Catching up on September

Well, things (life) got away from me (again). So I'm doing a summary post and then will hopefully get back to it.

Went camping in early September at Warrior Creek Campground in Boomer, NC. Had a few short runs and bike rides but not too much, mostly hanging out.

Ran the Blue Ridge Relay with mostly the same Corvus Rockers team as last year. Ran different legs, all were challenging in their own way. Great time and now the debate - same race again next year, or get the team to consider a different relay??

Team at start line

Official Team photo!

Van #1 at our first break - lunch at a brewery (duh)

Fire station baked potatoes after a hot shower... best ever!

Misty morning miles

Long stretch of highway

Lots of pup walks at baseball.

Jones Gap Trail Half - incredibly difficult but managed first in age group and 4th overall female!

Just under 3.5 hours and 3,400 ft elevation. Also several yellow jacket stings. 

Then followed 2+ weeks of illness... started almost immediately after Jones Gap, but it was all upper respiratory chest crap and fever. Tested negative for Covid, saw the NP at work and said it wasn't pneumonia. Had prescription cough medicine and Mucinex for a week to get the junk out, and still just felt completely wiped out for weeks.

I ended my daily run streak at 664 days with my last streak run on 9/18/24. It seemed silly to try to keep pushing for one single sad mile every day when it wasn't serving any purpose other than stubbornness, so I made the decision to end it. It was the right decision and a weight has been mentally lifted since then. I also have taken a LOT of downtime, but still continuing the 10k Tuesday streak and the 10k steps per day streak... just decided I don't HAVE to do it all. I can choose what serves me at any given time. 

.... and then there was a hurricane. 

Hurricane Helene ripped through Upstate SC and Western NC on the morning of Friday, September 27th. Hundreds of trees in our neighborhood were knocked down, the Reedy River was out of its banks and over the roadway, and we lost electricity for 8 days.

We still don't have internet at home, and there are still trees and debris down everywhere. I've been able to participate in a few workdays to help clear trees off of trails (Swamp Rabbit Trail being one) and it's been great to lend a hand, but there's so much more to do. Western NC had entire towns swept away by flood waters, and there are places still isolated because of roads washed out. It's going to take years to recover some of the trails that I've come to love, and it's heartbreaking to see all the destruction. 

On a happy note, I'm finally feeling better again as of this week, and getting back into a routine of sorts although that still feels weird given everything that has happened. "Normal" doesn't feel quite normal yet. 

Green Valley 8-mile run this morning