  In the end these issues lead to the decision to perform a cystectomy with an Ileo loop (basically bladder removal with a reconstruction and urinary stoma). This is a surgery most often performed for bladder cancer, but in her case the issue was repeated and severe infections that never quite healed...which can lead to further complications (including risk for a form of cancer).  After 6 or 7 hospitalizations in 5 months, the surgery was scheduled for January 4, but she got another severe infection and it had to be put off to February 15.

Her body did not make things easy...she got another infection requiring hospitalization (we think the 9th since September) on February 5.  After several days of treatment, consulting with multiple doctors from various specialties etc.  it was decided she would stay in the hospital until the surgery.

Happy that surgery day finally arrived

At long last the 15th arrived, Mel had all her parents there and her brother and a niece came by as well.  The surgery itself went well. They did have to place the stoma in a more awkward position than was hoped which would/will require more practice for her to deal with, but that is relatively minor.  We were in great hopes that in a week she would be home and on her way to a healthier, more independent phase in her life.

But it was not to be.  She developed an ileus (basically a section of bowel that did not want to wake up). She spent her 37th birthday feeling nauseous and awful.  All of this slowed down her recovery, but she finally went home February 27th...22 days after admission, making February a very long month.

I wish that was the end of this story, but on March 2 she developed another complication (an abscess and infection) and was re-admitted to the hospital. As of this writing (March 9) she is still there....

The weather

In December the weather was fairly mild.  We talked about wanting to have some winter so we could snowshoe, etc. It was most definitely a case of "be careful what you wish for." The cold and snow started in January (and we missed much of it in our travels), but it kept right on going with over 20 inches in February, along with some freezing rain and bitter cold.

The worst part was that between Mel's stuff, training, and both of us getting miserable colds we didn't even get to do much snowshoeing. I think Glenda went twice and I never got to at all.

The weather also affected my races for February.  On the 17th we started out for our Valentine race an hour away...it was snowing and the roads were awful and slippery. We turned around and came home.  Fortunately there was a virtual option and so I ran the "race" on my treadmill later that day.

The other race affected was March 2 in Nebraska...It was to check Nebraska off my list. We were to drive starting the 28th of February. But as the day approached wind-driven white outs were creating havoc on Iowa roads that we would have to travel, and the forecast for the race was bitter cold on race day, with frozen rain the day before.  So we made the decision not to go.  In the end, it was the right decision as the race was cancelled due to ice on the course...they did not feel they could make it safe. We will be doing a different race there in June.

Triathlon training and coaching

Meanwhile a problematic situation cropped up in my athletic life, ending in a change in coaches.   In hindsight I know that sometimes things just don't gel. As a teacher and academic advisor I've seen these things happen before both to me and others.  No one's fault particularly, but highly frustrating, nonetheless. And just as in those other situations, a change was in order. A lot of things were up in the air for a while which was pretty unnerving.

On the bright side I seem to have connected better with the new coach.  We have changed up some things, and I feel like things are on a more even keel. I will be cheering my previous coach and her athletes, I think she is a good coach and I regret that things didn't come together as I would have liked. I apparently just needed something different. So things have settled down, but the turmoil around this change initially, contributed to a long month.

There were still some blue skies

So, February was LOOOONG!  But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that at least a few good things happened too. So I've listed the highlights below:

Started the month dressed as a mermaid in the Bahamas...not all bad!

Proud to start my second year as a skirt sports ambassador

Had a blast at my first indoor try of the year!

Here's hoping that March and beyond have more days...but aren't quite so long!

Weather or not?

Ragnar Chicago to Madison was  coming up when I started thinking about this blog post.  The number of times I had checked the weather for those two days  approached 2 billion and 12. Not that I could do anything about it.  I think it is just something runners do. And in the end we had surprises anyway.

But as I was checking the weather for the 49th time one day, I got to thinking about the times that weather really did create a race day ruckus. 

I have run in heat and rain and wind.  But probably the weather that has created the most havoc for me running is snow. 

So this is the story of the only two races that were ever cancelled in all the races we have done...one of which we found a replacement for and one of which we didn't...both in 2013. 

The first was shortly before Easter in Colorado. 

The view from the "replacement race" in March 2013

As always we watched the weather closely before we left and we knew there was a "slight" chance of some snow and that if it was icy the race, ironically called the Spring Fever 5k/10k,  would be cancelled. The closer to the day we came, the higher the chances of significant snow became.  But being the hearty (or perhaps foolhardy) folks that we are we headed north from Texas anyway. It was sunny when we arrived, and we dared to hope that the, by now dire, weather reports were wrong.  But by late afternoon the snow had started and there was ice accumulation and by evening the race had been cancelled.  

I was reconciled to the fact that I might have to do Colorado later, but Glenda was not.  She started digging for other races in the area.  She even looked at some that were an hour away in good weather which I said was a bad idea.  After digging around for a while at all kinds of race lists she found an announcement that said that the Quick Like a Bunny 5k/10k was on regardless of weather.  It was in City Park in Denver, about 12 miles from where we were staying and they had same day registration...so it was on!

