Tornado - one week later

It’s one week since the tornado hit. I seemed to do pretty much OK until yesterday, Saturday. I felt worn down from emotional fatigue. It’s just impossible to get back to normal, because large portions of my neighborhood are destroyed. Every time I walk out the back door or go anywhere I see gauging reminders of the storm. My backyard is a mess, though Joanne has reestablished neatness and tranquility on the deck itself. I drive through the area and see debris, buildings gone, homes torn apart. You know the hard hit areas because you can look all the way down the block or the ally; there are no trees or garages to block the view. On the nearest main intersection (3 blocks north of me) there sits a Salvation Army disaster trailer. It’s a mobile food and water unit.

I tell people how close it came, but you don’t get it until you see it. Go north on my street one half block and homes are demolished. ONE HALF BLOCK AWAY HOMES ARE DEMOLISHED. You can read that and I can show you pictures of homes nearby that were demolished as well as damage on my property. I can tell you that reading the Star and Tribune on-line the 3600 block and 3700 block of Emerson, the two blocks north of us, are frequently mentioned and there are pictures of incredible damage on my street. Even with that, you still won’t get it until you are in my neighborhood, seeing it with your own eyes.

Yesterday morning the insurance assessor was here for 3 hours. He was very nice and very thorough. He had a nice southern accent and said he was from Texas. It went well, though we were both stressed about his visit prior to his arrival. While he was walking around with Jo, Romie and I spent some time out front. A young woman in a yellow volunteer t-shirt came up to Romie, talked to her about the tornado, and gave her a toy. It was a very nice gesture. She was a volunteer from a church organization so we got a few “God Bless You” statements from her too. I also spent some time yesterday morning on-line. It really bothered me to know that people who were not impacted by this are just living their lives as usual. Facebook friends are posting the same happy things as if nothing has happened. Of course, for them it hasn’t. I’m not sure why that would bother me so much, especially as I absolutely know how much work the City of Minneapolis has done and how there are so many people wanting to volunteer that they are turning most away. It’s not that I want people to still be calling me and texting me with “what can I do to help you” but it seems like they have forgotten that this happened at all. I can’t forget; I see it every time I walk out my door.

After the assessor left Joanne capitulated on my request for lunch at Chipotle. Along with Meesh, we made the trek to Crystal. Just before we left I felt an internal storm brewing, tired and cranky at a maximum level. When we got back home Joanne went outside to nap and Romie and I went upstairs to nap. I was exhausted, and every time I’d start to fall asleep Romie would talk to me, tickle my face with a doll’s hair, sit up to play with the cat… I got increasingly annoyed. It ended with me yelling at her (more than once) and her crying. I made a plea on Face Book for someone to take Romie for a little while. I was too agitated to fall asleep by then, but didn’t see myself naturally calming down with her around clambering for my attention. A friend (one of her best friend’s mothers) responded, and Romie went there for dinner, a movie, and some play time. Jo and I watched a movie on Pay Per View. It was action Sci-Fi with enough excitement to keep my interest but enough Sci-Fi for me to feel it was completely removed from my life. I picked up Romie, and when we arrived home friends were here with fresh baked blueberry muffins. I’m not sure exactly what Annie put in those muffins, but they are incredible! We visited for a while on the back deck. Romie fell asleep on me, and the day ended not only on a better note than it started, but an entire different song.

For the rest of the holiday weekend I am trying to find a balance between getting things done and being gentle with myself. We are also trying to plan some quality family time, and some quality couple time. However, we don’t have specific plans yet, and the weekend is half over. I cognitively realize that my work now is not to wait for things to get back to normal, but to accept that there will be a new normal. My home will be sufficiently repaired. My neighborhood will be rebuilt, though the hundreds of giant, old, trees will not regrow to their glory in my lifetime. I don’t know how we will react the next time tornado sirens wail. I do know that for me, it will not be a warning to be heeded even though nothing ever serious happens. And, likely Joanne will be more willing to come to the basement right away. I hope we can convey to Romie that she’s safe, and the basement is a precaution only. I never want to go through a disaster like this again. Even though you can’t truly relate to what it’s like for me, just as I can’t relate to those who are displaced or were injured from this, believe me, I don’t want you to ever go through this either.

Emerson Avenue Tornado 5/22 Part Two

This was an email I sent on Tuesday 5/24 to a friend, Annie, who lives on the Northside.

The first voice message I received today was your voice mail. Thank you!!! It was really helpful that so many people were concerned about us. We have been so blessed! (and I don't use that word lightly).

This experience has been absolutely eye-opening. It was so isolating to not have: electricity; media access via internet, radio, or television; limited communication due to not being able to make or receive phone calls. I could not get email, check voice messages at work, get on face book, or get any real news. I was limited to text messages. And, that was hard. Most of them failed to go through and I would have to diligently resend them and check until it worked. It wasn't until yesterday late in the afternoon that I could have an actual phone conversation. By that time it was too late to check or change my work voice mail. It was good to get into work to be able to get at my emails and have electricity. I have my cell phone charging right now - which means it's next to me and I'm in a regular chair - not trying to do it in the van through an adapter that runs into the cig lighter.

Thank God there was no damage to our vehicles. It was hard enough to get in and out of the neighborhood as it was. I can't imagine if our cars were damaged as many of them were around us. It took several hours for our block to be cleared (by neighbors on my block) for some vehicle traffic. And shortly after that, a bus got stuck on 36th and Emerson completely blocking that side of our block from vehicle traffic for another several hours. And you know how difficult it still is to get in and out of the Northside! It's crazy. Who would have ever thought that we'd be hit by a tornado - and that it would do such wide spread damage in pockets all across the Northside? It's still unbelievable.

