I waited on service for my car this morning so had time to read my Confirmation Brochure and Ticket that I received in the mail sometime last week from the Chicago Marathon folks. The most interesting thing I noted was the fact that there will be 20 full aid stations on the course this year. It looks like alot of these will be less than a mile apart near the end. I don't normally pass up a hydration station on a course but 20 seems a bit like overkill for 26.2 miles. Just one more thing to plan out pre-race for me now.
The other interesting thing I noted about the course is that there will be digital clocks every mile, every 5k, and at the 1/2 marathon point. The clock time will start with the elites at 7:55 am so I don't know what good they will do me based on when I finally get across the start line but they will be out there.
I got 4 miles at a 9 minute pace in after work yesterday before taking Dotty in for a vet appointment at Best Friends last night. She has a cyst on her back; its been there over 5 years now but recently got irritated and got a little infected. She's on antibiotics and got a topical cream and should be fine.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday Reset
Yesterday I wrapped up week 16 of Chicago training with a 12 mile long run. The whole week had faster than planned average paces; I'll blame that on hurricane/no power stress. Total mileage for last week was 31 miles in my first taper week. I had power when I got home from work Friday afternoon.
Total mileage this week is scheduled to be 26 miles including an 8 mile long run Saturday morning.
Total mileage this week is scheduled to be 26 miles including an 8 mile long run Saturday morning.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Fight On
With Joe McKnight fleeing Louisiana for the other LA, LSU's had to rely on Charles Scott and its stable of running backs. Not such a bad deal upon further review.Still powerless, I did not have the opportunity to watch the USC/Oregon State game last night. However, finding out the result of the game this morning has definetely been the highlight of Day 14 without power. Its still early in the 2008 season and the media darlings have plenty of time to get back in the BCS championship game but they've now left themselves with little room for error.
Last night brought another easy running at too fast a pace. Well at least I was consistent being too fast all week. I will slow down to my proper long run pace tomorrow morning.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Clean Laundry and a Nights Rest with Power
The latest and greatest estimate from Centerpoint Energy is that 80% of the power in my zip code (which has now been lumped into another zip code [does Centerpoint even know that we are up here/that they have wires here]) will be restored by Sunday the 28th. This will be my 3rd Saturday of no ESPN College Football Gameday followed by a day of college football games. Regarding the Sunday estimate; I'll believe it when it happens considering the fact that the company providing this estimate planned for only 1 million outages in its service territory that has over 2 million customers in the direct path of the frickin hurricane. Not to mention the fact that they made a conscious decision back in 2006 to forego tree trimming maintenance in order to cut costs. But who's complaining..... cooler weather and lower humidity is forecast through the weekend.
I've been running my weekday runs faster than I should so far this week due to hurricane induced stress. I hope to take my last double digit run pre Chicago easier Saturday morning; 12 miles is the distance per my plan.
I did laundry for the first time since the storm; running 5 days a week plus cleaning the yard left lots of dirty smelly clothes that accumulated over the past 12 days. I also slept with power for the first time since Ike; it was nice not to hear generators humming in the background. I plan on being back home in the primitive zone now through Sunday given the change in weather conditions. Special thanks to Sara and Beth for coming by yesterday afternoon with a generator in tow; I had already decided to leave last night and get laundry done. I'll just wait it out now without the gen option; it's gotta be soon....... right?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
They Just Won't Guarantee Which Sunday.....
CenterPoint: Most customers will have power by Sunday
09:25 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By KATHERINE SATHER / KHOU.com Staff
HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy officials today said most customers would have their power restored by Sunday.
The company has restored power to 75 percent of its customer base. With 1.58 million customers restored, only 600,000 remained without power. Most of these are people living in eastern areas of service.
Officials said they underestimated the outages Ike would cause. They predicted about 1 million people would lose power, but Ike more than doubled those figures. As a result the company says it did not have enough manpower originally to make the mass repairs.
Yet CEO David McClanahan said restoration efforts were going well.
“We’ve restored power to over 1.5 million customers in nine days,” McClanahan said at an afternoon press conference. “I think that’s quite an accomplishment.”
