Red River Rising

The Red River of the North is predicted to crest in Fargo on Saturday between 41-42' this is a level never seen before.  In 1997 it hit around 39.5'   I have heard that back in 1875 it hi 41.1'    

The city does have dikes built to withstand a high level of water but simply not this high!  

The community is really rallying in coming together to take care of our own.  The biggest task has been to build the dikes up and to reinforce them.  

I unfortunately have a bad back so can't go throw sandbags.  I have tried to get in with some of the meal/sandwich making crews but have been told the spots are full.  Its easy to imagine them having enough as just today the city put out a "Code Red" for volunteers for sandbagging and over 6,000 people showed up.  I plan to keep trying to help and likely will give filling and placing sandbags a go this weekend.  In the meantime I am sending my prayers up to heaven and am thankful I work for a company that can provide some much needed equipment to help the city with this fight.

As I write this I am watching a live feed of the Fargo City council on ABC.  It is crazy the plans that are being made including the mandatory evacuation, shutting down on roads, building of secondary dikes, etc.  

Mother Nature hates over achievers

Last Thursday I left the frozen tundra of ND and headed to Albany, Georgia. It took me over 12 hours to get to Albany, but the painfully long trip was immediately forgotten as I stepped outside the airport into balmy sixty degree weather.

Once in Albany I met up with my friend Pat (my neighbor from China) and a friend of his. All three of us were planning to run either a half marathon (me) or a marathon (Pat and Bill).

We started our weekend off with a 4 mile run on Thursday night. Just enough to get the legs moving – or that’s what Pat said. I didn’t say much because although Pat and Bill were running slow for my benefit I quickly found out that their pace was still fast – at least compared to my normal 11:30min to 12:00min mile pace.

We woke to great weather on Saturday for the race. It was foggy and there was “Dixie dew” in the air. It kept the temperatures reasonable during the first three hours of the event. Just before the race started I wished Pat luck as he had his sights set on qualifying for Boston. I told Bill – who was acting as Pat’s pacer; a.k.a the rabbit Pat’d chase for 26.2 miles – to get my friend to the end.

Shortly after Bill and Pat crossed the start line I headed out for my 13.1 miles. It was a great run. The course was flat and very picturesque. My goals for the event were simple

1) Finish
2) Try to finish under 3 hrs

Well I accomplished both my goals. Absent walking through the water stops I ran the whole event and finished in 2:34:58. My time would have been better except I took Bill’s mandate to hydrate well on Friday a bit too far. The day only got better after I crossed the finish line as approximately an hour later Pat and Bill came across. Pat had made his qualifying time and will be running Boston in 2010.

On Sunday reality came crashing back in as I headed to the airport only to find that my flight had been cancelled; just my luck. I thankfully was able to drive up to Atlanta (Thanks Pat and Bill for letting me catch a ride) and depart from there. I arrive in Fargo 6 hours after I was originally scheduled.

I immediately walked into a huge pile of work at the office on Sunday. To say this week is stressful is an understatement. Unfortunately just as I thought things were getting under control Mother Nature threw us a curve ball. We were hit with a blizzard yesterday. Everything in the state shut-down -- Schools, work, freeways, etc….

I had to laugh over the situation as I went from getting sunburned this past weekend to strapping on my Ug boots in order to walk through waist high drifts of snow to get into my home.

Even this morning it appears that Mother Nature is still working against me. I headed into the office at 5:45am. You could say I’m an overachiever but reality is I have an important deadline that I am facing down at noon today.

I made it out of my apartment and across town with no issue. As I turned into the last road to our office I had to stop quick as there was a huge drift of snow. It was shoulder high and covered the entire width of the road.

I executed a u-turn and headed back to the main drag and Caribou Coffee. I am still here sipping a drink of coffee hoping that the road gets cleared soon. I plan to venture out at about 7:30am to check out the situation.

Carbohydrates

I am jealous it’s as simple as that. Last week I watched a man over lunch bite into a crescent roll and was overwhelmed with a sense of longing. I wanted a crescent roll. I wanted more than one. I am not following a low-carb lifestyle but I am trying to watch the amount of bread and pasta I eat.

Thankfully, with training for a marathon I can allow myself a bit more leniency. I have declared Friday evenings as my pasta night. I’ve become a big fan of ravioli from the grocery store’s refrigerated case. Although I’ve allowed room for pasta I haven’t made room for bread. My refrigerator offers up two options - light wheat bread or multigrain English Muffins. Not the most exciting bread options.

See the thing is that if I allowed myself crescent rolls it would lead to hard sandwich rolls and bagels and breadsticks and cinnamon rolls. The whole situation would just snowball. The starchy goodness of it all would do me in….Despite recognizing this I can’t help my longing.