Getting back to work is good - it's good to see normalcy on this side of the world - but it all still seems so surreal. Here are our blessings - we were not injured in the least. Yes we had perhaps significant damage to the house - but it is still completely functioning and livable. My sister took Romie from 5PM on Sunday until yesterday evening, even in the hassle trying to get from NE to North after the storm. It was so much easier to cope with things knowing she was safe, happy, and well cared for. Jo's son brought us some LED lights on Sunday, those and our flashlights, made things manageable after dark. We still had full plumping including drinkable tap water, flushable toilets, and hot showers. We could use the stove (gas) as long as Jo lit it first. On Monday Jo's boss brought us a generator to keep our refrigerator and our chest freezer functioning. Our vehicles have minor scratches. We have financial means to take care of ourselves - for example, to have breakfast at Emily's yesterday before tackling our day. We have good insurance! An old friend is a contractor in Northfield. With one very brief call with very bad reception and he was on his way to us. He arrived Monday around 1:00 and started working on repairs right away. He's professional, competent, experienced, positive, and reassuring. I trust him like a brother and had no concerns what-so-ever giving him a house key. After assessing the damage he said "my job is to take care of things here so you two can get back to work." Since he's based in Northfield - he had no other clients in our area and we are at the top of his que and his priority list.

And, most of all, we have a very loving, caring, supportive, and stable support network that made it clear they were readily available to us with anything we may need.

Compared to many of our neighbors on the Northside - we are so fortunate!!!

Emerson Ave Tornado 52211 Part One

We were home when the tornado hit. I was on the landing on the basement cleaning the litter box. Romie was "helping me". I knew there was a tornado watch all day but when I had gone down there a few minutes earlier everything seemed normal outside. I had just finished my job - literally, and the siren went off. I threw the dirty litter bag on top of the box and said "Romie, we have to go downstairs". I got up from my stool and headed down. Joanne yelled from upstairs "that's the siren." I said, "I know, we're going down now - meet you there." The basement carpet was wet from all the rain (I'm not sure why, but the heavy rain all that day caused some water to get down there). Romie just had ballet slippers on. I picked her up and set her across the main room of the basement onto a couch. The power went out. I yelled to Joanne "Get Romie's shoes and a flashlight." She yelled back "OK" and I heard her stomping around up there, and calling the dog. I'm not sure what happened next but something - a noise or a sense or something - and I decided where we were in the basement wasn't safe. Or maybe Jo had come down with the shoes and ran back up for something - I can't remember. But something was wrong and I decided I needed to get Romie to the inner room of the basement. We were on our way there, as Jo came down the steps. In front of us, the basement window blew. It pushed our 2 rows of 4 block glass bricks out and broke the glass behind it. The blocks flew into the air and dropped several feet from the window. The air pressure change caused the window on the other side of the room (right above where we were on the couch) to push out. Jo was one step away from being on the basement floor - right in front of that window that that blew. If she had been seconds quicker those glass blocks and the broken glass behind it would have hit her. Rain and wind were rushing through the window in a horizontal sheet - bringing small pieces of debris with it (and the top of a solar light from our front garden). Romie started SCREAMING in fear and shock. I was yelling at Jo to "get down here, get down here." What I didn't know, was that she felt the tornado and her ears had popped from the pressure change. She had the sense that had she been in front of that window that the tornado would have tried to suck her through it. (It's just a little foot high, two foot long basement window). She waited seconds until that was clear, while yelling at me "get her in there - get her in there" pointing to the small room in the basement where I was headed with Romie initially. I moved in there and sat Romie on the bed, Romie crying, and Jo followed us in. I grabbed a blanket and covered Romie's lap as comfort and we tried to talk calmly to her and reassure her that she was safe.

The rain was coming down there was this constant roar and then it was quiet. Jo disappeared, saying "tornadoes don't come back." I said I knew, but I wanted it to be clear first, and I didn't know if there could be another one in the cell. She disappeared and came back a few times - she couldn't sit still. She'd come back dripping wet. I heard her up stairs yelling "Oh My God. Oh My God." I thought perhaps the upstairs was gone. I didn't want leave until it was for sure safe, because of Romie. She came down and told me that the backyard was gone, we were definitely hit by a tornado and there was devastation. Sometime in there the sirens started, lots of emergency vehicles emerging on the area. I'll never forget that sound.

We went up and looked out the backyard. Everything was all over, like the backyard had been tipped up side down and shaken before being set right. Romie started crying again "my swing set - my swing set." We went out front. There were trees all over the street. The contents of porch were strewn about, much of having blasted out the porch door onto our stoop. We had to step over all that to get to the street. Everyone else seemed to be there too and we stood in the middle of the street with our neighbors, in shock. Then asking each other if everyone was OK and getting to asking if anyone had checked on the people in that house or that house. We'd be in and out. Rain would drive me back in with Romie. And three separate times while we were out there were gunshots - they sounded like they were a block north of us or so. We'd all scatter and a few minutes later, like magnets, everyone would come out again. The fist time that had happened Joanne had left to look for some of our backyard furniture. She couldn't get her phone to work to take photos - so had taken my phone. She left in the direction of the gunshots. I was terrified - she was gone, I didn't know if she was shot - and I had no phone. I went in the house and yelled at the dog just as Jo came in the back, fine, "Diane, I was no where near that."

Maybe a half hour later the sun was out. We were all outside. And a single female firefighter came walking up the middle of the street, climbing over tree trunks that were across the road. A minute or two later another one. They did not look at us or talk to us and I have no idea where they were going or what they were doing. Then a group of six followed. They walked past, and were gone.