He estimated the cost of restoration would be $350 million to $500 million.
“What we do is we recover these costs after the fact,” McClanahan said. “And we recover it over let’s say 14 or 15 years. Based on that kind of recovery period this will be between $1 and $2 per month on our customer.”
“Obviously we don’t like to see any increase, but it’s not a huge impact,” he said.
Company spokesperson Tom Standish said this is “very much a tree outage,” caused by falling trees becoming entangled in power lines.
Officials confirm that in 2006 the company realized it should trim more trees in the area, but chose not to spend the money.
Standish said thousands of crew members are working to clear downed trees and restore power.
“By this coming Sunday all of the major infrastructure work … will be done,” Standish said. “For the most part all of the people in this area will have their power restored. Now that’s not everybody.”
Standish said if you notice everyone else’s lights are on but yours, call CenterPoint.
“Let us know,” Standish said. “We are going to be going door-to-door.”
McClanahan said he realizes some people would like recovery efforts to progress faster.
“About this time last week after our initial assessment of the damage, we said by today we were going to have 50 to 75 percent of our service restored,” he said. “Well in fact we have achieved the high end of that estimate and so we feel good about that.”
As of Thursday evening,Texas New Mexico Power has restored 83 percent of its customers back, while Sam Houston had restored power to 95 percent.
09:25 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By KATHERINE SATHER / KHOU.com Staff
HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy officials today said most customers would have their power restored by Sunday.
The company has restored power to 75 percent of its customer base. With 1.58 million customers restored, only 600,000 remained without power. Most of these are people living in eastern areas of service.
Officials said they underestimated the outages Ike would cause. They predicted about 1 million people would lose power, but Ike more than doubled those figures. As a result the company says it did not have enough manpower originally to make the mass repairs.
Yet CEO David McClanahan said restoration efforts were going well.
“We’ve restored power to over 1.5 million customers in nine days,” McClanahan said at an afternoon press conference. “I think that’s quite an accomplishment.”
He estimated the cost of restoration would be $350 million to $500 million.
“What we do is we recover these costs after the fact,” McClanahan said. “And we recover it over let’s say 14 or 15 years. Based on that kind of recovery period this will be between $1 and $2 per month on our customer.”
“Obviously we don’t like to see any increase, but it’s not a huge impact,” he said.
Company spokesperson Tom Standish said this is “very much a tree outage,” caused by falling trees becoming entangled in power lines.
Officials confirm that in 2006 the company realized it should trim more trees in the area, but chose not to spend the money.
Standish said thousands of crew members are working to clear downed trees and restore power.
“By this coming Sunday all of the major infrastructure work … will be done,” Standish said. “For the most part all of the people in this area will have their power restored. Now that’s not everybody.”
Standish said if you notice everyone else’s lights are on but yours, call CenterPoint.
“Let us know,” Standish said. “We are going to be going door-to-door.”
McClanahan said he realizes some people would like recovery efforts to progress faster.
“About this time last week after our initial assessment of the damage, we said by today we were going to have 50 to 75 percent of our service restored,” he said. “Well in fact we have achieved the high end of that estimate and so we feel good about that.”
As of Thursday evening,Texas New Mexico Power has restored 83 percent of its customers back, while Sam Houston had restored power to 95 percent.
The Forgotten
9/22/2008
Letter to CenterPoint Customers
September 22, 2008
Dear Residents:
As you know, Hurricane Ike made a direct hit on Galveston, Texas, and devastated the entire Houston region the morning of Sept. 13. Most Entergy and CenterPoint customers lost electricity for at least five days, and some, unfortunately, for longer.
We have received many calls, e-mails and messages from residents in CenterPoint’s service area who are disappointed that their power has not been restored as of today. We share your disappointment and send this letter to provide as much information as we can related to the power situation.
While it may be frustrating to see that much of The Woodlands has already had power restored, it is important to understand that The Woodlands is served by two electric companies: Entergy and CenterPoint. Entergy is a smaller company than CenterPoint, with power grids north of here and has been able to restore a majority of its customers. CenterPoint is a much larger company, with power grids south of The Woodlands, with The Woodlands being at the far north boundary of its service region.
