I felt like my entire week was a lead-up to the “blizzard of historic proportions” that was headed our way. I don’t remember when it first entered my radar, but from that moment on, I was in storm prep mode. Monday’s trip to Costco and two times to the grocery store was to restock the refrigerator and pantry from me being sick last week and getting very little done; however, subsequent trips were to make sure we had plenty of food and drink for riding out the storm.
- Total trips to Costco: 1
- Total trips to the grocery store: 4
- Total trips to the ABC store: 2
Determined to get my butt moving after so little cardio last week, I rode my spin bike three days.
Since most of my pictures are of me riding hard, I thought I should share how I also spend a lot of my time while on the bike – reading.
On Wednesday evening, some of my good friends from my old Worldgate days and I met in Reston Town Center for dinner. We forgot to take a picture during dinner, so Craig and I captured this picture on our walk back to his truck. It started snowing during dinner, and our walk back to the parking garage was lovely. The drive home wasn’t so lovely since the roads had not been treated at all, and were quite slippery. We made it home safely and I was super grateful to Craig for the ride.
Thursday evening I met two of my non-running girlfriends for my birthday dinner. It’s obvious that I like to spread my birthday celebrations out! November and December were so crazy that we couldn’t find a good night for all three of us, so I suggested moving my dinner into January. We met at Uncle Julio’s for fajitas and margaritas. They were delicious, but alas, no pictures.
By Thursday morning the winter storm models were starting to take shape. Being a huge weather geek, I was in heaven. There’s a Facebook page that I follow which concentrates on our county as opposed to the general DC area, and the guy who runs the page is a big time snow lover. He runs different models and shares his thoughts on which is mostly likely to be the most accurate one. He was pretty spot on with this storm, which was named Jonas.
Thursday morning I hit the trails. Most of the snow from the dusting the night before had melted except for on the grassy areas. I was feeling pretty cool with my race expo gloves and Feetures socks matching the trim on my jacket. Even though the sky looked like snow, the sun eventually came out for a little while.
With all local schools canceled on Friday in anticipation of the noon’ish arrival of the blizzard, Erin and I had to move our long run from later in the morning to 6 AM so she could get home before her husband left for work. I was able to juggle my clients around without any problems, and we met for our first run together in ages.
It was dark when we started our run, but when we turned for our return home we were pleasantly surprised by a gorgeous sunrise. As the little poem goes…
Red sky at night, sailors’ delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.
We paused long enough for some fun pictures of us running and jumping. I’d left my GoPro in the car since it was dark when we started, so Erin took the pictures with her iPhone.
Between clients, I did some prep work for the storm. Afraid that this garden flag was placed where the wind would blow the snow away, I tried to move it to a better place. The ground was frozen so hard that I couldn’t get it to stick in a new spot so I had to keep it in its original location.
While training my last client of the afternoon, it started snowing and I think she thought that I was nuts for how excited I got.
Once the snow accumulated to over an inch, I headed out for an easy one-mile-run with my GoPro. I posted this picture to Instagram and tagged my favorite local running store, Potomac River Running. I won the first day of their Snowzilla photo contest – a free entry into the Run Your Heart Out 5K on Valentine’s Day!
Later Friday evening I took another picture of my little garden flag. So far, so good, but the wind hadn’t started howling yet…
Yesterday morning we woke up to about ten more inches of snow on top of what we’d gotten the evening before. We had shoveled parts of our driveway and our next door neighbor had snow blown the rest around 9 PM on Friday evening. The wind was blowing the snow around so much that it made staying outside pretty miserable.
After an afternoon nap for me and biking for Bill, we settled down to binge watch about half of the second season of Mad Men on Netflix. I have to keep asking myself if people really drank, smoked, and had sex with their work associates that much in the 60’s. I’m sure it’s quite glamorized for the show, but…
Just before heading to bed we took our final picture of the evening. Our measuring stick shows 32 inches, but I heard on the news that our community got 34 inches and some areas just west of us got up to 40 inches of snow. This snow storm measured the second highest amount on record at Dulles International Airport.
This morning we woke to a beautiful sunny sky and glaring snow, and I will never question the severity of snow blindness. 😎
As I expected, the wind blew the snow into a drift just past the little garden flag, so I took a wider angle picture for my final shot. Had I put the flag in an area where there was no drifting, the entire flag and holder would have been covered.
