playing in the dirt but not for fun

It's Thursday, I've been off work all week and I haven't got to ride since last Saturday, I think you know why, it's raining sideways right now. When will it stop? Probably about the time I go back to work.

It's been a crazy busy past 2 weeks and I'm totally ready for some sunshine and for the momentum to slow down. Monday of last week the rain came down extremely hard and it wasn't a quick storm either, it lasted for a long time. I had a feeling when I got home from work that I would have some water puddles in my basement which sometimes is the norm but not really a big deal. As soon as I got home I went downstairs to check and see if the dehumidifier was full. Not only was it full but everything in one section of my basement was floating. We had close to 4" of standing water in what we call the bomb shelter, a small concrete bunker located under our house. We have never seen this before and I'll admit I freaked out a little bit. In the frantic period that followed this discovery as I was trying to figure out what to do I dropped my Andriod phone and cracked the screen, luckily it still works fine but still needs to be replaced. Last week I was working 12 hour days and we were scheduled to host the IMBA Trail crew at our house for the weekend. I made a few quick calls and scored a small pond pump from Melinda's uncle Joe. By midnight I had most of the water pumped out but I still had to burn a vacation day the next day in order to clean up the mess and haul away all of the debris that had been stored in the bomb shelter. What sucked was I had plans to dig some drainage lines around that side of the house the following week but I was a little too late.

Fast forward a couple of days to Tuesday, the only day that was good for riding and I spent the entire day in the dirt. I'm not talking dirt as in singletrack dirt, I mean digging in the dirt. I knew I didn't have time to dig the drainage ditches by hand as there was another storm approaching us the following day. I visited my local rental shop and plunked down the cash for a mini track hoe rental and trailer to speed things along. What would have taken me a week to dig by hand took me around 3 hours with this little monster.

I returned the machine by 1:30 and began the process of installing the pipe in the ground and covering it back up. Melinda and I worked for the remainder of the day and well into the dark with the help of Joe and Olga desperately trying to finish the job before more rain set in. We were able to get the system functioning but we still have a big mess outside that is now nothing but mud. I still have alot of smoothing and tamping to do to get the yard back to normal and sow some grass seed but the rain has to let up before I can finish the job.

I'm hoping that after today things will dry up and I will be able to get back outside and finish the job and maybe squeeze in a little bike action. Sometime after lunch there is supposed to be a break in the rain/snow so I may take advantage of this window and go for a run.

I've not been on a run since the War party 10k, after that race we saw spring time temps and mountain biking took all of my attention. A couple of weeks ago we were enjoying a few beverages with some friends when the subject of my time at the 10k was brought up my Mrs. Dillow, an avid runner. She boasted that even though she did not participate in that race she would have killed it and me. I tried not to return the smack talk as she is definetly more of a runner than I am but I do recall waiting at the finish line at this year's Turkey Trot 5k for a few minutes before she crossed the line. When asked what my next race plan was I replied probably the Crazy 8's 8k in July. She smirked and said something along the lines of beating me on my home turf. I took this as a challenge but no actual bet was made other than gloating.

I guess if I don't want to get my ass handed to me by a trash talking runner in pink I had better step up my game.