Debby Downer

She just came out of nowhere.

When I left work on Friday, the word on the street was that it was supposed to rain all weekend. I don't think any notion of the word "tropical disturbance" was even mentioned.

I spent that rainy Saturday thrift shopping and going to the local tavern with friends to play board games and enjoy a refreshing summer ale.There had still been no conversation or regards to a named tropical system in the gulf, and no warning that it may or may not be wreaking havoc in our county within the next 24 hours.

It didn't stop raining all night.

I woke up Sunday morning to howling winds and sideways rain. I took a look outside and still didn't really think too much of it....in the Florida summers you get kind of used to crazy rain and wind. I did notice the tide was higher than usual and that a few waves were big enough to spray water over the seawall.

Prateek and I went downtown around noon to run a few errands and have some lunch.

After a while, I noticed the wind was a little out of control. . I checked my phone's weather app and there were 5 notifications - a tropical storm watch, a high wind advisory, a high surf advisory, a flash flood watch, and a tornado watch.

WTF?! 

Enter: Debby.

I consider Floridians some of the most prepared in the country when it comes to storms and hurricanes. We have our hurricane preparedness guides posted on our refrigerators. We have storm procedures at work in which everyone is educated on an annual basis. We have a special storm supply of water, food, batteries, and generators. We have hurricane shutters custom made for our windows so that they can be put up to protect our possessions. 

How did we not know about this?? 

My street hadn't flooded in 20 years, according to the neighbors, so I thought that we'd be fine.

Thank the baby Jesus we took Prateek's truck out that afternoon. In the two hours that we were gone, the streets leading up to our neighborhood had turned into rivers about a foot and a half deep..not something my little Civic could have handled without facing it's demise.

This is supposed to be a yard.

We barely got through the estuary that was now our street, and I had an apocalyptic pit in my stomach thinking about what I would face once we got to the house.

The waves were crashing relentlessly against the dock and the seawall at the house, with each crash sending water flying into the yard and rocking the entire dock back and forth.

And it was still two hours until high tide.

Our area is circled above. With the water being pushed into the Bay with no way for it to escape and the 12 inches of rain on top of that, it was no wonder we needed an Ark.

By the time high tide came rolling in, a pylon from the boat lift had broken off and we had lost a few planks. Sea grass was collecting on the seawall from the waves. And the floodwater on my street and the surrounding streets had risen at least another good foot.

Bye-Bye Seawall

What's a resident to do when they're stuck in their home?

Kayak down their street of course!

Making the best of a horrible situation, we set out to explore our now-underwater neighborhood on our kayaks (mine ironically being made by Hurricane.) We saw where water was entering a few houses and lost count on how many flooded-out vehicles there were.

After we got home, our cable and internet went out. We kept track of Debby, street closures, and other storm updates through Twitter (@TBOCom, @TB_Times, @StormTeam8WFLA) and Facebook (Bay News 9, ABC Action News).
I even got a few of my photos uploaded to the news website! I think I may have a future in the press. Call me, Bay News 9.

We got a bit of cabin fever after being stuck in the house for the next 24 hours due to flooding.

We took naps. We cleaned the house. We gave Jadoo a bath. We stared out into the choppy Bay, helplessly watching the waves crash 7-8 feet over the seawall and into our backyard. I taught Prateek how to use Instagram. I ate my feelings in the kitchen.

3 days after the rain had begun falling, the floodwaters finally receded and clean up began.

Besides the lost boat lift pylon, a handful of lost deck planks and beams, sea wall erosion, and certain death of an extensive chunk of the lawn from being saturated in seawater and sitting underneath hundreds of pounds of seagrass, we were fine. 

Silver lining? We had no water in the house, never lost power, and had no downed trees. That's a lot more than I can say for some of our neighbors and other residents of the Tampa Bay area. 

I'm fairly certain at this point with the tornado hitting my hometown and now with Debby, I've had my fair share of mother nature's wrath for a while. 

Thank you to everyone for your concern and phone calls!

Cleanup has begun, so if you're bored and want to come pick up some storm debris and smelly seagrass, head on over to Snell Isle/Shore Acres -- we'll put you to work!

Sarees, Bhangra, and Malai Kofta

Working for an upscale hotel company, I've attended and assisted plenty of Indian weddings to ensure all details were complete, from confirming that the tables were set with all provided decor and double checking that the horse was properly attended to after the Baraat.

I have not, however, had the pleasure of attending an Indian wedding as a guest....until this past weekend!

Prateek's cousin got married at a beautiful banquet facility on the Henry Ford Museum grounds in Michigan. P's sister graciously let me borrow some of her traditional clothes for the Sangeet and the Ceremony/Reception, and dressed me from head to toe with gorgeous bangles and jewelry to match the stunning Salwar Kameez and Sari.