A short time after that the parade started. People walking up and down the street - in a daze, checking things out, checking on each other, talking. We were trying to get information from people. I asked a young couple if there were injuries. They said "there's a dead guy on the corner up there and yeah - a lot of injuries on that next block. I was alone with Romie. She looked at me and said "is that a real dead guy?" I said, no honey, she didn't mean a real one, let's go in the house. Later when we came out, mixed with the neighbors walking up and own were opportunists - people handing out cards, I can fix your house, I take care of damage, I work with insurances, are you the home owner - here's my card. Maybe 6 of them total came up to me, some in uniforms some not. Then the gawkers, street lined with cars, people taking pictures. At one point a white family in a mini van parked in front of us, got the kids out with their strollers and sippy cups while a 4 y/o climbed a down tree (very dangerous) in the neighbors yard. The mom was unphased. My sense was that they were at a festival - she had come to see the damage with her family as entertainment. At one point a black family walked up the street. Two adults, the man carrying a newborn, a 6 y/o walking with them. I asked if they were OK. He said "yes, we're checking on my family up a few blocks, can't get through. Then he looked me right in the eye and said "what about you - are you all OK?"

You have to understand, thee timing of these events may be way off. From the moment we came out of the house to dark I'm not sure of what happened when. It was all so surreal and confusing. At one point a city bus was apparently trying to get though at the corner, had gone up on the curb to pass debris, and got stuck. Somehow it ended up across the entire block - blocking traffic for hours. It was weird to look up the street, covered with tress, and see a bus across the road. And the first house on our side on the next block - no roof - the top south portion of the building gone. Our block was cleared within a few hours, before the bus blocked it again, by neighbors with chain saws. It wasn't cleared cleared, but there was a path through it.

Hours later, after my sister had braved the traffic to come get Romie, I was sitting in the van, people still streaming by in slow motion, and a biker rode in front of me. It looked like a friend from Toastmasters. I yelled "Sarah". It was her, and she stopped. She assured me she was safe and came in with me to look at the damage in the backyard. She had been in NE when the tornado hit and had been trying to get back to her house on the Northside but couldn't get through. She left her car, and walked home on foot - a few miles - and had gone back there with her bike in the hopes of getting her car home. She realized though that it wasn't going to happen, and she'd have to bike back there in the morning for it.

Oh, and my cat. While we were in the basement we heard a meow. Jo had brought the dog down, but didn't bother to attempt with the cat. She said she thought Isis was down there. I wasn't sure - we had two open basement windows and there are stray cats in the neighborhood - one could have come in for shelter. After it was over - I couldn't find her. I called and I looked and no Isis. I was terrified she had gone out one of those basement windows and I didn't know what would happen to her out there with all that devastation or if she'd be able to find her way back in the mess. I thought she was gone. A half an hour later I searched the house again. She was laying on the bed in the basement, in the exact spot I had sat Romie down. She was curled up, purred when she saw me. I was so relieved I can't even tell you.

At one point I was in the van trying to communicate with various people by text message cause the phone wasn't working for calls in or out, and a neighbor two doors down came up to me, asked me where the 4th precinct was located. He had called the red cross for shelter and was told to go to the 4th precinct. I knew it was on Plymouth, somewhere near NorthPoint, but I doubted myself and wasn't sure exactly where it was. I texted two friends that have partners who are police officers for the City, and one wrote back with an address. I gave it to him, saying "it's a 2-3 mile walk." He had two teenagers and two preschoolers. I offered him a stroller, and he accepted that offer a half hour later and walked away, female partner and 4 kids at his side, joining the parade of people walking the debris filled streets.


The other sound that started early and was almost constant for two days was helicopters circling. They were very loud. That first night they went until 11:00 or 11:20 and started back up at 6:00. A neighbor commented that they had already gotten plenty of pictures of our destruction, why did they have to keep circling. It was really loud starting at 9:30-10:00, and I assumed they were getting ready for "live" shots on the 10:00 news.

By late Sunday Chad had made it through. He brought ice to keep our refrigerator cold, and several LED lights and batteries (though we had batteries). He told us we were on a curfew as of 9:00 and people would not be allowed in North Mpls without ID showing we lived there. At 9:00 the sirens went off. I thought maybe there was another tornado warning, but it was short lived, and we guessed it was to mark the start of curfew. I thought it odd to put us on a curfew when we didn't even know about it. Again, all across the metro except for in North there was power, so people knew what was going on for us, but we didn't know. Chad also told us there was talk on twitter of a some residents planning to riot, and of the city police trying to get riot gear and a request for national guard to come in and keep the peace in North Minneapolis. I don't know how much of that was true, but probably most of it was fear-based rumor. Other than the gunshots much earlier in the day, all was peaceful and quiet, again, with the exception of chainsaws. Jo and I had easily made the decision hours earlier to stay put, to guard our property. Romie was gone and safe, we had water, food, and plumbing, and saw no good reason to leave.

40th Birthday Day Triathlon - Success!!!

40th Birthday Triathlon
Race Report

Race Date: 8/15/2010
Race: 2010 YWCA of Minneapolis Women’s Triathlon
500yd Swim in Lake Nokomis, 15mile bike along Mississippi River, 5K run around Lake Nokomis
Weather: Sunny, low 70’s with no humidity, 15-18 mph winds.

Before the Race

We got up early. Like last year, at the 2nd unofficial Triathlon, Romie was with Lori and Kira spent the night with us, helping me get things packed and ready and listening to me as I discussed my checklists out loud. I had the alarm set for 5AM, but both Jo and I woke at 4:45. I woke up Kira, had some breakfast and a small coffee and loaded the bike. We took two cars, as Jo was going to pick up Karen and family at the airport just after noon. We parked much closer than I expected, right on Cedar Avenue (yeah!). The three of us carried all of our bags and two camp chairs, as I wheeled my bike.

