Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Race That Never Was

I should be sitting here writing about the great race I just finished or the shiny new PR I just earned. However, North Texas weather had some other ideas.

Shortly after Thanksgiving they began forecasting an Arctic cold front that would bring sleet and ice to DFW. I was immediately bummed that the race would be much colder than I had hoped for, but I also convinced myself that the weather men were exaggerating about the "Icepocalypse/Icemageddon " that wad headed our way. If they had a catchphrase for the storm, it had to be more about media hype.

Well on Thursday the sleet started and I haven't left my house since. The hype was right. Friday morning I woke up and there was a 2 inch layer of ice on all of the sidewalks and roads. Not snow, just slick ice. I chose not to go to work. Everything was shut down because in Texas we do not have the supplies for storms like these.

The front of my house on Friday. Poor Oak Trees

Talk on the news began focusing on the Dallas marathon. Packet pick-up was supposed to begin that Friday but it got pushed back to 2 pm to allow the vendors and volunteers extra time to travel the roads to downtown. The marathon seemed like the only weekend event that hadn't been canceled. Then at 1 pm, the final announcement came. The race and expo were both canceled for safety of runners, spectators, and volunteers.

Of course I was bummed at the initial news. But I also sighed a little sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to run with temperatures in the 20 and light sleet. I know people have run in worse but I was unprepared for such weather having never run outside when it is below freezing.



So now I sit at home. Day 3 of this ice storm and I have yet to leave my house. I'm looking at my 3 months of training that I methodically followed preparing for this race. Now my "taper week" just looks like a week of being lazy. But I've made the decision to get back out there and keep running. I will choose a new race to conquer. And maybe next year I'll have a second chance to run Dallas.

In other news, this storm has been really good for my sleeping patterns.  I am also thankful that my house has not lost power and everyone I know has stayed safe.


And lastly I cannot end my post without this. Sic 'em Bears!  Great season!

6 comments:

  1. :( It's disappointing that they canceled the race, but once the weather started moving in, I wasn't surprised. Dallas doesn't have the resources to have gotten the roads safe in time and it would have been a HUGE liability for the marathon. On to the next one! Stay warm! Hope the ice is starting to melt in your area… roads are looking better by me, although I guess they might freeze again tonight.

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    1. The roads weren't too bad today. It was disappointing that they cancelled, but it was the best decision the race coordinators could make. Like you said, on to the next one :)

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  2. The ice storm really did have bad timing. I wasn't expecting it be so bad. I've never seen ice this thick before, and I've also never seen it stick around for so long. We went to the store today and seeing all of the poor broken trees on the way was sad. Cleanup is going to take a little while. Can't wait for all of this to be gone!

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    1. This is definitely the worst ice I've ever seen. The poor trees! We lost a large limb at my house shortly after that photo was taken. Hopefully the ice clears up by this weekend so people can begin cleaning up.

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  3. I am so sorry I cannot even imagine training so hard and then having your race cancelled at the last minute. Are you going to choose another one soon, or wait awhile?

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    1. This was the first time I really stuck to a training plan. I haven't picked a different race. I think I may wait until February when there are some big races in the area. December is kind of a busy time to fit in extra training.

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