Flooding in western Virginia

According to news reports this morning, heavy rains yesterday and today of up to 1/2 inch to 1 inch per hour feel causing flooding in the area. Parts of neighboring Augusta County were evacuated. On this morning's run, the ditches were full of rushing water. Streams flowed and springs burst forth where none were before. Earthworms were flushed from their burrows and onto the road where they met their demise. We met a high school runner out running; area schools are cancelled. I smelled the spray of a skunk (did it think it could frighten away the torrential rains?).All reminded me of the disaster in Haiti and the flooding in other parts of the county. Except for thoughts of concern for those less fortunate that floated through my head, the ion loaded, rain-cleaned air and temperatures in the mid-50s made for an especially good run.

Nearly Forgotten End of 2009 Running Tallies

Total miles run this year (year 6): 658.5

Total miles run: 3,165.0

Races run this year: 31

# of states run in: 5 Florida, Maryland, New York, Virgnia, West Virginia

Race lengths: 1 mile to Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

Charities sponsored: many including youth groups and programs; autism, breast cancer and heart research; domestic violence awareness; literacy and the 116th Infantry.

The Dress

It is finished! After about a month of working with me or her friends, Anna Maria finished this dress, which she wore to a friends' wedding Saturday. It took the two of us together three hours just to blind stitch the rolled hem! Though I made both daughters' wedding dresses and the dresses for their wedding parties, I haven't worked with velvet since high school. The technique did come back to me quickly. Just like riding a bike, there are some things a person never forgets (although I did occasionally check my memory against instructions in the "Simply the Best Sewing Book" by Simplicity).

The project provided time for problem solving when the dress lining didn't fit quite right after the first trial and time to just chat while the sewing machine whirred or the needles whipped through the soft cloth. Team work.

Would I have worked on such a project had my daughter not needed the help? Probably not. My sewing machine has been idle for the last year and a half. But as I've learned through running with partners and as the dress project reminded me, a partner helps you keep going when the going gets tough and helps fulfill dreams you never even dared to dream.

Recovery

In April 2009, I spent three days in the hospital with pneumonia. It was the week before a paid-for half marathon. When I asked the doctor if I'd still be able to run the race, he said I could do whatever my body felt like doing. I took that to be a yes. But once I got home I realized I couldn't even walk one block. The race was out. Instead I watched from the sidelines as my friends ran it.

Because the amount of damage to my lungs was unseen, I didn't understand just how much fitness I had lost. I figured I'd bounce back quickly. Every day I added a bit more distance; a week after my hospital stay I could run 1/4 block. Two days later I ran two miles, which was stupid. On the April 23rd, about two weeks after my hospital stay, I thought I could build up my speed again; another failure to face reality. I was racing by April 25th, and continuing to work on speed and distances (I ran seven miles on May 19).

By July 9th I was coughing again, and on the 25th I learned I had pleurisy and crackles in my lungs again. Once again I tried to run myself well in spite of chest pain. I ran a 5K in August at 28:27, near my pre-pneumonia pace. By October I was coughing and fighting lung pain again. This time it was bronchitis.

Finally I came to realize that I'd just keep relapsing if I didn't slow down and accept my post-pneumonia pace and distance. A review of my log shows a continuing struggle with lung pain; but also more instances of races not run, efforts at running slower when the lungs hurt and a concentration on keeping the breathing steady. I was learning to listen to my body and accept my physical state.

And that's when things also began to improve. I ran more and had to walk less. Sometimes, on a bad day, I only ran two miles. Once I ran a slow five miles. But I was running an entire three miles more and more consistently. Then on New Year's Eve I ran a hard sub-30 minute mile and still felt well afterward. The following week, in spite of wind child temperatures in the teens, I ran with little lung pain. Once I started listening to my body, I actually started getting better.

Runner's World repeatedly talks about coming back from an injury or illness slowly. Actually doing so is much harder, as it's very difficult to figure out exactly how much damage has been done, how slow to go and what distances to run. Sometimes, as I came to realize, the damage can be far greater than once expects. Coming back can take a lot longer than a person wants to accept. It's easy to deny reality and try to run yourself well. But that doesn't work.

In running, as in life, you must determine where you are before you can go somewhere else with purpose and direction.