We got to the transition area and low and behold Sue was there, greeting us. Only participants were allowed in the transition area, so she helped me carry my gear in and find my bike rack. I got the basics set up and unloaded, and then Sue accompanied me to find my timing chip and get marked up. That was especially nice because it looked like you had to stand in line for it but she knew there were several other people able to mark up participants closer to the beach. It tickled to get marked on, but it felt like the event was real to be marked up like that. I had some irrational fear as of the previous night that race officials were going to look at me and tell me that due to my body size I would need a doctor’s statement to participate. When the woman with the marker seemed to treat me like everyone else, I figured I was good to go.

As I was doing that, Joanne and Kira were setting up base camp. Because it was primarily participants and not a lot of spectators that early, Joanne took over an entire picnic table right next to the bag drop, across from the playground. It was an ideal location for my fan club.

I was not nearly as anxious as I expected. I was very excited, and happy. I had no butterflies zooming around in my insides. I was moving though - couldn’t sit still. And I felt like I had to pee the whole morning, even though my bladder was empty. I know it was empty because I used the porta potty twice in an hour and neither time peed more than a tablespoon full of urine. After the second time, I just told myself I didn’t really have to use the bathroom again no matter that my body kept telling me that my bladder was about to burst.

In addition to being with Sue off and on from arrival to race start, I also saw some other work friends. We said Hi to each other 1-1 and in small groups and then were all together briefly for a group shot. It was so fun to have other people I knew there!

I remember telling Joanne that Jennifer should be there soon. She was leaving St. Cloud at 6 and stopping for gas and coffee. It was about 7:30. Within 5 minutes her arm was around me. I didn’t see her coming up behind us and never heard Joanne’s phone ring, so it was a happy surprise to see her. I was so happy she was there; smiling , proud, and excited. Sometime around there I had also gotten a text message from my friend Meesh that she had woken up from a dream of seeing me cross the finish line all smiles. She wished me luck in the text, and said she was going back to sleep (she works 2nd/3rd shift).

There were announcers there. It was kind of hard to hear them, so I was in and out of listening. At one point, I was at base camp with my fan club, and I heard the announcers say the lifeguards were in position, both in boats and in the water with noodles. I turned to look at the lake, and the site of everything being ready and real caused a stab of anxiety – the butterflies I had expected all morning came crashing into my body. They dissipated quickly, but some remained from then on.

At 7:25 I excused myself to check on my bike before the transition area closed. Everything looked good. I needlessly moved some things around a little in my spot, and tried to keep my Happy Birthday balloon from migrating in the wind too close to the person set up on my left. She was there, so I apologized, and she said it was A-OK. Earlier some of my other rack mates had been there, and we had exchanged some pleasantries, and it had come up that it was my 40th birthday. They were there again this round, just as a photographer came by to shoot them. They told her it was my birthday, and next thing I knew I was posing with my balloon. After that was trip number two to the bathroom.

I got back to base camp, paced a little, and then it was time for the pre-race meeting. Sue and I walked down together. We came across Kristen and a group of her friends who were racing with her. We all met each other. Also at the beach was Sara, another nurse at FMC. She was there to support us, a triathlete herself. She said she’d hang around for just over an hour, to see us finish. I told her I’d be closer to 3 hours.

There were some announcements from the organizers, and a very slowly paced and quiet rendition of the National Anthem. The wave one racers got into position as I headed back to base camp to get my cap and goggles and drop off my shoes and shorts. Then I headed to the beach to find the blue cappers. I asked someone in a small group of blue cappers if she was in Wave 8. She was, and we chatted calmly. There was an enthusiastic shout to motivate us. Something along the lines of “Way To Go Wave 8, Get it Done!” The smart ass extrovert in me made an appearance and yelled “Yeah, let’s win this thing!” It felt like I was channeling my twin brother, Dennis. There were some chuckles around me, and we continued to wait.

A few minutes later someone came up to me to wish me luck. It was Bridgette, whom I met in the YMCA locker room a few months earlier, when we had talked about both being signed up for this event. She remembered it was my 40th birthday (nice!). As we were moving up the line to the starting spot, someone came running up to me. It was my OB-GYN that helped create Romie, managed my prenatal care, and delivered Romie. She was in my wave. That was so COOL! She ran off to for a pre-start lake soak, and we were next up. I saw Jennifer in the front row of the spectators. We blew each other kisses. I had seen Joanne a few minutes earlier, looking all proud and lovingly at me. I had wanted to telepathically let her know Dr. M. was there, but I still haven’t learned how to do that. I stayed in the back, to the left of the wave 8 group. There was a count down, a horn blown, and my wave was running in the water.

RACE: SWIM

As others ran in I moved forward as well. I knew it was shallow for a long way. Even so, I got prone quickly and started my stroke. We were spread out fairly well. I had a lot of women ahead of me, and a few close by, but no-one in my space. I did 10 strokes on the right side, where I could see the buoys, the racers, and the lifeguards, to 10 strokes on the left where my view of an empty lake and horizon and was generally not helpful. I went around the first buoy and turned the corner. Somewhere about then I started to get panicky. I don’t know what it was exactly, but I just didn’t feel comfortable. I felt vulnerable and it seemed a long way. Maybe some of it was that I was going against the wind and there were some waves. They weren’t bad though. I did a lot of positive self talk and just kept swimming. I also permitted myself to only breathe off the right side, though now and then I did try to do a set of 10 off the left side to have some balance. As I looked at my cohort they were mostly ahead of me, though there were still 2 or 3 near me. One woman to my right was doing the side stroke at times. I kept thinking I could get fully past her, but each time she seemed to change strokes and would get a little ahead of me. I also noticed that I was quite a ways out from the buoys. I knew I was supposed to keep to the outside to stay out of the crowd, but it seemed like maybe I was too far out. I kind of headed in closer to the buoys, though not whole-heartedly. Toward the end of that section of the swim I felt someone touch my legs. It was startling, but she must have quickly moved out of my way because I didn’t notice it again. And, some yellow cap women were coming up from behind, then along side of me, and then passing me, just a few though. I passed the next buoy and turned the last corner. I could see racers in my wave getting out of the water. I wanted it to be over. I was still nervous. I kept telling myself I was almost there and to swim until my hands touched the lake bottom firmly during my stroke. Finally, I made it. Those ahead of me were running up the sand. I knew that wasn’t going to happen in my case. I was pleased that I could stand fairly easy and walk. There was water inside my ear. I stuck my finger in there to try to create an air pocket to pop it. It wasn’t until after I had it in there that I noticed the photographer with his long nosed camera pointing right at me. The whole walk way up to the transition was lined with spectators. I was on display, for sure. I know I saw Jennifer, but now I can’t remember where she was standing. I said to the photographer “don’t tell me you got a shot of me with my finger in my ear.” His response was, “That’s better than in your nose.” I took that as a yes, he got an up close shot of me with my finger sticking out of my ear. I just hoped it wouldn’t end up on the website later.