And speaking of being covered, my SUV was under this mound of snow when we woke up!
Before heading out to shovel, I took some pictures of our back yard – here looking north…
And here looking northwest…
Our neighbor took this picture of our cul-de-sac this morning before any of us started shoveling our driveways. I think it shows the sheer depth of our storm better than any of the other pictures.
Before breakfast, Bill and I headed out to tackle our driveway and walkway. Our next-door neighbors let us borrow their snowblower and dog. Stella loves playing in the snow, and I’m sure she’s taking a long and well deserved nap after helping clear three driveways today!
Both our county and the Commonwealth of Virginia are under a state of emergency, and I just learned that the National Guard was deployed last night to survey the two main parkways that go through our community. Gasoline shortages have prohibited VDOT and local contractors from being able to properly plow even the main roads, and those main roads are barely passable in 4-wheel drive vehicles. An email from our community association said that they would try to have all streets passable in the next 24 hours and open in 72 hours. It’s a good thing I made so many trips to the store!
Weekly Recap:
- Weights: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Runs: Thursday – 6.2 miles, Friday – 7 miles, Friday – 1 mile (Total: 14.2 miles)
- Walks: None
- Bike: Monday – 12 miles, Tuesday – 20, and Wednesday – 12 miles (Total: 44 miles)
- Stretching: Daily
- Average Steps Per Day: 12,018
- Average Hours Sleep Per Night: 7:15
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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
Have a great week!
- Questions:
- Were you hit by Winter Storm Jonas?
- Have you ever done a Netflix marathon? If so, which show?
- Did you race this weekend?
Looks like you dealt with the big storm successfully. We live in Maine and didn’t have a flurry. Enjoy the snow :)!
Karen@runningfifty recently posted…South Carolina-Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon
I heard that the skirted south of New England. My county happened to be right in the middle of the bullseye this time! 😀
yes we were all trying to get in as many miles as possible before the snow came! I ran with yaxtrax for a little but kind of scared I am going to fall! Hope you are holding up ok
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…How to Burn Off Energy While Stuck Inside
It was pretty amazing how many runners we saw out getting their long runs in on Friday morning. I wonder when the W&OD Trail will be clear of snow again?
I’ve really enjoyed all the snow pictures, from way down here in Mississippi but that is about a close as I want. 🙂 We did get some flurries Friday and the cold air did not disappoint Saturday all day! Since I didn’t feel like I just had to get out and run, I didn’t! I used Saturday for some much-needed blogging and Deb I’ll have you know I’m ready for some Wednesday Word posts! 🙂 Thanks for linking up with us! Stay safe up there!
I’m glad you like the snow pictures! I look forward to having you join us again on Wednesday! 🙂
Great pics. After seeing all those go pro pics I want to get . We in northern NJ got over 16 inches of snow.
I love my GoPro! It’s definitely a fun little toy! 🙂
The snow was up to the mailboxes? Wow! The only thing I’d want to do is ski on it. But shovel it? No thanks. We had flurries Friday night but that is all. Since it is rare, you should see the panic everyone gets in here when ice or snow is forecast The stores sell out of everything. Did you make a snowman? Thanks for linking with us Deb. Enjoy the snow.
HoHo Runs recently posted…A Look Back (WW # 25)
Yes, the snow was up to the mailboxes! Doesn’t that picture speak volumes? I actually really enjoy shoveling snow as long as it’s not too wet and heavy. I didn’t make a snowman because it was really too deep to do much of anything in…
Love your pics! I loved the storm and getting out in it was such fun. It really made me feel like a kid again – everything was so pretty and new looking!
courtney @ eat pray run dc recently posted…Shamrock Half Marathon Training Recap, Week Five
Thanks, Courtney! Doesn’t the snow bring out the best in neighborhoods? I love that it brings us all out of the house during the winter and we all work together to get a job done.
That’s amazing. We have had those 2 feet of snow snowstorms. But 36″? Wow. Enjoy. I’m sure it will melt soon.
Wendy@Taking the Long Way Home recently posted…Loss and the run
Our days are supposed to get into the low 40’s this week, so I’m hoping the snow will melt off of my SUV by the time our street is plowed. 🙂
My husband saw an article entitled, “How Blizzard ’16 Stacks Up Against Chicago’s Storms.” It was funny because it said Chicago is jealous of us getting such a big storm. Of course, Chicago knows how to deal with this much snow. DC will be shut down for days!
