Hurricane Sandy:Afterwards....Voting, and some running

The last week has been a rough one. Every day I hear about another friend or neighbor who lost *everything*. On Saturday, I attempted my longest run, 15 miles. I got dressed in layers and planned an out and back run for the first leg, and planned to stop home for a drink and to strip off the top layer. Then I would run the second leg, a loop around town. Great plan, right?
I started out on the first leg, one of my favorite routes because it is a straight 4 miles out, for an 8 mile total run. Off I went. Passed houses that were ravaged. Piles of debris, furniture, toys, life. All at the curb. And the smell! Like rotten low tide. Everywhere. Because seeing their lives at the curb isn't enough, they have to smell it as well. By mile one I was in tears. Over the bridge and down Princeton Avenue I went. Rolling hills, beautiful houses, and more lives at the curb. Christmas decorations, furniture, clothes. Only now, there are also downed wires, work crews, and fallen trees. Not smart, this girl. Totally unsafe. And yet I continued!
At 4 miles, I about-faced and started back. Past the same fallen trees, downed wires, and lives at the curb. Now I am a wreck. My head aches. My heart hurts. Down my street at mile 7.7 and right at mile 7.9, a block from my house, I try to jump a puddle. And land in it. Epic Fail.
Needless to say, that was it for me. I stopped at my house and didn't continue. Smart, this girl. The downed wires are everywhere in Point Pleasant, and leg 2 would not have been safe either. I cut my losses and stayed home.
We have no school again this week, so I went to our local Crisis Center to help out. They are holding it in a closed-down car dealership building, and all of the donations from the great people in our town are collected there. I helped to sort out the toiletries section and some of the clothes for 3 hours yesterday, until my siatica kicked in and I needed to stop. It was so great to see everyone chipping in and helping those who lost everything.

My pet peeve: people who came back repeated times and took extra stuff, and the people who showed up to "shop". They had power, they had no damage to their homes or apartments, but came to shop for free stuff. Ugh. There are so many in town who truly need these things, so it  bothered me to see people abuse the privilege!
Which brings me to today! Election day!

Our usual Polling Site is our Beach Club's clubhouse. Unfortunately, it suffered damage during the Hurricane and it is unsafe. So we, as well as surrounding towns with nowhere to vote, were all invited to vote at our Municipal Building.

We knew that it would be packed, since so many would be voting at one location, so we went early to cast our votes! It wasn't as mobbed as I expected, and we were in and out pretty quickly!
Today, if the temp actually goes above 40*, I will do a short run, maybe 3-4 miles, as well as P90X and my challenge exercises. I have been horrible with my exercising this first week of November, and the scale knows it. I am up 3 pounds since Sandy, and I don't like the idea that she is winning over that part of my life as well. It is very hard to get motivated with such disaster everywhere I look, but I am going to take back the reins today!

Did you vote today?