The Race: T1

People were cheering as I got up the sandy hill from the beach. I got to the kiddy pools to rinse my feet, and glanced behind me to see if I would be in anyone’s way. There was no-one in sight. I thought that was odd. There were volunteers cheering me on and pointing the way. I knew it though, as I had scoped out the transition area flow before the race. I looked again toward the beach, and saw no racers coming up behind me. Huh. Again, I was walking the whole time, and others had been running. In fact, the entire transition area was quiet, and almost ghostly empty. The bikes in the first several racks were gone, though. As I headed toward the mid-back to my bike I realized that the parking lot surface didn’t bother my feet like I thought it would. I got to my bike thinking, “shorts first, shorts first.” I put my shorts on, grabbed my “rinse” water bottle, mini towel, and my shoes and socks and sat my behind on the curb near the grass (conveniently located right behind my bike rack) and did the whole rinse feet, dry feet, put on socks, put on shoes, tie shoe laces. All the while it was quiet in there, and I was trying to move quickly. I looked up and saw Jo by the fence. I waved at her, and she nodded, smiled, and gave me a thumbs up. I walked the few strides to my bike, pulled it out, got on my helmet and my gloves, and walked my bike quickly to the bike out area. There were more volunteers there, giving support and pointing the way. I got gingerly on my bike and started pedaling.

Race: The Bike

Within a block of the bike ride the anxiety from the swim was gone. I felt confident and comfortable. I was off. A half mile into the ride I looked at my bike computer. I was going faster than I expected. I wondered if I should slow down to be able to pace myself, and decided not to. I reminded myself my pacing strategy was to take each leg as stand alone, and pace myself as if that were the only section of the race. I knew that I could still regret going ahead of my usual fastest speed, but decided to risk it. I knew where the first hill was. I expected it, and did fine. It was a little tricky staying to the far right as I was going up a hill and turning left. As I biked that first section I talked to the spectators and volunteers that lined the route. I told them it was my birthday, thanked them, commented on the beautiful day, etc. I also did that as I went through intersections. It was awesome to be able to go through intersections without stopping or slowing down. I tell you, that really helps keep the momentum.

I was really having fun on the bike ride. I was enjoying it. And, my concerns about passing and drafting rules were not much of any issue. A lot of people passed me, but they were going fast. There was no need for me to slow down to drop behind. I came up the hill over Highway 55 and down shifted the big gear. A mile or two later I realized I had forgotten to put the main gear back up. And, I was going fast anyway. I wondered how fast I would have been going had I had the bike in that higher gear.

Two or three times I passed someone else. The first one I think passed me again just a short time later. Each time I recognized I was going faster and I tried to calculate 3 bike lengths. As I did that, I tried to decide if it made sense to slow down and stay behind, or speed up and pass within the 15 seconds. The push to pass was actually good. Each time I was able to do it quickly, and each time it increased my momentum and helped me maintain a slightly higher speed. It was also cool how most people who passed me did it with a “good job” or “you’re looking great” or “enjoy the race.” It was so fun to have spectators and volunteers cheering along the way. I kind of wished I had people here and there on the sidelines of my regular rides to cheer me on. I remembered it was my birthday, and decided that it made sense the cheering was today and not on my other rides.

As for that nasty hill - I was ready for it. I tried to maintain a decent speed up it, and get back up to speed quickly afterwards. On my way up, I also greeted a woman and her little one who were walking on the path next to the road. The little one was watching me and smiling already, so it seemed appropriate.

It was awesome to see the Ford Bridge and know I was coming close to the 10 mile mark. As I got past the Ford Plant and to the turn around point I was, again, careful with the turns. I wanted to get in there but allow for anyone coming up behind me to still pass me with plenty of room. And, although I knew I was to visualize my friend Abby at multiple places (she was Astroprojecting herself there from Vermont), it was this parking lot that her presence was the strongest. I was coming out the parking lot, someone behind me but not super close to me, and there were three men, two volunteers and a police officer, saying turn left and pointing back toward the Ford Bridge. I’d done the route 3 times, and knew I had to turn. I was going fairly slow though, to make a wide turn and stay to the far right side. I came close to them and thought I’d be funny (because they looked kind of funny with such stretched arms pointing left). I yelled at them “which way?” and they responded loudly and in unison “turn left.” I smiled as I sped past and I said “I know, I was just kidding.” They laughed sincerely. I was so having fun!