The storm really did seem to take up the focus of everyone this week. And boy, did it deliver the snow! I was pleased that our power stayed on, so aside from having to do my long ride indoors it wasn’t too big of an inconvenience. Too bad we didn’t get to miss a day of work, though. Hit Philly area too late on Friday.
Kelli recently posted…Blizzard and a lost cat
I’ve had to cancel all of my clients for tomorrow since our street still hasn’t been plowed – well, except for two student athletes who live two doors away from us. They have no excuse not to be able to get here! 😀
You got hit much harder than we did! That cul- de-sac picture is pretty amazing!!
I like that my cycle at the gym has a screen and it looks like different terrain. I get so sad when to go the gym and it is taken. when I ride with nothing to look at, it makes me a bit nuts and I like to read too lol to pass time!
Thank goodness the sun is going to be out for the next few days!
karen recently posted…Being Sore Makes Me Happy
Yeah, my county was right in the bullseye! 🙂 I’m hoping for lots of sunshine to melt the rest of the snow off of my SUV. I cleaned the snow off the sides, but didn’t touch the top.
I always say that I’m going to find a good YouTube spinning class video to follow while on my bike, but then I end up pedaling at a steady pace and reading…
Boy you guys got a lot of snow. That is such a cute video of Stella. My yellow lab loves the snow. She was playing in it as well. Congrats on winning an entry on an upcoming race! You home gym is very nice!
[email protected] recently posted…What I’ll be doing in the Blizzard!
Yellow labs are the best, aren’t they? I just love Stella; she turns one in April. It was hilarious watching her play in the snow!
Love the picture of your street! We ventured out this evening (on foot) and found a plowed road two streets over … Looks like we all will be staying home tomorrow and maybe Tuesday if I can get away with it.
Coco recently posted…Ten Minutes To A Stronger Core
Was the snow packed down, or did you walk through hip-deep snow? That sounds like quite a workout!
I’m glad you were feeling better this past week! I cannot believe the amount of snow y’all got over such a short period of time! We ended up with about two feet down here and the winds had it drifting as deep as 8 feet in some spots. Barry actually brought a tractor over from the farm to do the driveway, and then we shoveled out both of my cars (work and personal). I loved that video of Stella playing in the blown snow. So cute!!
Oh and the next time we run together we will have to talk Mad Men! Barry and have been working our way through and are on season two as well.
Awesome that you and Barry are watching Mad Men, too! Could you imagine living that life-style? I may be a prude, but really?
Wow! I’ve never seen that much snow like that in person! Great pics! So cool you won the photo contest!
Sherry recently posted…Last Week’s Workouts Recap and Weekly Wrap (1/18-1/24)
Thanks! And yep, it’s a lot of snow!
OMG you got so much snow. I grew up in Maine and the blizzard brought back great childhood memories. I would have loved it ! But we are back to fifty degree weather here in France this week. No snow 🙁
Once again, your pictures are fabulous !
Karen – Fit in France recently posted…Weekly wrap : still training strong !
Thanks, Karen! I grew up on the other side of Virginia where we got a lot more snow than here, so it brought back a lot of fun childhood memories for me, too!
Wow, that is crazy snow! I haven’t seen snow in quite awhile and that was just a quick vacation to Colorado when I saw that! We were cold here in the 30’s! (I know we are whimps!) Sounds like you were ready though! Have a great week and stay warm, I guess I would watch a bunch of TV too. Congrats on winning a free race entry, that is always fun!
Mary Beth Jackson recently posted…Week Three and my first PR for 2016!
Thanks, Mary Beth! We were definitely prepared, but now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t run out of food before our street gets plowed!
My latest binge was Downton Abbey on Amazon Prime, but I have binged on many Netflix. My little sister lives in Ashburn Virginia so she kept sending up pictures, I think she said they ended up with 30 inches of snow and she had to get her long run done on her dreadmill Hope you guys all get dug out soon, that is a lot of snow! I will stick with the 5 inches we have here 🙂
Christy recently posted…Weekly Wrap Jan 18-24
I never started watching Downton Abbey. Perhaps it should be next on my list after Mad Men!
Great post, and lovely pictures! I’m hoping to get out there later today for a run after the sun warms up the now-frozen roads a little bit. And don’t get me started about Mad Men! We’re a few episodes into Season 6. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with that show, lol. Just when I think it can’t get any worse, suddenly a there’s a really good episode that finally gets me hooked again. (And when things are getting good, then somebody on the show makes me want to punch them and quit watching!) I think I can stick it out for just 2 more seasons… 🙂
Enjoy the snow!
