after the storm…

I know we’ve had our share of storms this summer, but this latest one was a doozy…

lightning on august 18thSo Tuesday nite. Perfect nite to sip some drinks at the Frying Pan right by the Hudson River…next best thing to being on a boat…oh wait a minute, we were on a boat of sorts 🙂 Not to mention celebrating a certain someone’s “prime” birthday 😉 But then we saw the bolts of lightning. And heard the thunder. And why we didn’t leave right then and there, I don’t know…oh yeah, someone thought this would just be a “heat storm” and there would be no rain. Uh, famous last words, as the skies opened up like crazy. First things first, let’s get the hell away from the water!! Ducked for cover under an awning in front of a school and just tried to wait it out…which took about 15 minutes. And not surprisingly, no cabs were stopping so once it stopped raining, we just subwayed it home (wow, the subways were actually running?) Rumor has it the b-day girl enjoyed this so much she was singing and dancing…or was that the sangria talking? Let me tell you, I didn’t have a lot to drink but I sure sobered up quickly once the rains came…

But even though I didn’t know it at the time, i was lucky I was not uptown, as the UWS got hit majorly hard by the storm-especially Central Park. North of the reservoir, the park drives and bridle paths were just littered by fallen trees and tree branches…I was shocked to read about it and when I saw it with my own eyes yesterday…couldn’t believe my eyes.

tree by west 93rd
The tree by the fountain at 93rd st and the west drive…where we’ve all stopped for water quite a bit, where I’ve used as a start/finish point for West Side Hills repeats…

tree on great hill track
The Great Hill track, a popular speedwork place for many…

And yeah, that almost caused our crew to resort to a “plan B location” for speed yesterday but thankfully not the case. Just had to go shorter (length of repeats, that is) and sweeter…yeah it was sweet, as despite the humidity and fighting a cold, I felt I really nailed the workout. Of course I had a good rabbit-thanks so much, Moz! With the halfway point of MCM training approaching, the confidence is still there…

On the topic of lightning bolts…or Usain Bolts…the World Champs 200m today…wow. Just wow. He makes it look too damn easy.