I sped toward the Ford Bridge and then got thrown for a loop. Instead of taking the ramp to go west, the volunteers were pointing us toward the ramp to go east. Part of me wondered if there was a mistake or if I had gotten the route wrong earlier. Whatever, the bikers ahead of me were going that way, and I did too. I got up there and realized what was going on. The south side of the bridge was closed for us, so we were biking on the left side of the bridge. Though I wanted to stay close to the right, to let people continue to pass, I didn’t want to be too close to the vehicle traffic. So, I stayed to the right, but didn’t hug the cones. The vehicle traffic there was loud. The wind was horrible. I was biking against it, and there was nothing up on the bridge to block the wind. And, going up that bridge was, well, up. I cursed the “against the wind and up a hill” syndrome that always zaps my spirit and causes me to curse. I cursed out loud. I think it helped, because it seemed to be better after that. I did know that the next few miles would be tough. The ride here was more against the wind and generally going up hill. I did it though. The left back to the parkway seemed to be the tightest turn of the ride. There were quite a few spectators there, but for some reason I picked on particular guy with two little kids for my next sarcastic comment. As I biked by him I asked “Am I still in first place?” Happily for me, he played along “no, you just dropped to second” he yelled.

I knew I was home free. I had two more miles, all flat except for over the Cedar bridge. Going over the bridge seemed easy. I was so incredibly excited that I didn’t have a flat tire that I wanted to scream in joy! I turned right onto the parkway, just a few blocks to the transition. The crowd got increasingly dense. They cheered me on. I saw the dismount area and wondered how I was going to get off this bike with all this attention, and from a bit of a speed, without falling. (I’m really not that steady on my bike). I stopped, it wobbled, and somehow I managed to lean it left. I still kind of stumbled with it, then I got my left foot on the ground, tilted the bike way toward me, and lifted my right leg over that. It wasn’t graceful, but I didn’t fall. I sure hope that no-one had a video camera playing any where in my vicinity right then. And, I kid you not, people were staring at me and as soon as it was clear I had dismounted without falling over, they broke into applause. I quickly walked into the transition area. I saw Jennifer, and later Joanne. They weren’t together but I saw them within seconds of each other. In fact, it seemed every time I was anywhere near the transition area I saw Jennifer steadily and got at least a glimpse of Joanne.

The Race: T2

T2 was quick, as it should be. There were a few more people in the transition area, but not many. I saw the volunteer who had talked to me about the flow prior to the race, and who had watched me sit down on the curb to get my shoes on at the first transition. I greeted him, and he me. My transition area looked like it had been stepped on. It probably had, been as the bikes next to me were both gone - no big deal though, everything was there and in tact. I drank the rest of the water from my bike water bottle, grabbed half of a cliff bar and a fresh water bottle, and headed out the exit. I did accept the water offered to me there, thinking I could keep mine longer. After all, at both of my unofficial triathlons I had thought I was dying of thirst within a mile of the walk portion. I saw Joanne again. I asked her the time. She said 10:00. I hadn’t bought a sports watch like I had planned, but I did remember to pull my bike computer off of my bike at the transition. It kept time OK, but the time was off by several minutes. Joanne asked me how long the walk would take. I shouted back at her that it would take an hour. I realized that we had told people to be there by 11:00 because I thought I’d get in around 11:30. At that moment, I thought everything was OK regarding the spectators arriving in time to see me cross the finish line. Even if I finished earlier than I expected, they would be there by 11:00 and see me cross the finish line. For some reason, that thought was clear. However, I also had this thought that I was right on track. I had no concept that I was ahead of schedule. I checked my bike computer clock. I said 10:12. I thought I would use that to know how I was pacing myself, as the 1 and 2 mile points were clearly marked on the route.

The Race – The Run

That first mile was a time of friendly visitors. I heard someone behind me say something about my 40th birthday. It was Kristen. We talked to each other as she came up to me and passed me. A little while later her partner Kris passed me, running. I said “that’s great, you weren’t going to run.” She said, “well, I’m not really running” as she ran past me. A bit later someone else said happy birthday to me, if I remember right, it was Bridget again. Then I got another hello. This time it was from Kristen’s friend whom I met at the beach. She stopped and walked with me for a few minutes, and we had a nice conversation. And, just before that, as I crossed the bridge, a biker smiled and said hello as we passed each other going opposite directions. We had talked at the Bike Course Preview a few weeks earlier. She looked like she was doing great, and I knew she’d be passing me soon. As I got close to the one mile mark a woman much older than me passed me. She turned to face me, still jogging, told me I was doing great, and asked if I wanted to run with her for a little while. She was trying to help motivate me to jog. How sweet…. I thanked her, and told her that when I do jog my time decreases (true this year – but it won’t be true next year), and she sped off. As I was getting close to the 1 mile mark I started to notice pain. My thighs really hurt. I mentally put my attention there, and decided it was OK. They were tired, and not too happy that muscles had to switch from biking to walking. After that, I didn’t notice that pain as much. It did seem a long ways though. And, I didn’t really want my water though I kept sipping at it.

The thing about the walk is that HUNDREDS of people passed me. It’s OK. I expected it. And they were all either running, or jogging, or walking some and jogging some. I didn’t see anyone that was just walking like me. There likely were a few of us, but the rest were behind me (most likely) or ahead of me yet.

Between the mile and two mile point I heard my name. I looked toward it, and way out in the distance, biking the other way along the parkway, was none other than Sue. I yelled hello and gave her the thumbs up. She gave one back. She looked great! She was smiling, and seemed relaxed and confident. I wondered if she’d catch up to me. It seemed possible, if a little unlikely. Though she walks at a faster pace I was at least a mile ahead of her and she still had a mile or so left of the bike ride.

I was very happy to see the two mile point. I knew, then, that I would for sure finish the race. It’s not that I had my doubts previously, it was just all but a sealed deal at that point. My confidence was high, and I just focused on walking a steady pace and staying strong. As I got to the turn off, I got confused. It’s not that I thought that I should be done, I knew that I had a ¾ mile detour off the main path, but I couldn’t see it. The volunteer directed me forward where I thought I should turn, and I could see racers just ahead of me going into the finish area. I thought maybe she made a mistake and had directed me in the wrong lane. That would have been OK with me. I’d have known I didn’t do the whole thing, but it wouldn’t have been my fault and I could have been done with the walk. Then I saw it, flags lining a path through the grass to the detour. OK, let’s finish this. Oh wait, there’s Joanne right there. I forgot to lift my right foot at the next step and almost fell flat on my face. I didn’t. “Hi Jo – I love you!” Her response, “I’m so proud of you, honey, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Romie wasn’t with her, but I wasn’t going to worry about that. The last ¾ wasn’t so bad. Except that my feet felt like they were burning in places. I had a blister starting and there was nothing I could do about it but walk through the pain and know the skin injury was getting steadily worse.

