Sean's Running Blog

10 miles in the morning. We got yet another coating of snow overnight for like the 4000th night in a row. Roads were mostly clear though by the time I ran at 5:30.

6 more miles in the evening.

Pushups after both runs plus some side leg lifts and some crunches.

A windy but balmy 53 degrees in Redmond for my late afternoon jog along the eastern shore of Lake Sammamish. The clouds and wind were far more omnious than the rain. Just a few drops.

Did some stretches, push ups and hamstring exercises afterward. This will be a huge focus of my training over then next five months.

Today was supposed to be a speed workout but let's just say I would need an ark to get to the track in Snoqualmie. We've had ridiculous amounts of rain over the last 36 hours and combine that with temps in the low 50s and freezing levels above 7,000 feet and you get massive flooding. In fact, it looks like it will be historic flooding.

I set out with the intention of still trying to do the speed workout but it turned out that every road into town was completely closed. It was really eerie. Peoples homes were under water. Cars from the lower ground lined the streets of the higher ground. People were slogging through 2-3 feet of water to get to higher ground. It was sobering. Here I was in shorts out for a run. 

The weather this winter has been unprecedented in it's warmth, its bitter cold, its rain, its snow and now the flooding. I love 600 higher than the lower part of town but I saw first hand today the sobering reality of mother nature...yet again.

Here is a picture of Snoqualmie Falls two weeks ago during the frigid week of Christmas:

Here it is today just two weeks later:

This last picture is taken from a one-way bridge in Snoqualmie. The road the water is covering is mile 2 of the 5k and 10k I host in August. Crazy.

Well...today was supposed to be the make-up day for my speed workout missed Wednesday due to flooding. I couldn't run until late afternoon and one rep into the workout, it was raining so hard and it was so cold I called it an afternoon. Later that evening I ran 5 miles but will have to do the workout tomorrow.

Not sure what it is about workouts at the Redmond High School track but I consistently have bowel issues in the middle of workouts. The workout was 3x 400/400/800 in 67/67/2:21 with 2 mins after the 400s and 4 mins reast after the 800. Should have been easier than it was but the issues didn't help any especially on the last rep. I found myself a bit dizzy afterward. I really need to hydrate better even in the cold weather.

Today was a fairly sobering run. It was my longest in a while -- 16 miles -- but it was the route that caused me a lot of angst. I ran down Snoqualmie Parkway half way before cutting over to the ole miner's trail on the eastern border of Snoqualmie Ridge. Much of the trail was all mut washed out and will take some work to make it safe again. A mile down the path and I was in lower Snoqualmie which was hit very hard with flooding. There was, fittingly, a steady drizzle falling during the whole run which made it even harder to watch hundreds of people begin the difficult cleanup of their inundated home. By all accounts, this was the worst flood on record for a town that has seen it all. Homes that have never seen flood waters were engulfed this time around.

The flood waters were completely receded today, but the damage was just beginning to be seen. Virtually every house I ran by had what could very well have been the entire collection of furniture, carpet, herilooms, etc, piled high in the driveway waiting to be hauled off to the dump.

There is a wood carver in town who does those large tree-stump sized carvings. This is his living. The flood waters scattered his many wood carvings across a very large field and beyond. Several people were out looking for them. I spotted a few and pointed them out to the guy. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

Two short weeks ago I was complaining to myself about the thrice-daily show shovelings and the 3-4 foot snow drifts at my house. At least my family was warm and safe.

Anyway...this is a running blog, but running today seemed a bit secondary life altering effects of the most recent weather here.