March Madness...

... and I am not talking about college hoops.

This month has been a month from hell, and I thought that February was bad. Remember how I said I was so excited to see February done and over with, hoping for the best with training and such in March?

There is nothing you can do when you are dealing with the unexpected. This month's workouts (or lack there of) were affected by: parent/teacher conferences, an increase in the usual paperwork/meetings, 2 winter storm days, pool closed for a week, 6 days away from work in regards to the Red River flood issue and the entire gym closed for an additional week because of this...


Here are March's totals:

• Swim - 5,600M.....................7,250M in February
• Bike - 65.91 miles.............35.94 miles in February
• Run - 24.00 miles..............21.10 miles in February

I am pretty pleased with my numbers. Especially since I am slowly recovering with this knee issue. Yes, I am still having some tightness in my right knee after 3 miles of running, but I am working out the kinks.

I started the month off with a band with Jillian's 30-Day Shred video, doing the first 10 days back to back, and then all went downhill. I am thinking about starting over tomorrow, and doing it straight through this time.

I was also hoping to start my Tri Power book in April, but that might have to wait until May. Things are just not back to routine yet, and I don't want to start something I can't be consistent with right now. Not until a routine is back in place.

April is going to be better.

It has to be.

More Snow?

I am still in Bismarck at my parents. As much as I am unhappy about being away from my daily routine, it's kind of a nice retreat. Even if I am living out of an oversized suitcase.

The Red River in Fargo appears to be going down, but we are still playing the waiting game, hoping and praying that the dikes will hold.

I am still planning on trying to head back to Fargo Wednesday, weather depending. There's a winter storm system going through the region and we received 11 inches overnight here in Bismarck. Many more inches are expected to fall over the next day or so. I know that Fargo is expected to get some snow as well, but I don't know how much.

With all the snowfall, many businesses and offices are closed. Getting to the gym is not an option and running outdoors is out of the question! I guess I am just going to have to do some shoveling to get the heart pumping!

This winter is getting old. I am so over it.


On a running note, I have made the decision to NOT do the Fargo Half Marathon. I am just not ready. I still have an occasional 3 mile run that is hard on my knee, so I am going to focus on the 5K only, maybe working to improve it over the next 6 weeks. Now, I just need to decide if I am going to pay the $15 to change from the HM to the 5K , or just wear my original bib and do the 5k..... any thoughts?

Playing the Waiting Game

I don't have too much to report today. Yesterday morning my Dad called 3 times, the third time I was on my way to fill sandbags with a handful of friends. We dropped a couple off and three of us went home, packed and headed out of town. I got home to my parents yesterday, late afternoon.

This past week has been crazy insane. It was hard to leave Fargo, knowing that I wouldn't be able to help from Bismarck, but I also wanted to avoid potential chaos if the city were to evacuate.

It sounds like the water levels have dropped a bit today, but we aren't expected the Red River to crest until tomorrow evening. And... the water is expected to stay above record levels through the rest of the week. Only time will tell if the dikes will be able to hold.

School has been cancelled through the week. I haven't decided how long I will be in Bismarck, but will make that decision in the next day or so, I presume. There's another winter storm rolling into our region tomorrow night and into Monday, so the earliest I would probably leave is Tuesday. We'll see.

I am going to leave you with a few videos.... It's amazing to see how many people came together to help with this, through the rain, cold temps, and snow covered grounds... I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful community full of humble human beings.

Rising Waters

The Fargo/Moorhead area is scrambling to make sure things are ready for the River to Crest this weekend... tomorrow I presume, at about 42 feet.

Let me give you a little info.... The Red River usually sits at 14 feet, but it might reach 43 feet. It has currently reached over 40 feet this morning (the 100 year flood mark). So, that is a lot of water for the dikes to hold.

I have moved all my "valuables" upstairs and plan to head to the dome hear shortly to sand bag for as long as I can. I will go all day if I have to. I need to pack a few bags, just in case I need to flee, per parent request.

On a good note, my parents were able to get back into their house yesterday afternoon. Good news, NO WATER in the house! The yard is one huge ice rink, however! Yay!

Even when the water crests this weekend, this mess is far from over. Keep the prayers and well wishes coming our way. Boy do we need them now more than ever.

I hope to be posting some pictures in the near future.

I am out!

It's Crunch Time

A Code Red Alert was sent out this morning because they had an extreme drop in volunteers for sand bagging. Many teachers were frustrated that we had school today. But, nothing we can do about that now.


I just got home from work and will be heading out to sand bag here shortly. It might be a late night. When I return, I plan to move some of my valuables up from my basement, just in case.


An announcement was made today that we will not have school tomorrow. So, I will be out sand bagging again.


I read in the Bismarck Tribune that they are going to start letting people back into my parents neighborhood this afternoon. I am waiting to hear from my parents as to what the war zone looks like. Hopefully there isn't too much damage. But, like my Mom said today, it's just things.


Thanks again for all the positive thoughts and prayers sent our way. It is amazing to see all the people coming together to help. Not just our community, but our region. This truly shows the midwestern spirit.