I was tired and ready to be done, but I knew I was close. Up the hill, another slight detour, along Cedar for blink, down the hill, and ah, there’s the final stretch to the finish line. I walked steady. There was a crowd up ahead. Someone was calling my name while cheering. Dr. M had finished already (not surprisingly) and was cheering me on. I asked her how the race went for her. “Great” she said and I was past her, across the street, and almost to the finish line. There was a large digital timer displayed. It said 2:50:42. I couldn’t believe I was going to complete this thing in under three hours. That was awesome. I had thought it would be at least 3:05. I was very pleased!!!! There were spectators everywhere. But, there was no Joanne… or Jennifer… or Kira… or anyone. I thought how disappointed we’d be if they all missed my finish. And then, like that camera shot in Harry Potter, Jo’s head peaked forward from the line of spectators. Right behind her Jennifer’s smiling face, and then, much lower, was Romie. I heard Jo tell Romie that she had to wait. A second later Jo gave Romie the go ahead. Romie was on the path running toward me yelling “Mama, Mama.” I reached down to hug her but she didn’t let go and as we were both in motion she ended up in my arms in a flash. Without thinking, I continued forward, carrying her to the finish line as I heard the announcers, through my thoughts and the noise of the crowd, announce my name, Minneapolis, and that it was my birthday today. I raised my arm in triumph and I was through the arch and into the crowd, Joanne and Jennifer at my side. And there, at the end, I saw Susie, and Jeannette, and Tania with her boys. A second later, there too were Lori and Dan. A volunteer tried to get us to not crowd the area. Lori was panicking and then Ok and a few minutes later… Kira was there too.

Post Race

I did it. I didn’t die at the end or collapse or cry or scream. In fact, not only could I lift my tall 4 y/o at the end, I could carry her for several strides. Jennifer handed me water at the end, then more, then more. Then, she went to get me more. There were no more veggie sandwiches, but I guess I expected that too. It was OK. I had food; chips and breads and fruits and my favorite – chocolate chip cookies. I had my family. I had completed the race on my 40th birthday in less than 3 hours. And, I was not the last to cross the finish line. Soon after the race Kristen found me, I found Sue and I saw Michelle (also from FMC). The next two hours were mostly me and one of my best friends, Jennifer, hanging out at an event in the park while Joanne talked to her sisters at base camp and Romie played with her cousin on the playground. It was a great birthday!

Post-Race – The Next Day

I got my results on-line. Something was wrong. The final time didn’t add up. I thought maybe they didn’t include the transition time. Then I thought they made a mistake. It was off! I know I saw 2:50 on the timer as I neared the finish and I was sure that was 1-3 minutes before I actually crossed the line. I was thinking I’d have to email them to have them double check my results and suddenly it dawned on me… the timer I saw at the finish line was from the start of the race itself. I was in wave 8, starting about 20 minutes after wave 1. OMG, I had completed the whole thing in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I beat my best case scenario estimate by 30 minutes. Wow! Crazy! For a full day I was happily in shock, thinking over and over again, “two and half hours”.

Today, two days later. I’m 40 years old, and I’m a triathlete!




YWCA Womens Triathlon - 2010
Individual Results
August 15, 2010 in Minneapolis, MN Summary
Number of Finishers: 871
Number of Females: 868
Number of Males: -
Average Time: 1:51:34

Diane Jorgensen
bib number: 589
age: 40
location: Minneapolis, MN
overall place: 850 out of 871
division place: 149 out of 149
time: 2:30:27
pace: 0:
swim: 15:54
trn1: 5:55
bike: 1:09:17
trn2: 3:00
run: 56:23

Hot Pink

Hot Pink Swim Suit
When my swim suit dies, it’s a pathetic site. It gets stretched out and see though. Well, it happened, and thus I ordered another one from Junonia, praying the one I had would get me through a few more swims before having a lifeguard at the Y kick me out for inappropriate swim attire, or even have me arrested for some form of unintentional nudity. A week later, my new suit still hadn’t arrived. I bothered to read my confirmation email only to find out that indeed, it’s on back order. I called Junonia, thinking I would just order the next smaller size. I’m getting pretty close to ordering it anyway. Nope, that one was on back order too. And then the friendly representative stated “there’s a hot pink one in both sizes, I can send you one of those.” Well, what’s a serious swimmer going to do? Not swim waiting for the black one, or suck it up and wear hot pink for a few months? Yep, I ordered it. Tuesday was my first swim in it. I had Abby with me that day, by happy happenchance, and I said “I guess it’s not that bad of a hot pink.” Her response? “You just keep telling yourself that.” ….at least I’m swimming.

Frozen Bike Trails
It’s started. I’m done with winter. Every time I pass by a bike trail or a bike/pedestrian bridge I feel this ache to be on my bike. It’s a longing, a craving, a seething desire to be using pedal power on off road tarred surfaces with the wind on my face and the sun beating down on me. It doesn’t help that when I drive on Victory Memorial with Romie, on the way to dance class, she’ll ask me if we can go on a bike ride again. I tell her, calmly, again, that we have to wait for the snow to melt. I have yet to tell her that she may be too big for the bike seat. I think, even if she is too big, I’ll put her in it for at least one last ride together. Then, we can go to the bike store and pick out the next contraption for continued rides together.

