Gone With the Hurricane and Wind...

We opted to take a weekend family trip to Lancaster, Pa so as to dodge the potential threat of Hurricane Irene. Most of the shore was under mandatory or voluntary evacuation and we could see no reason to stay and wait it out.

We were quite fortunate- our home suffered no damage and our town only lost power for a short amount of time while we were gone. Friends and nearby neighbors were not as fortunate. I am grateful that we were spared, however, I can only be so joyful about it given the fact that so many suffered great losses and are barely on the road to recovery as flooding is still an eminent threat.

What the heck does this have to do with running? Well, all of us regular boardwalk runners lost a precious part of our route. Spring Lake boardwalk was destroyed. The synthetic (is that what it's called) boards were a pleasure to run on. It was beautiful and well kept. From the boardwalk that bisects the street I live on to the end of Spring Lake boardwalk I had just a little over five miles. So this was my place for a ten mile out-and-back. This is Spring Lake before the hurricane:

And here's the boardwalk after it was destroyed by the storm:

What am I supposed to do now? Get in my CAR and drive somewhere to run?!?! It's a bummer, but I know things could be so much worse. According to the media, the township intends to repair the boardwalk quickly. My running club does a September 11th Memorial Run every year and this boardwalk was where we ran most of it. Bah. So sad. I don't know what else to say...