Friday, February 26, 2010

Surrealism

What a strange day. A very good day so far, but strange. Last night, we had wind gusts close to 60 mph, and as a result, I woke up with no power. Shortly after awakening, I got a text message from the school saying it was canceled.

Additionally, I also get automated calls from the district, but I let Google Voice grab it. Their voice to text feature is pretty funny. Sometimes it's pretty accurate. Sometimes it's not. Today it was not. Here's how it was transcribed:

"Yeah, this is a message from The San Francisco departments instant alert system Yale School today, Friday, February 26th, 2010 in Sanford due to the still arm Yank you. Goodbye"

Hee hee.

But, I decided to head to the school anyway and get some grading done (the school had power by the time I got there). I accomplished a lot, which felt great. So rare to be at the school and not have distractions. Well, there was one, but it provided a good break in the middle of what I was doing. A few other teachers were there and needed help moving an ice shack that had blown off their trailer with the high winds, so I rode with them down the road and helped with that.

Then, I got new tires put on my car. They knocked off over $100 to make up for an ordering mix up last week, so that was great. Grabbed lunch and afterwards returned home, where shortly thereafter the power was back on! W00t!

Which leads me to the run... the wind was blowing hard from east to west, and typically it's the other way around. It felt a bit odd as a result, but was nice to have the wind at my back on the return.

Halfway through the run, a bit of a daring moment: On the side street I was on, a very large pine tree had fallen across the road and was being held up by a badly sagging powerline. Hmmmm, turn around? Or go under the tree?

Should I go under the tree and it falls and/or I'm electrocuted, I'd surely win some sort of Darwinism award but probably wouldn't be around to accept the honor. But still, I went for it, running under the precarious piece of timber with no consequences.

I continued the run, listening to the sounds of generators from houses ebb and wane as I went along. Run was also in the Vibram Five Fingers. Yet another day warm enough to use them.

Ran 4.6 miles @ 8:25/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Mostly flat.
Lower 40s, mostly cloudy, windy.
VFF Sprints, shorts, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, cap.

2 comments:

Love2Run said...

Glad to hear you didn't get nominated for an award. Crazy weather lately but I'll take it.

Kim said...

Glad you survived the tree run Jamie! Got to give you credit for running in this wind today. I attempted it but turned around at 5AM this morning as I just couldn't take the strong winds and snow whipping against my face. So funny about your text message too!