And that'd be a tornado, yessiree...

Seen from my backyard deck

So I came home from my 10 mile tempo run (more below) and my legs were tired and heavy so I indulged in a little ice bath therapy; it really does feel sooo good after you get past that initial shock. Sat in the ice for a bit longer than normal as I was on my laptop (don't ask) and got caught up in some stuff I was doing. Got out of ice bath, took a shower and while in the shower, I noticed it got a lot colder. Not the water but the surrounding air. When I got out of the shower, the window in the bathroom was open and the wind was loudly banging the shutters; a big storm had come in. Abbey starts screaming that there's tornado warnings and a tornado was spotted in south-center Arapahoe County. That's very close! I got dressed, go downstairs, go outside and Abbey starts freaking: Isn't that a funnel cloud? Sure enough!!! It was off to the east of us but not moving in our direction, thankfully. We watched it for awhile; it was lightly raining but also hailing some. And it was cold. The thing got really wide before it finally went back into the clouds.....probably lingered around for at least 20 minutes (and yes, this picture was taken by me from my deck). I heard it touched down over near Southlands. Wild! When it started hailing, I scrambled to get the garage picked up so I could get Abbey's car in; but the hail never got that big that it would have done any damage. But who knows when that stuff starts!

Prior to this crazy weather day, lounged around the house some and got a lot of writing done and then headed down to the park for a run. I was surprised how sore my quads were and my calves and shins were really tight and achy. Still, I felt pretty good; not too sore for a run and really wanted to test my glute muscle. Since the weather called for cool temps all day, I didn't feel the urgency to get out really early so I sent Dennis an email to see if he wanted to meet up for a bit. He only wanted to go 7 at the park and I wanted to do more but we met for a few miles and he helped me get my watch from altitude to pace...and maybe, just MAYBE, I'll know how to do that myself now. But I wouldn't count on that. Ha. A goal for the week after school is to get that thing functioning in my brain!! We ran the first two miles slow, getting the stiffness out of my legs and then picked up the 3rd mile to an 8:19 pace avg (thanks, watch!). Dennis and his dog, Lucy, turned around and went back and I continued on with my tempo run. Ran about another mile at tempo before I had to stop and go to the bathroom. When I came out, I saw BSG - Dennis would laugh. I had a minor stomachache so I walked through the boat launch area - and wow...that place was hopping today and then slowly ran until I got to the 5 mile mark and decided it was time to shine, no stopping, no slowing...3 solid miles at tempo pace (8:30) and see what I had. The first mile was mostly uphill for the first 3/4 then a gradual down. I hit mile 1 at 8:19. Mile 2 was mostly flat with a little downhill and I ran that 8:18. I was getting tired but I didn't want to slow....one of my goals is to learn to push through the hurt and fatigue of the marathon and so I just focused and thought of this last mile being the end of Boston and I remembered back to the last stretch of Boston down Boylston Street and how special that moment was for me. I thought about how tired I'd be the last mile in Portland pretended Rob was there helping me along and telling me not to stop. This last mile is relatively flat with a slight uphill at the end. Finished in 8:13. Happy happy. I sauntered slowly back to my car; I felt great to finally .. and I mean FINALLY get a decent run in!

10 miles run