I am OK

I'm leading with the positive. Unless you live under a rock (or in another country, as some of my friends do) you probably know that a rather important bridge in Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River today and about 40 cars went into the water with it. They have been and I'm assuming still are for the moment people not to use cell phones because the networks are jammed and they need the lines. I went out with a couple of friends tonight and left my phone in the car. I was really touched when I opened it up and found all the calls I'd missed, and those were just the ones that could get through.

I did call my parents, who hadn't heard the news yet. It happened a bit after 6p here, so everyone in the eastern time zone (read: my parents) had already turned off the news for the evening. They asked me lots of questions. I haven't watched any of the news coverage. I've checked out a couple of the local news websites but the pictures are so horrible I haven't looked at too many.

What was I doing when I found out? Running. What else? I ran 4 miles in 10:59 miles (I'm still a little sore from yesterday). I was running on the track at the Y. As I was leaving I walked by the fitness floor where the weights and treadmills and bikes and things are. All these people were just standing there, gathered around the TVs. People were on ellipticals not moving, on stair masters not climbing, on bikes not pedaling. And people were standing in between the machines, gathered all around. I couldn't see the TV very well, I was in the back, but I didn't stay after I found out what happened. I knew it would upset me to watch more.

I sent a big email tonight to a bunch of people, just saying I was ok and thanks for thinking of me. And I talked to a friend I hadn't talked to in over a year. That was really nice.

And why was I sore from yesterday? First, I ran a little faster for a little longer than my body has gone in quite a while. So that made me sore. Then at the end of it, I did all these lunges on both of my legs. It used muscles I haven't spoken with in quite a while, especially the inner thigh muscles. Who needs a thigh master? These are a really good exercise, I think I'll keep doing them, but not tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my day of rest before the weekend.