Schools were cancelled throughout Northeast Ohio as high winds and rain pummeled the north coast. Further south, snow was falling and adding to the mayhem on the roads and in the communities. I made it to work, but my clients were struggling to get there as travel issues began to escalate. By noon, I’d cancelled everything and was heading for home. I gave serious consideration to driving out to Mentor-on-the-Lake to visit my sister and watch the waves crashing against the break wall that protected the bluff at the edge of her back yard. Then I thought of all of the requests by safety departments to stay off the roads and not become one more person that needed assistance and headed for home. Though seldom, I have responsible moments.
We’d been without power for about ten hours, but it was back on. I spent some time reading and then went on-line where I was confronted by reminders that this was the second anniversary of my brother Jim’s death. Not that I needed any since no day passes that I don’t think about him. I looked out my office window at the accumulation of leaves on the grass and remembered that, after leaving the hospital two years ago, I’d come home and raked leaves in my yard and my neighbor’s (they had lost their son one day earlier) until my arms felt leaden. I put on some rain gear and went outside.
Jim and I had the responsibility of raking leaves from the forest of Oaks we had in our yard growing up on Debra Lane. We would put them in a pile for jumping, throwing and burying younger siblings and neighbor kids before our father would begin burning our piles. How I loved that smell. I’d walk with him through the smoke so we could have it on our clothes for the next several days. With six kids to monitor, my mom never seemed to care how long we wore a particular outfit. I don’t remember how Jim felt about it, but I loved raking and everything that followed.
So, I raked in the rain. I put them in piles and made no attempt to drag them to the tree lawn, which was still full from the ones I’d placed there last Friday. I just wanted to go through the process of raking and remembering and it was quite therapeutic...and even had me sweating. After 45 minutes of this, I figured it was time to do a real workout and since I was already used to the rain, changed into my running gear and headed for the Metropark for a run.
I found that I had the park to myself...go figure. I’d expected to find numerous trees down and decided I’d stick to the bridle paths to avoid the mud I was sure to find on the hiking trails. Though I did see many branches down, found only two trees across the three miles of trail I saw. I had parked at the entrance on Wilson Mills nearest River Road and upon returning to my car, walked over to the bridge spanning the river to check the flood level. The indicator next to the bridge said showed the water level had reached seven feet which is about six feet above normal and running extremely fast. With rains predicted to continue for two more days, I wondered if this road wouldn’t be closed soon. I returned to the car and added some push-ups and dips before returning home covered in mud and thoroughly soaked, but feeling pretty happy with myself and the day.
Run Duration: 45 minutes. Rake duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm running and 80 bpm raking.
Calories burned during workout: 750 running and 225 raking.
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