In the 5,000-square mile service area centered around Houston, CenterPoint has about 50,000 miles of power lines—a great deal of infrastructure that was susceptible to the high winds and downed trees. Nearly 93 percent, or 2.15 million customers, lost power. CenterPoint is working to restore power to key facilities vital to health and safety, such as water treatment plants, hospitals and other public service facilities, and then focuses on restoring power to the greatest number of customers in the least amount of time across their territory, regardless of geographic location. CenterPoint is regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Leaders of the Community Associations have contacted CenterPoint and made every effort to get additional information. State Senator Tommy Williams and Representative Rob Eissler, along with leaders of the Community Associations and The Woodlands Township, have been contacting CenterPoint to make sure that CenterPoint knows that there are thousands of homes in The Woodlands still without power, and to make sure that CenterPoint does not forget us. We have been staunch advocates on behalf of our residents. According to CenterPoint, restoration for customers in zip codes 77380, 77382 and 77389 is estimated (not guaranteed) after Sept. 25. CenterPoint reports that they are working in their entire service area simultaneously and because of different levels of damage, some areas may come up before others.
We assure you that we have not forgotten about you. As some of our newest residents in The Woodlands, you are of utmost importance to us. Unfortunately, we cannot control the effects of Hurricane Ike, and we are asking for your patience in waiting for power to be restored. To make the wait a small bit easier, residents may visit any fire station in The Woodlands to recharge cell phones or laptops.
If you have further questions, please call our office at 281.210.3800, and know that we are doing everything within our power to work with CenterPoint to restore your electricity as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Joel Deretchin,
President, The Woodlands Association
Letter to CenterPoint Customers
September 22, 2008
Dear Residents:
As you know, Hurricane Ike made a direct hit on Galveston, Texas, and devastated the entire Houston region the morning of Sept. 13. Most Entergy and CenterPoint customers lost electricity for at least five days, and some, unfortunately, for longer.
We have received many calls, e-mails and messages from residents in CenterPoint’s service area who are disappointed that their power has not been restored as of today. We share your disappointment and send this letter to provide as much information as we can related to the power situation.
While it may be frustrating to see that much of The Woodlands has already had power restored, it is important to understand that The Woodlands is served by two electric companies: Entergy and CenterPoint. Entergy is a smaller company than CenterPoint, with power grids north of here and has been able to restore a majority of its customers. CenterPoint is a much larger company, with power grids south of The Woodlands, with The Woodlands being at the far north boundary of its service region.
In the 5,000-square mile service area centered around Houston, CenterPoint has about 50,000 miles of power lines—a great deal of infrastructure that was susceptible to the high winds and downed trees. Nearly 93 percent, or 2.15 million customers, lost power. CenterPoint is working to restore power to key facilities vital to health and safety, such as water treatment plants, hospitals and other public service facilities, and then focuses on restoring power to the greatest number of customers in the least amount of time across their territory, regardless of geographic location. CenterPoint is regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Leaders of the Community Associations have contacted CenterPoint and made every effort to get additional information. State Senator Tommy Williams and Representative Rob Eissler, along with leaders of the Community Associations and The Woodlands Township, have been contacting CenterPoint to make sure that CenterPoint knows that there are thousands of homes in The Woodlands still without power, and to make sure that CenterPoint does not forget us. We have been staunch advocates on behalf of our residents. According to CenterPoint, restoration for customers in zip codes 77380, 77382 and 77389 is estimated (not guaranteed) after Sept. 25. CenterPoint reports that they are working in their entire service area simultaneously and because of different levels of damage, some areas may come up before others.
We assure you that we have not forgotten about you. As some of our newest residents in The Woodlands, you are of utmost importance to us. Unfortunately, we cannot control the effects of Hurricane Ike, and we are asking for your patience in waiting for power to be restored. To make the wait a small bit easier, residents may visit any fire station in The Woodlands to recharge cell phones or laptops.
