Another Mile...Another Smile: Running Home...my niece, dirt roads, and covered bridges

Hurricane Sandy prevented me from getting home as soon as I wanted. You see my niece was born the morning of the storm...breach and via c-section. Luckily, I was able to get away this weekend, only 10 days later, to meet her and congratulate my amazing little sister. I am do proud of her!

World's next speedster!

You would think given her choice of entry into this world, my niece would be a terror. But she is the sweetest, calmest baby...nothing like her mother, who was a wild child. I am not one to really enjoy babies, but I couldn't get enough of her. I spent my days cuddling with her, preparing her new home, and of course running. I can't wait until she can run herself!

My sister has been living at home and was about to sign a lease for her new apartment when she went into labor. And of course after surgery she has not been allowed to do any lifting...or much of anything. So after my daily runs, I helped her to clean the new place...scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees, cleaning the cabinets while climbing the counters, and shampooing the carpet. Then we started moving what was packed and setting up her kitchen, bathroom, and part of the baby's room. She still has some work to do...wish I could have stayed to help finish up...but at least we got a good chunk done. And I am pooped...that was more tiring than my running!

And now for the running part...Every morning I would get up and head out for a run on my favorite dirt road. The weather was beautiful. The cow manure was fresh (yeah, I'm the weird one that enjoys the smell). I ran hard and pushed myself with hilly runs, hill repeats, and short sprints. I have been feeling lethargic since my marathon, so it was nice to get some speed in and not feel too spent afterwards. On my second day home I decided to go for a longer run towards where my favorite covered bridge once stood, destroyed by hurricane Irene only a year ago. To my surprise, it was being resurrected. This little piece of history was important enough to the community to have it replaced. In the wake of Sandy devastating many communities in New York and New Jersey, it was a relief to see how much progress could be made in only a year. Soon enough their little pieces of history will also be restored.