Ready for the Sangeet

Wedding Sari

The detail on the back of this Sari is exquisite!

The bride was breathtaking, the food was delicious, and the celebrating lasted late into the night with a mix of American Top 40 and Indian favorites. Even a few I recognized, like 

Deewangi Deewangi, and  Chammak Challo.

Beware: these songs will get stuck in your head. Watch and listen at your own discretion.

All the weight I gained from stuffing my face with Naan and Malai Kofta was burned off by the end of the weekend from the hours upon hours of dancing and jumping around with the nephews and nieces of the family. 

Congratulations to Neha and Rob, I wish you both a lifetime of happiness!

You Might Be A Runner If......

Jeff Foxworthy is hilarous to me. His "You Might Be A Redneck If..." series used to make me laugh so hard I'd cry. Mostly because it was all kinda true and I would witness some of  it on a daily basis in my home state of Alabama.

Recently on my long runs I've thought of amusing things that runners do that seem normal to us, but abnormal to the rest of the world. Here's my list, and feel free to add more. I will update the list regularly if I think of something I left off.

You might be a runner if....

• You hesitate to spend $20 on a new pair of heels, but dropping $120 on running shoes is no big deal
• You spend more time on Map My Run, Active.com, and Runners World blogs than you do on Facebook
• Your load of laundry consists of 10 days worth of training gear and sweat towels and only one day's worth of "normal" clothes
• You don't get pedicures because you want to keep the calluses on your feet
• Your number of toes to toenails does not match
• You and the stick and/or foam roller are in a very serious love/hate relationship
• The first thing you think about when traveling out of town is "Where am I going to do my run?"
• You keep a backup pair of running shoes in the trunk of your car, just in case
• You have Nuun tablets and a bottle of ibuprofen on you at all times
• You see hills and get excited at the thought of doing speedwork on them
• You frequently find parts of Gu packets in your washing machine
• You have chaffing scars in strange places from not utilizing your body glide properly 
• You find yourself stretching in random establishments, such as in the elevator or in line at the store or while seated at a restaurant
• You are always hungry and feel like at any given moment you could eat an entire pizza by yourself
• You know what a snot rocket is and have mastered it
• You call all of your tank tops "Singlets", even if they're not
• You get extremely angry and feel disrespected if someone calls you a "jogger"
• Your idea of fun is waking up at 5AM on a Saturday, going to the track, and running 400's.... extra bonus fun points if it's raining
• You avoid junk food by looking at the nutrition label and calculating how many miles it would take to burn those calories off
• You want to lose 5 pounds, not to look better in your jeans but so that you'll be able to run faster
• You have at least 6 empty plastic water bottles in your car
• During injury, you're angrier you can't run than at the fact that your body is breaking down 
• You can say "fartlek" without giggling like a 10 year old
• You have a new definition to everyday words. To you, PR does not mean public relations, a chip does not mean food, IT does not mean information technology, Splits does not mean something you do in gymnastics, and Winning the Lottery does not mean hitting the jackpot
• You get jealous when you're driving in your car and go by a group of runners 
•  You mention that you're doing an easy 7-miler today, and you're serious
• You plan your vacations around races in various parts of the world
• You've been "high" but never done drugs
• 6 AM is sleeping in

Happy Running! 

One Day, You'll Understand

OK, I get it. 

I'm not a mom yet (except to Jadoo of course). But I get it. 

I get why you wouldn't let me go see a PG-13 movie until I was actually 13. 

Movies like that will ruin a young child's innocence. 

I get why you wouldn't let me play in the drainage ditch on Lakeview Drive with my friends. 

There's probably more bacteria in that ditch than on a dirty kitchen towel. 

I get why you wanted me home by 10pm on a Saturday night.

Nothing good ever happens after that time anyway. 

I get why you got so upset if I didn't call to say I was going to be late. 

This world is a scary place and you never know what could have happened. 

I get why you always made me eat my vegetables.  

Some kids these days don't know the first thing about a well balanced diet.

There are so many things I didn't understand at the time. I would get mad an occasionally through tantrums for not getting my way. 

Occasionally. 

And now looking back I'm so grateful for all of it. 

You juggled three kids' school/homework/soccer/band/ballet/track/piano lessons/church schedules and put up with all of the shenanigans that went with it, and then somehow still had time in between to make extravagant homemade birthday cakes and sew us new outfits and brighten up the house with holiday decor, all while having a home cooked meal on the table every night and cookie dough ice cream in the freezer for dessert. 

Miracle Worker. 

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world! 

A Runner's High

A runner's high is hard to explain - it's this sense of euphoria, invincibility, and bliss that occurs when you get those endorphins pumping through your veins. I'll experience it every once in a while, especially on my super long 20-mile training runs and after I cross the finish line of a race.