Weekly Theme: Companionship
I had the wonderful experience of sharing my training this week.
* It started on Sunday. I met a friend/neighbor at the Y. We didn’t exactly work out together, but we arrived and left together. She’s been waiting to take her child to the drop off childcare service but “he’s not the type of kid to do that well.” Romie has done fine with it in the past, and, the two are good school friends. (I know, how sweet, a strong friendship at the ages of 3 and 4). Thus, we arranged to go together so her son would have a friend there, and hopefully, decide he can do it on his own in the future. The kids had a great time, and we both got a workout it.
* On Tuesday I met Abby early in the morning to swim. She’s been thinking about joining my club, and I offered to have her check it out as a guest. It was very fun to have her with me that day. And, as I had to meet her earlier than I usually arrive, I was able to have enough time to swim a full mile. I haven’t done that in weeks! (I hope she joins.)
* I have been harassing Joanne to come and watch me for a personal training session on a Wednesday night. She always has a good excuse, you know, like Romie can’t be left in the house alone even if she’s sleeping, or that she has school work to for her class. But last night, Chad and family were there and Joanne is on a 2 week school break. So, she had no excuse. It was likely the first and the last time I’ll invite her along. Honestly, if I thought my personal trainer was tough on me before, I was sadly mistaken. I don’t know if he was trying to impress Joanne with his skills at motivating me or impress her with how hard I work and how much I can do, but he was down right MEAN. I mean, come on, I can’t lift that thing once and you expect me to do 3 sets of 12 repetitions?!? And, I hurt today, really hurt. L Joanne did get to see a sample of what my training sessions are like, and she was impressed, but honestly, did I have to be brutally tortured in process?

Saturday 8:45 PM 1/16/10

Email Update to Tri Training Team:

So, Jennifer is going to start exercising, mostly using the elliptical, every day. I heard that John joined his local Y and is swimming, using the track, and biking daily. Great! Sara is seeing her personal trainer weekly (and suffering for it), buying the "Slow, Fat, Triathlete" book, and heading out to the sporting good store for some swim supplies. As for me, I'm hoping to write you ever week or two to tell you how things are going for me. I'm thinking that will be one more thing to help me keep focused.

But, before I do that...
1) The official YWCA Women's Triathlon opens registration for this year's event on 2/3. That's only a few weeks away.
2) Again, the distances you have to shoot for are
Swim - just under .5 miles
Bike - 15 miles
Walk/jog/run - 3.1 miles.

So, I'm losing weight still, slowly, but I am. Mentally, I'm breaking it into small goals. And, I have less than 5 pounds to go to hit my first goal. Cool! To be really transparent, I'd tell ya all how much I weigh, but hey, I'm posting this on my blog, so I'm not going to feel bad about not going there. The food thing is hard for me. That's the hardest thing. I think I am understanding, really understanding now, what I need to eat for nutrition and health. But, life-long patterns are hard to break. And, it's hard to find the time and energy to make that way extra effort to have the stuff I should be eating prepared and ready to go. However, I am making progress. The understanding is huge, and I continue to make changes here and there. My goal is to more often than not eat Zone meals and snacks, or at least Zone friendly. Toward that end I am thinking about what I want and what's available in the moment, and moving closer to Zone Friendly - which usually means increasing the protein (vegetarian version) and the vegetables, and decreasing the starches. I'm also trying to eat more fruits, drink more water (which I like anyway), and less sugar laden coffee drinks. I bought myself a notebook to keep track of what I eat. Now, just need to use it.

As for the trainings. Well, I could be all negative and tell ya all how I'm not even in sight of my goal. Or, I could be all positive and tell ya all that I am still swimming twice a week, still see my trainer once a week, and added a bike in the basement last week and that and a walk on the track this week. I think I am setting myself up for disappointment to keep telling myself I need two workouts a day. I'm not close to there yet, so let's start with one every day, and then I'll get up to two most days. Realistically, I will NOT have the time for 14 workouts a week. But, if I can get 10 in a week, that would be awesome!

I didn't actually see my trainer this week. I showed up, and he wasn't there. I was told he couldn't make it and he had left me a message. When I got back to my car after a short work out on my own, yeah, he had called my cell phone many hours earlier. I had gotten several missed calls at once and didn't realize it, checking only the most recent. You know, for me not checking all of the voice mails on my cell phone was an easy mistake, not that many people call me.

OK. Later.... I'm going down to my basement to bike.

Tri Training Team Intro

Below is an email I sent to several people on 12/30/09. I heard back from a few of them.

I thought it would be fun to set up an email team of all that are planning on either doing the YWCA Women’s Triathlon with me on my 40th birthday and/or joining me for my next informal and unofficial triathlon. We can share our training progress, tips on training/food/clothing/mental preparation, frustrations and setbacks, etc. Not all of you know each other, so you could get to know the others that have been somehow been inspired by this crazy quest of mine. Maybe we can even do some optional group training activities at some point. What do you think? Are you interested in being part of an email list serv for this? If not, that’s OK, it doesn’t mean I won’t continue to communicate with you about my progress and all that. So, as a hint, this email is going out to those that participated in my previous informal and unofficial triathlon’s including A.K., K.F., J.H., and Joanne, the two of you who have told me you want to do the official one this year with me (that be T.R and L.N.) and the two people who have more recently heard about this aspect of my life and have told me they would like to participate with me the next round (S.M. and D.D). And, we can certainly add others, especially if I forgot someone.

In the meantime, here is a link to my blog with my race report from my 8/2009 informal and unofficial triathlon
http://www.dmturrhig.blogspot.com/

And a link to the YWCA Women’s Tri
http://www.ywcawomenstri.org/

If you are looking for something to read to accompany this adventure, I suggest
The Slow, Fat, Triathlete by Jayne Willams.