The Long Run

6.2 mi, 54:30, 8:47 avg

After missing Friday and Saturday due to weather, travel, and being tired from travel and not enough drive to overcome the obstacles I was able to run thanks to my brother-in-law John (might have still run without him but would have probably been boring run up and down his street.

John took Jacob and I to the W&OD trail (Washington and Old Dominion) - rails to trails running/biking trail in Virginia about 44 miles long.

I took off first since I wanted to do 3 miles and John and Jacob were going to run 3.  My garmin is kind of messed up so the battery was nearly dead when I turned it on.  I didn't have a regular watch either so I carried my phone and used its stopwatch (I don't have a running app either).  About a minute and a half into the run I saw a mile marker (have these every 0.5 miles) and hit the lap button on each one (was going to write them down but lost them).  

I started out about  a ten minute/mile pace and was just under 9 minute pace at the turn around.  Weather was perfect and the trail was a pleasure to run on.  Second to last half mile I remember was 3:40 and then I felt like I was going even faster after that.  When I wasn't far from the last marker my phone switched to low power mode and I lost the stopwatch screen, but got it back after pushing some buttons and had the last lap finished in 3:44 which should have been faster if not for the technical difficulties.

John and Jacob were back and sitting on a bench with coffee when I finished, we then headed to a bagel place and I went into the Dunkin Donuts next door so we could bring back bagels and donuts for everyone else.

Spent some time in DC mall area that afternoon to see some monuments before heading to the airport for the trip back.

5.07 mi, 43:35, 8:36 avg

Ran solo in my neighborhood, out to Trinity Blvd and back and then up and down my street for a bit.  Some of it with Stella (I think just under a mile).

6.36 mi, 1:00:07, 9:27 avg

Ran with Jamie, about 6:45ish start time.  Did standard t-shaped route out along the golf course and back.

One of the Striders, Shane, owns a construction company and had posted that they were putting up hurricane shutters.  Jessica has shutters at her house, I was debating what to do and also figured I'd waited too late but I made the call anyway.  They had one opening left for Friday afternoon.  Glad I called and grateful for Shane and his Carlson Construction.

3.64 mi, 32:16, 8:53 avg

Short run consisting of running out and back to the gate 3 times (it started out as "I'm going to run at least one mile even though I have a lot to worry about (hurricane) and don't have time - so the trick worked but even one mile would have been better than nothing).  I think the middle part was with Stella.

7.35 mi, 1:04:07, 8:44 avg

Calm before the storm run.  Started  my run about 8:30, very tempting to skip it with things to do and lots of uncertainty about what would happen.  I slept in too late for Joe and Jamie run but she stopped by while finishing up her run.

I was thinking about driving to Longleaf to run from there and Jessica was going to do some walking, but since it got late I said I'd just run from home.  Ran from my house, out past the golf course, to Trinity Blvd then into Trinity Oaks where I saw lots of people putting up boards over their windows.  Ran out a little over 3.5 miles and then turned around.  Run was calming and cleared my head.

Got back home and Jessica had headed out but my wallet and phone were gone.  Slight misunderstanding, she had gone to look for me at Longleaf.  I called her (fortunately she's one of about 4 phone numbers I actually know and can dial).  

We headed out to one of the sandbag centersj at the Seven Springs fire station.  It was pretty well run, self service where they handed each person a stack of bags and as one dirt pile would run low a dump truck would show up a few minutes later.  We filled a bunch of bags then headed to her house to put them around front door and back sliding glass doors.  

I also needed to still find 6 bolts to attach the base for the hurricane shutters at my parents house.  The big stores were closed but maybe the ACE hardware stores were open.  First one had people out front loading their car but the store was not open.  The second one had closed at 12:00 (it was now 1:30).  I was going to have to call my dad and let him know I couldn't find the bolts.  At Jessica's house, after we put out the sandbags I talked to her neighbor for a bit, I mentioned about the bolts.  I asked to see one (I was able to find one that was painted into the base), he said he had some, gave me six of them along with matching nuts.

So, then I headed to my parents house, stopping at a gas station that was open, and also stopping at Wawa for a sandwich (and a beer to go along with the hard work).   It took me about three hours but I figured it out, got both sets of sliding doors covered, and lowered the metal awnings around the other windows and screwed them down.  I grabbed a few more important photos and then was on my way.

Can't remember what I did next but probably more hurricane stuff before turning in for the night and not knowing what the next night would bring.