If you have further questions, please call our office at 281.210.3800, and know that we are doing everything within our power to work with CenterPoint to restore your electricity as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Joel Deretchin,
President, The Woodlands Association
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Welcome to the Primitive Zone....
....powered..... un no power..... sponsored by Centerpoint Energy. Day 9 of no power at home due to Hurricane Ike. Weather has been gradually getting more humid and warmer. My subdivision is starting to look like a ghost town as people are gradually bugging out. Centerpoint Energy is still estimating power restoration for 80% of my zip code AFTER Thursday, September 25th. Underground lines do little good if overhead lines are what feeds them.
At least I've got power at work. Thanks for all the kind offers for a place to stay. I would be gone if it weren't for my 2 dogs. They are a handful and need me there to see about them.
Yesterday I completed my final 20 mile long run before Chicago. I ran with Scott and Barbara for the full 20. Jessica and Alan ran the first 14 miles with us. Running with others was a great boost and made the 20 go by fast.
I got an email Friday evening with my BIB number for Chicago: 6330. Seems like a winning number to me!!!
At least I've got power at work. Thanks for all the kind offers for a place to stay. I would be gone if it weren't for my 2 dogs. They are a handful and need me there to see about them.
Yesterday I completed my final 20 mile long run before Chicago. I ran with Scott and Barbara for the full 20. Jessica and Alan ran the first 14 miles with us. Running with others was a great boost and made the 20 go by fast.
I got an email Friday evening with my BIB number for Chicago: 6330. Seems like a winning number to me!!!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Surviving Ike
2 trees near the kitchen windows fell over the fence early on clearing the way for the pine tree to fall on the roof over the kitchen and entrance hallway.
The one branch of the pine tree that punctured through the roof.
Waldo posing near the new hill of sod created by the 2 trees falling.
Centurion Tree Service's crane lifting the pine tree off the house with ease.I'm on Day 6 of no power brought on with the passing of Hurricane Ike over The Woodlands here in Texas. No power 2 weeks ago with heat and humidity would have been almost unbearable. However, we were blessed with an awesome cool front the day after Ike that cooled us off greatly. I've heard that my zip code should have power restored sometime tomorrow. I'm charging up stuff here at work before heading back to the primitive zone for the evening.
I lost power between 1:30 and 2:00 am Saturday morning before Ike even made landfall on the Texas coast. After waking up Saturday morning, I noticed that my 2 trees near my kitchen window had blown onto my fence from a north to south direction. I looked out the window a few minutes later and there was a pine tree that had fallen on my roof where those 2 trees originally stood. Shortly after that, I heard a dripping noise so I went up in the attic to explore. After discovering one branch that had punctured the roof, I put a bucket to try and capture water leaking. While in my garage looking for a nail to secure the bucket to a rafter in the attic, I came across a turtle sandbox that I bought for Waldo to use as a pool this summer. I abandoned the nail in the rafter idea for the turtle covering more ground and got my neighbor's assistance in getting the turtle secured across 2x4's up in the attic. I then placed a bucket in the turtle and made frequent trips to the attic to bail water from the turtle using the bucket. Thanks to the turtle, the inside of my house had little water damage.
This would've been a great week to take a break from the running but this is my last high mileage week before Chicago. So I've been logging the miles that according to my schedule and should get in my 20-21 miler this Saturday before starting my taper. My cold is starting to get better as well.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
1 Month 1 Day til Chicago
At least thats what the ticker factory countdown I set up way back when is now showing. Lets see how many more hurricanes we can squeeze in from now until then. It looks like I'll be doing storm support here in Texas next week post Ike. Of course, hurricanes have minds of their own and I could be pleasantly surprised (think westerly track....no more north in it).
1 month and1 day is also plenty of time to get rid of this cold that I've somehow picked up. I'm still taking B6, B12, and zinc daily since I got shingles so you'd think my immune system would be iron clad. Could be hurricane fatigue. It hasnt impacted by running yet so just need it to go away.