Thanks – I’m loving the snow! And it sounds like I did get you started on Mad Men. HaHaHa!!!
p.s. I loved the video of your dog. We had a yellow lab who was a huge pain in the butt, but she was SO SWEET and funny.
Ah, thanks – that’s Stella, our next door dog. She’s a sweetie!
Glad you stayed safe & warm! The only good thing about snow up here is we’re used to it and they do a good job of plowing the main roads. Not so much our neighborhood. And I can’t see over snow banks sometimes to actually get out of the neighborhood!
But we didn’t get any. Thank God!
Just think of all the extra cardio you got shoveling (which I hate, btw!).
Judy @ Chocolaterunsjudy recently posted…A cold, productive week: 1/18-24 Weekly Wrap
I actually enjoy shoveling, and find it very relaxing. I love that you get instant gratification – unless of course it’s still snowing and the driveway gets covered up again immediately.
I’ve been wondering how people have been doing with the storm and how much everyone got, so I appreciated the details. Hope they get your roads cleared soon. LOVE the picture of you with the sunrise in the background! Oh, and about Mad Men, I actually know quite a few people who drink at work now as much as they did in Mad Men! Good thing people aren’t allowed to smoke in offices anymore!
We’re still digging out, and haven’t seen any snow plows in our neighborhood yet. Hopefully tomorrow…
I guess you build a tolerance to that much alcohol. I’d be toast.
The snow on the east coast this weekend was crazy! We definitely do not have the same amount here in Minnesota – which I am thankful for!
Alison recently posted…Fitness Friday
El Niño is doing crazy things to our weather this year!
Wow! That is a lot of snow! Great job of preparing for it! If we had not moved to CA, we would have experienced (moved from NJ). I actually miss all of the snow excitement. Have a great week and stay warm!
Sharon recently posted…Davis Stampede Half Marathon Training Week 5 & Weekly Wrap 1/18-1/24
Fortunately I really like snow, and I actually felt a little bit of a let down after the storm passed. 🙂
Holy SMOKES that last shot of your neighbourhood is CRAZY. That is a LOT of snow! I work in advertising and while I haven’t seen more than a couple of episodes of Mad Men, I don’t think TOO much has changed in the business, other than people can’t smoke inside anymore. Agencies are always filled with drama and internal politics. There are no real rules in the ad world. It’s one very large grey area. Over the Christmas holidays my husband and I binge watched Jessica Jones on Netflix 😀 He’s currently obsessed with the Walking Dead so any chance he gets he’s watching that.
Phaedra @ Blisters and Black Toenails recently posted…#OperationTop5 Week 3: Almost Up and Running
Yep, that’s a lot of snow, but we enjoyed it. In fact, we’re still enjoying it. We have no choice since we’re still snowed in! Hopefully, the plows will show up tomorrow!
It has been so crazy and weird to see all the snow on the east coast…..and I’m here in Iowa…yadda yadda yadda. Usually, it’s my area getting all the snow and severe winter weather. #notjealous That sunrise pic is SO amazing!!
Kim Hatting recently posted…Have you smiled lately? I have!
It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve seen in a very long time! And yep, it’s a crazy weather year… #thankselnino
I am quite enjoying everyone’s snow pictures and stories. We only got 3-4 inches in our neighborhood but across the bridge from us they got 22 and declared a state of emergency. Funny how just a few miles makes a difference!
Wow, that a huge difference for a short distance.
Hey! Just wondering if you live near the W&OD trail and know how good/bad it is? I’m hoping to do some outdoor running this weekend with my new Yaktrax and figure the trail but be the best place to attempt. Thanks!
I saw pictures on FB today that showed the trail being plowed near the 28.5 mile marker near Trailside Middle School. It might be a small section though because they may have been clearing it for the walkers who walk from nearby neighborhoods to the school. I haven’t heard of/or seen pictures of any other sections being plowed. The town of Herndon used to plow the section that went through Herndon. I don’t know if they still do or not. Sorry I’m not any more helpful…
[…] morning I joined my friends Melissa and Erin for the Run Your Heart Out 5K. I won an entry in the race a few of weeks ago when I posted a picture to Instagram of me running in the snow on […]