It's crunch time.


My posts might be short and sporadic... but I will try my best to keep you all up to date on what's going on around here.

More Flood Related Info

School is cancelled the rest of the week in Fargo to prepare to use the schools as an evacuation place, if necessary. They should have a better idea tomorrow whether or not people need to be evacuated from their homes. Should being the operative word.

I don't teach in Fargo, so we don't know if we have school tomorrow yet. As of right now, we do. So many teachers minds are going to be preoccupied with bigger issues, and many will be gone as they live right along the river.

I am starting to think that I should be worried about my house, but I am almost in West Fargo, as far away from the river while still being in Fargo. I will probably run out and get some supplies tomorrow, just in case. And, start moving some valuables to the second level as well. If I do need to leave my house, it will be interesting to figure out where I will go. Parts of the interstate has been closed due to flooding elsewhere.

I talked to both my parents tonight in regards to how Bismarck is fairing. They shut down the dam up north to keep the water from running down through the Missouri. This should have been done as soon as they knew about the ice jams, but wasn't. And they finally blew up the ice jams this afternoon with the help of a guy from NE that specializes in this. Who knew that was a specialty?!

I will leave you with this video. It is a video of my parents neighborhood from yesterday afternoon and along with a couple neighbors frustrations. If you play close attention, our house is about 28 seconds into the video (yellow with 3 big evergreen trees out front)... and they show it a few times. It's just so sad to see such disturbing video of your home, and not be able to do a thing about it.

I can't wait until I can start posting about sore muscles and 100M splits again. Sorry, but this flooding stuff is consuming my mind every waking and sleeping hour.

Race against the River

First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you who have sent your well wishes and prayers our way! Thank you all!




Monday night we dealt with a heavy rain storm, thunder and lightening included. Yesterday my yard was clean and free of snow piles. The grass actually looked pretty green. Today, there was a heavy dusting of snow on the ground. This sure puts a damper on sandbagging. Today is pretty much our last day to get it done. The Red River is currently at 35.24 feet, up almost 6 feet from yesterday morning.





School was cancelled this morning. Don't know if it was due to the excessive snowfall overnight or the fact that we need to get as much sandbagging done today as possible. I was already ready for work when I found out, so I went in anyway and spent a few hours completing paperwork for students who will be attending summer school.





I still don't know what my parents house looks like in Bismarck. My Dad said this morning that the Missouri River was going back down, but the ice jams are still present. They hope to be "blowing" them up today with explosives!





Evacuations have begun in some areas up and down the Red River Valley. A dike broke not too far south of Fargo at 3am this morning and some families have been evacuated. Many roads that are covered with water have been closed up and down the valley.





Water usage in Moorhead (our sister city across the river in MN) has been asked to be conserved. I haven't heard anything about conserving water in Fargo yet. The less water used, the less pressure it will have on the plants, and the less chance of water/sewage ending up in peoples basements.





Tonight, officials hope to know whether or not we are prepared enough for this, or if some people need to be mandated to evacuate from their homes for safety purposes. The picture below is of the Red River from downtown Fargo this morning. The river should be running behind the group of trees in the middle of what now looks like a lake.



The National Weather Service has just made an update to the Red River... it should reach it's crest of 41 feet by Saturday.


Soon, I hope to be reporting good news, but as of right now, things are still looking pretty grim across the state. I am sure many of you have heard that President Obama has declared the state of ND a disaster area.

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On a workout note... I know, it's been a while .... I hope to be posting a product review in the near future! Check back for that!

Statewide Flooding Continues

Growing up in western North Dakota I have never really had experienced flooding. The Missouri River, as long as I have known, was always lower, and never a real threat.



That has changed. Mandatory evacuations were put into place at 3pm this afternoon for a portion of South Bismarck, right where my parents live. About 6 inches of SNOW had fallen in the morning and afternoon hours today. The Missouri River was high and ice jams were causing overland flooding. I received a brief email from my Dad this afternoon saying that they did some sandbagging and there was a lot of water in the yard already. I found a link to the Bismarck Tribune that had a video of my parents neighborhood this afternoon. This is so scary. Not knowing the outcome is the worst feeling ever.

Things have been going pretty good in Fargo today, considering. There were more volunteers helping with sandbagging then they expected, or were ready for. The filling and distributing of sandbags has gone on for 24 hours a day for the past few days. Many local university students (as well as UND students traveling from an hour north of here) have volunteered their time.

Supposedly 1.5 million bags have been filled. The plan is to fill 2 million. All man-made dikes need to be built to 42 feet, as the river should max out at 41. We have about another 24 hours to prepare for this flood. Then, the temps are going to drop below freezing and you can not pile frozen sandbags; it just doesn't work.

People are being advised to go home and rest tonight. Throughout the night, the dikes will be measured and made sure they are up to par. If there is just one part that isn't the right height or width, it can cause a good portion of the dike to go down.


There is so much flooding going on across the state of ND and portions of Western MN. This weather is truly insane and rediculous. And we all are ready for it to be done and over with.