Shoveling Out

Snow began falling about 4:30 p.m. Friday night. Finally sometime between Saturday and Sunday, after 18 inches had fallen, the snow stopped. Butch and I shoveled snow a lot of the day Sunday and helped a couple neighbors and him get out. My car, being much farther from the road, was much harder; I think we shoveled a path that would have gotten it out but I'm not sure and left it sit.

Yesterday we did a couple errands by foot and walked all over Broadway; we called that exercise as we couldn't run on the snow/slushy roads or snow covered sidewalks and track.

But today I had an appointment in Harrisonburg and actually got the car out! Just knowing I can come and go again is such a relief. While in Harrisonburg we went to the track at EMU and got in a good hard run. Left at 9:00 a.m.; besides my appointment, running, picking up some groceries, and a couple other errands, I got home at 2 p.m.

Butch has an appointment in Harrisonburg, so we plan to run at EMU one more time before the university is locked down for the holiday. After that I'm hoping we can run outside again.

I sure hope this isn't a sign of the Virginia winter to come.

Christmas Letter & End of Year Thoughts

There have been a couple major changes in the family this year that I am pleased to share with you.

Anna Maria has been accepted to a low-residency MFA program in both nonfiction and fiction writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Classes begin at the end of December. She was also a runner-up in Ruminate magazine’s 2009 short story contest and wrote a monthly gardening column for a local newspaper.

Her husband Steven still teaches visual and communication arts at Eastern Mennonite University, but is now the chair of that department. He also continues freelance photography -- shooting weddings, senior pictures, publicity photos for musical artists and whatever else his lens finds to do. His biggest freelance successes were getting nature photos published in Orion magazine, an environmental magazine, and in Blue Ridge Country, a regional magazine.

Eliza Grace, now eight, and Magdalena Hope, now six years old, still have sleepovers and campouts with “Gramma Nete”, whom they have re-nicknamed “Graham Cracker” and visit often. Both enjoy taking ballet classes and drawing.

Ana (Sam) and Chad Updyke’s son Thaddeus is now a year old and walking everywhere and climbing on everything. Chad is an electrician for a salt manufacturing plant in Watkins Glen. They moved into their first home and now live in Millport, New York.

I am still employed part-time as an adjunct paralegal professor at a vocational technical college in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and do a little bit of freelance writing and editing. I appreciate the support and encouragement from my friend and neighbor Butch. We run together four days a week. He also stayed with me when I was in the hospital for three days this year with pneumonia and fixed meals for me upon my return home. Then, too, we enjoyed a trip to Florida where we ran a half marathon together, and to the Virginia Beach area where we also saw the Jamestown settlement, Williamsburg and Yorktown.

May God bring blessings and joy to each of you this holiday season and throughout 2010.

Thanksgiving Day

I used to celebrate Thanksgiving with my birth family in Iowa. Dinner was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and, when she was alive, Mom's pumpkin pie plus whatever creations the other cooks in the family brought. After a long, leisurely dinner with lots of story telling we always went for a long walk -- usually about 30 gathered for the meal, and most of those also went for the annual walk.

For the past four years I haven't made it back, and each year away is harder than the last. I miss them all so much. I tried to call my sis today, where everyone is gathering, but it was hard to talk through the tears. So I kept the conversation short and just told my sis and her son to tell everyone hi for me when they get there.

A teen once said that my siblings are all "river rats with manners." I guess that describes them pretty well. They love being on the river fishing, primarily for catfish. And do they know how to cook it--melt in your mouth sweetness.

My daughter says my birth family is like the Mafia except legal. I know what she meant. Nobody messes with anyone else in the family. We're all pretty protective of each other. Those marrying in sometimes have a hard time finding their place, but once they do they have the privilege of protection and belonging, too. And if anything needs to be done, somebody in the family can do it -- from plumbing, to carpentry, to car repair, to computer tech support.

Today I just want to say thanks for each one -- Anth who listened and listened when I was in one of the darkest places in my life; Pear who always calls me "beautiful" and can't say a bad word about anyone; Paul the older brother who somehow keeps us all together and knows when it's time for the family meetings; and Annie who knows how to just be with a person and pray for them. Each is also much more than what those pithy statements portray, but they're a start.

And a start is all I can do on this short blog. I can't describe all each sibling means, nor is there room to go share about all the in-laws, nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews or even my own daughters and their families.

Happy thanksgiving to you all.