A couple of crazed runners

By the time Saturday morning rolled around it was still snowing and there were about 7 inches on the ground. The temperature was 19 degrees F with a windchill of 3, and blowing snow. The visibility on the highway driving in was about a tenth of a mile (Glenda commented that I could say I had run in a blizzard)…and we thought that this was the single craziest thing we had ever done.  Then we arrived at the park and were sure. The wind was wicked the course was snowy and I, at least, was wondering if I was up to this. I added the race t-shirt to the other layers I was wearing (thus having 5 on top), added a second pair of socks and hung out in the heated bathroom for a while.

There were maybe a dozen hardcore, crazy souls doing the 10K and before they were out past the first turn Glenda was well out in front of everybody, female and male. told one really fit looking guy that we had flown in just to do a race and when we had been foiled had found this as a back up. I explained it was important to find one as this was state 19 in my quest to do all 50…he high fived me, and said “That’s hardcore! I have to know your name.” So I introduced myself. And reminded myself what Glenda and I have often said, “There is a fine line between crazy and hardcore…and you are not always sure when you have crossed it.”…we had!

Glenda won the 10K overall, I had checked off state 19, and we high fived our way back to the pavilion and out of the wind..and into the only heated spot (a small bathroom) to wait for awards. Eventually the time came for awards and the raffle.  They had $2000 in donated prizes, but only about 50-60 of their registered (and we two un-preregistered) had actually shown up, and even fewer had stayed. So there were lots of prizes for everyone and we all had a great giggle over it. Glenda got her winners’ award, but we also won a Powerbar pack, a pair of sunglasses, a restaurant gift card  and…wait for it…a WHOLE cherry pie.

It was unquestionably the craziest, coldest, most hardcore and most fun thing I’d done at that point. And to me, it really was all about the fun!
---

Later that same year though, the weather totally shut down our racing plans. It was early October in the Black Hills. Once again, it was temperate on our arrival, but it did not last for long.

Glenda checking the snow the first morning...18 inches then. The final total would be 30.

The flurries started late that afternoon, by morning there was a foot and half and it was still snowing.  With the race still a day away, we were hoping beyond hope that they would be able to do some kind of race...we were hanging on update e-mails and Facebook notices.  All the while it continued to snow, and reports in the area were of downed power lines and closed roads.  For awhile it looked like they might still be able to put on a 5k...but when the snow picked up it became obvious.  Toward evening the power in Hill City went down and everything closed up.  The race was called off.  At some point we decided we would just go to Rapid City and leave early.  But when we got to the interstate we hit a literal wall of snow and a closed interstate.  So, back to the motel to wait it out.  Dinner was cheese and crackers as there was no way to heat anything.  A few hours later the emergency lights in the motel went out as battery power failed and cell service went down. 

Breakfast the next morning was cereal and bagels and anything that didn't need cooking.  The milk and juice were cooled in a snow bank!

This is the trailhead on race morning...the snow was hip deep and you couldn't see any trail, just a sign

By later that morning the power was still out, but the temperature was better and the local streets were plowed.  So we went for a run.  I went back to the hotel after 3 or 4 miles, while Glenda continued.  I will admit, alone in the hotel room, I shed a few tears.  I'd had the best training season of my life...and no race.  But my spirits were raised a bit when the lights came back on.  When Glenda got back we began talking and decided we would just have to find another half marathon to do very soon. 

So we began looking at upcoming races.  First near home in the next few weeks, and had half decided on one in Salado, TX (just up the road from Austin, where we lived at the time) in the next few weeks.  But I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger. I was still hungry and grumpy, because although the power was finally back, there was still nothing open in town.  

A little while later, Glenda checked again to find that the cafe up the road had just opened...and off we went.  I may not have run the race, but I ate a race worth of some of the best food I can ever remember.

This is my "not really post race" meal.  I was so hungry I ate half before I took a photo.

While we were at the restaurant it occurred to me why I couldn't bring myself to sign up for the Salado race. I wanted to get a state, and it seemed silly to run a half marathon just to run it.  So we decided to look for something else. 

When we got back to the room we did more searching and settled on Richmond a few weeks later.  It was actually a nice choice as someone else we knew was doing it as well. The good news?  Richmond was probably the best half marathon I ever did!

We had many adventures getting home as well. When we arrived at the Rapid City airport, we discovered that most of the power was still out there.  Not only had the weather shut down power, they had also had a generator fire in the back up generator. We were not at all sure that we would be getting out. But after hand-written tickets and manual bag search and numerous delays...we finally made it on the plane to Denver.  But I confess, we did not really believe we were getting home until the plane was in the air. 

In the end, I had a good story, a good race a few weeks later in Richmond...and eventually a different race in South Dakota...but it took a while for this one to become "something we laughed about later."