Monday, September 26, 2016

Blessing

Well, as of yesterday, I am a grandchild orphan.  I know pretty much every adult goes through this, including many people at a much younger age, but it makes me feel older than 41 to know I don't have anyone to call Grandpa any more.  In this case though, it really was a blessing.  He had been in the hospital for the last two months, and really didn't have any quality of life.  I'm glad he's not in pain, and I'm glad he's with my grandmother, who has been waiting over 26 years for him.  I wish it were easier for my dad. 


Incidentally, I think he died while I was running my last long run.  Possibly about 15 minutes before my watch died (which happened at mile 12.04). 


Other notable happenings on my 22 miler:


We passed a possum in the road that appeared to be roadkill.


4 miles later we passed him again going the other direction and he was sitting up.  I was certain he'd been hit again and moved into a weird position by the second car, but as we got closer, he was indeed alive.  Maybe someone ruffied him?  He seemed really out of it.


Just past mile 20, we got caught in a massive downpour.  Two weeks in a row with flash flood type rains during our long runs.  That's weird for Dallas in September.

The rain yesterday was so weird.  I could see it as I approached but I didn't really comprehend it.  It was right by a big football statue and just past the finish line of a 5k (that we had crossed going the opposite direction from the race, but we didn't see anyone else finishing, seemed to be mostly over).  I actually thought maybe there was some weird temporary fountain or a huge sprinkler set up for the race.  A couple seconds later, I got a few big drops, and then the massive rain that was so heavy, I could barely see 15 feet in front of me.  Glad it didn't happen 1-20 miles earlier though. 

But with the rain came a break in temps.  This morning it was still raining but it was only 69 degrees.  But instead of enjoying it, I slept in.  Even though I was expecting the news, it was still an emotionally draining day.  And I'm tapering now, so it was easy to take a pass when I woke up to rain. 

4 comments:

  1. I am very sorry for your loss. There is always a sense of peace knowing our loved ones are no longer suffering, but that doesn't make our hearts any lighter. Sending a hug to you.

    I got caught in a torrential downpour about 17 miles into my 20 miler a couple of weeks ago. Is it odd that I thought it was awesome? There is that moment when you know you cannot keep your feet dry so why bother trying and you just splash in every puddle. That was a bizarre run because the weather started out really hot and humid at 5am and by the time I was done it had dropped into the 60s. Current Chicago forecast for 10/9 is calling for showers in the morning. Plenty of time for that to be a lie!!

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  2. So sorry to hear this. Even when it's expected and a blessing, it's still hard.

    Do you know that I haven't run in the rain this whole training cycle? I think once it drizzled for a few minutes, but no real, sustained rain. That is odd for us!

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  3. So sorry for your loss ... there is really never a good time.

    My last grandparent died in 1987, when I was just 21. And my 'closest' - my dad's dad - died in 1983 before I turned 17.

    As for rain ... well, last week when I was in North Carolina most of the week they had the remnants of tropical storm Julia spinning around dumping rain ... then this week back at home it has rained almost every day. Looks like it will mostly be clear for the runners in the Wineglass marathon here tomorrow, so that is nice :)

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  4. Late to this post, I'm way behind in blog reading, but so sorry to hear about your grandfather.

    Hugs to you and your family.

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