 But typically never on short runs. And definitely not just spectating other people running.

Then yesterday happened.

It wasn't a big deal - New Balance was putting on this 1-mile race and my running club was participating. I thought sure, why not? It'll be fun and I've never really seen how fast I could go before.

They were doing shoe demos, so I figured I'd try out a super lightweight racing shoe. I've never raced in anything besides my training shoes (which feel like bricks in comparison to these New Balance 1400's) because I was freaked out by my overpronating feet and wanted to protect my knees from my non-existent arches.

They were sooooooo nice. It felt like I didn't have on shoes at all!

 

Oh, and the colors were pretty - we all know that's what really matters anyway.

The Elite runners were in the first heat, then the 6:30-7:30 pace group, then the 7:30 and above pace group.  

I've never watched people who could run as fast as they did in the elite group- the guy came in first ran it in 4:15-ish. I couldn't hear the official time because I was so freaked out at his inhuman capabilities. 

Once I get official times, I'll let y'all know. 

My friend Beth ran it in 5:33 --  the second fastest female there.

Yea, I know her. It's OK to be jealous.

At this point I am SO pumped for these 4 laps. And also a little freaked out. What should my pace be? What happens if I go out too fast and end up collapsing and embarrassing myself in front of all these people?

Holy crap, Mary, it's a fun run. Take a deep breath and simmer down for goodness sake. 

So off I went - first 400 done, and I felt pretty good. 

Second 400 done, still felt good, so stepped up my pace a little. 

Third 400 done, and I was creeping up in my group like a ninja. 

Halfway through the last lap I let it all out and started sprinting with whatever energy I had left. 

The last 100 meters or so, I snuck up on everyone like the Kentucky Derby's I'll Have Another and finished the first female overall! 

6:22 was my unofficial time. And I think I could have maybe gone faster.

They gave me a gift card to New Balance for being the first female in my group. 

New running shorts? I think yes. 

The only thing going through my head the entire rest of the night was 

OMG I LOVE RUNNING THIS IS THE BEST SPORT EVER!!!! 

As I begin to take on my marathon training schedule, this is exactly what I needed.

So, runners high from watching fast people? It can totally happen.

And prizes always help too.

I'll Never Forget

April 27th will never be "just another day" in the minds of Alabamians. It will forever be a feeling in the pit of our stomachs that emerges at the faintest threat of another tornado.

 -Kathleen Davis, weather.com

I'll never forget that Wednesday afternoon. 
Sitting around on my lunch break, checking twitter updates on my phone. 

I'll never forget seeing the tweet about a tornado heading for Cullman.

 I'll never forget being in my office, freaking out, watching James Spann's live report of the tornado ripping through the city.

I'll never forget the pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away. That feeling of hopelessness, sadness, and fear for my loved ones and friends.

I'll never forget calling  my best friend Jackie from Cullman to make sure her family was OK, even though she now lived in Tuscaloosa and was "safe".

I'll never forget  later that afternoon sending Jackie weather updates via text as she sat in a basement in Tuscaloosa, living out the nightmare-ish day first hand.

I'll never forget Prateek and I packing up his truck to take supplies to my ravaged hometown and driving the 11 hours overnight, pulling into Cullman at 6AM. 

I'll never forget seeing Jackie's house for the first time-- half blown down, but her and her family all standing there alive and well, picking up the pieces.

I'll never forget staring at the remnants of my church's Sanctuary. Or trying to remember what once stood on those empty city blocks.

You don't really understand how devastating it is until you're standing in the middle of the rubble.  And you don't really understand the sense of a community pulling together for a common good, until even after going through such tragedy, you can still feel the warmth of a neighbor's good heart.

 

May this day never be forgotten by our community, and may it always remind us how strong of a state we live in.

God Bless Alabama, my Heart of Dixie! 

 

Happy Birthday, Blog!

It was a year ago today that I began my journey into blogger and created my very first blog post.

I wasn't sure where it would take me, but what a crazy first year it's been! 

85 posts and almost 9,000 views later, (seriously? that is so cool!) I've taken you through the joys, sorrows, and trials and tribulations of my world. 

You read about my hometown getting ripped apart by a tornado, then picking up the pieces and putting itself back together. 

You read about my running life, from my injuries to my belly-aching to my very first marathon.

I took you on journeys with all of my traveling, from road trips to Boston to Calgary to California to New York to Miami to Cozumel to Vegas and back. 

 

I filled you in on my attempts at DIY activities, from Halloween costumes to holiday foods to sewing projects.

Whether it be from sincere enjoyment, pure boredom, or bewilderment on how I survive day-to-day life without adult supervision, thank you for being here and reading my posts.

I can't wait to see what the second year has in store!