1 month and1 day is also plenty of time to get rid of this cold that I've somehow picked up. I'm still taking B6, B12, and zinc daily since I got shingles so you'd think my immune system would be iron clad. Could be hurricane fatigue. It hasnt impacted by running yet so just need it to go away.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
2 Down 1 to Go
I ran my 2nd 20 miler in my Chicago marathon training plan this morning. I believe the weather was around 5 degrees or so cooler and less humid than what its been. I don't think my shoes even squeaked during the 2o miles.
I ran well today despite having gastro issues about midway through the run. I found the nearest park with a restroom which was Falconwing. The men's door was locked (not sure if it was occupied or just locked) so I used the womens. I was able to resume the run and ended up running under 9:30 today. Thats closer to where I wanted my long run pace to be. My pace slowed somewhat when I ran a loop in the George Mitchell Preserve, my new favorite running place in The Woodlands.
I ran well today despite having gastro issues about midway through the run. I found the nearest park with a restroom which was Falconwing. The men's door was locked (not sure if it was occupied or just locked) so I used the womens. I was able to resume the run and ended up running under 9:30 today. Thats closer to where I wanted my long run pace to be. My pace slowed somewhat when I ran a loop in the George Mitchell Preserve, my new favorite running place in The Woodlands.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Thanks Gustav
As of 4:30 pm yesterday afternoon, the number of outages (750,000) already known to have been caused by Gustav is the third highest in Entergy’s 95-year history. The only larger numbers were 1.1 million during Hurricane Katrina, which has been described as one of the worst natural disasters in American history, and 800,000 during Hurricane Rita, which occurred back-to-back in August and September of 2005.
A number of us Finance/Tax folks volunteered our services this past Sunday and Monday to help out in the Pinecroft Service Center with preparations to restore power post storm. Actually there was a miscommunication and the commitment is more like 7 to 10 days. So with one quick call to Almost Home this morning, I've got Waldo boarded for up to a week, Dottie Sue will be in the backyard with neighbors seeing about her and I will be headed somewhere in south Louisiana today to help support the storm restoration effort. And no, I will be nowhere near the actual wires, that would put restoration efforts behind instead of ahead.
It's hard to believe that its been 3 years post Katrina. My time here in The Woodlands has flown by. This should be an awesome experience for me. Playing with numbers all day in the Finance function of a company is so different than actually being out in the field. All of my family are currently without power; my mother and brother and his family are north of Lafayette in Ville Platte and my son and his wife are in Baton Rouge. Both locations are far inland so there was no flooding possibility for them but it is still a little unnerving not being able to communicate with them.
I do plan on taking my running gear with me. Hopefully, there will be time for me to get some mileage in over this next week.
Update: As of 5 a.m. this morning, Sept. 2, electrical power outages from Hurricane Gustav had reached more than 825,000, the second largest outage in company history, behind only Hurricane Katrina.
A number of us Finance/Tax folks volunteered our services this past Sunday and Monday to help out in the Pinecroft Service Center with preparations to restore power post storm. Actually there was a miscommunication and the commitment is more like 7 to 10 days. So with one quick call to Almost Home this morning, I've got Waldo boarded for up to a week, Dottie Sue will be in the backyard with neighbors seeing about her and I will be headed somewhere in south Louisiana today to help support the storm restoration effort. And no, I will be nowhere near the actual wires, that would put restoration efforts behind instead of ahead.
It's hard to believe that its been 3 years post Katrina. My time here in The Woodlands has flown by. This should be an awesome experience for me. Playing with numbers all day in the Finance function of a company is so different than actually being out in the field. All of my family are currently without power; my mother and brother and his family are north of Lafayette in Ville Platte and my son and his wife are in Baton Rouge. Both locations are far inland so there was no flooding possibility for them but it is still a little unnerving not being able to communicate with them.
I do plan on taking my running gear with me. Hopefully, there will be time for me to get some mileage in over this next week.
Update: As of 5 a.m. this morning, Sept. 2, electrical power outages from Hurricane Gustav had reached more than 825,000, the second largest outage in company history, behind only Hurricane Katrina.
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