Today was a BEAUTIFUL day for a run along the heart of Tuscaloosa, RiverWalk. Over the past few years, this area has really developed into something great. I took my time since I’m slowly starting back and really took notice of the changes along the river. Game day in Tuscaloosa means the boats are arriving …
It’s Game day here in T-Town and I love how Tuscaloosa comes alive with the excitement over a possible Alabama win. By whole town, I mean the WHOLE TOWN. You won’t have to look around more than once to see the Alabama love. This morning, I decided to get in a long walk (no running …
It’s been 2 years in the making, but I finally got to do a Warrior Dash! I have read many fun reports of people participating in the obstacle course run that ends with mud and fire. Naturally, this is highly interesting to me. I love racing challenges and since I run trails more than road, …
One year after the storms destroyed our church building, we broke ground on our new one. Shovel-ready the way we do it in Alabama. . . immediately. This man deserves way more than he makes. Our mayor Walt Maddox. He was great before the storms. His leadership after the storms is nothing short of …
About 3 months ago, a girl in our morning CrossFit class mentioned she was working with the Junior League of Tuscaloosa on an upcoming event. She said it would be dragon boat racing. And I immediately thought of this. And this sounded like something I need to do once in my lifetime. Row a huge …
This one has nothing to do with running. Or food. Or being healthy. This is strictly life-casting. I’ve been stuck for the past few days on what to blog about and the only thing that has been on my mind in the past year and what our town has done to rebuild after last year’s …
Well, here we go again. Tomorrow is probably the biggest strongest risk of severe weather we’ve had in my neck of the woods since April 27th. See that orange purple spot in Central Alabama. Those aren’t happy colors. The STP is “significant tornado parameter”. It’s about 45% for my area. That means I have a …
I woke up this morning, halfway listening to the news and I then heard my preacher’s voice. He was being interviewed live at “the slab” of our former church building. I was wondering why in the world is a Birmingham station live in Tuscaloosa. It struck me a little odd that I didn’t instantly think …
A few weeks ago, my favorite weather man, James Spann asked for volunteers to sign up to be part of an audience at a town hall meeting. We will be asked a variety of questions and our responses will be used in future research studies. The event is centered around April 27th tornadoes and those …
Today is the start of a long-awaited weekend for me and many people in Tuscaloosa. Even in a normal year, the first University of Alabama weekend is reason enough to bring excitement to most of the town. But this year, it’s so much more than excitement. To kick off the big weekend, the country music …
July 27th. Exactly 3 months after the tornado pitched a big ol’ fit all over Tuscaloosa, two happy endings occurred. 1. My friend Kaye and her husband closed on their PERMANENT house. Theirs was destroyed and that’s where we were the first two days, trying to salvage what we could. This is from the doorway …
It’s been almost 3 months since that horrible day in April. And in these past 3 months, a lot of good has been going on down here. People are still coming to The Slab of our church foundation to get meals and supplies, and we will be there until. Many people have used this tragedy …
Looking back at my blog posts this spring, it’s easy to see that weather has taken center stage since mid-April. I dodged one tornado on April 15 and dodged an even closer one on April 27. That one is the one I’m still struggling with and still trying to find a balance with all the …
It’s been almost 4 weeks since hell rained down on Tuscaloosa, and for 4 weeks, I’ve been stuck. It’s impossible to forget the things I saw in the first few days or the people’s faces I’ve seen in the past 4 weeks. I’ll never forget the sounds and smells. Or the devastation. Or how incredibly …
Hey guess what? I’ve got a race Saturday. A big one. One that I’ve been so excited about since I ran it last year. I’ve talked non-stop about Twisted Ankle for the past few months. I did my last long run of 14 miles at a trail in MS over Easter Weekend. That was the …
April 27th, 2011. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It’s a day I will never forget. This will be the final post on the devastation. It’s time for me to move on and focus on the recovery and documenting that effort. It’s going to take all of us working together to rebuild our lives and our town. But we …
Technorati Tags: Tuscaloosa,tornado,disaster relief I finally made a video slideshow of what’s been going on, what I’ve seen, and what’s left of Tuscaloosa. Most of these are from 5 different areas of town. The tornado had maximum winds of 190mph. It left an 8 mile long track and was 1.5 miles wide. The church pictures …
Technorati Tags: Tuscaloosa,tornado,disaster relief I used to wonder if I was obsessed with food. After all, I think going to Publix is one of life’s greatest luxuries. I definitely eat with my eyes first and a good healthy grocery store is something that I have taken for granted since moving to Tuscaloosa. I read about …
Technorati Tags: Tuscaloosa,tornado,disaster relief It’s been over a week and things are still sad, still scary, still chaotic, but also still hopeful. I’m hanging on to the hope right now. The gym, preschool, educational building, and lower classrooms. Front entrance This was the first day after the tornado hit. We had a few boxes …
Yes, that is a roof….on the ground. Where is the rest of the house? About a half mile down the road. The owner sprayed that on the roof so the rescue workers could move on to other houses the might not have people who are OK. It has taken me a few days to even …