Epic Weekend: Rev3 & the "Derecho" Storm

So I've been a slacker on blogging lately. The last weekend in June was set to be a big one. We had a BBQ planned with Tommy's coworkers and some friends, and my friend and teammate Laura was coming into town to hang out and to do some work.

Friday night, Tommy headed out to do some computer work (which could only be done when said office was empty), and Laura and I watched "Mirror, Mirror" with the kids. Laura got an email that the Rev3 staff could use help packing the trucks for the Revolution 3 Triathlon in Portland. We decided to bag our plans for a ride with teammates Alyssa and Maggie and head to Virginia in the morning to help. (If you haven't been to a Rev3 race, the staff is awesome. Any chance to help support people who are like family, and super fun to hang out with, is a great opportunity).

Not only did Laura drive from Connecticut, but she helped make dinner and inspired a nice healthy veggie dinner. Yeah! She also brought Leo, who Cookie harassed until he finally (begrudgingly) played with her.

Friday at about 8pm my work pager and cell phone started beeping like crazy with weather alerts. A big thunderstorm was coming. Ok- it is June so summer storms are not unexpected. We didn't know that this would be a storm that would knock power out for over 2 million people in the DC area alone. There were several deaths, and trees down everywhere! Hospitals were on generator power for long periods of time. Thankfully our house is on the nearby hospital's power grid and we had it back within 3 hours.

Did I mention that the kids slept through the entire thing?

Meanwhile, Laura, Cookie, and I hung out on the couch in the dark. (I found out later that though freak circumstances Tommy was locked outside for the entire, very frightening storm. Yikes!)

Saturday morning, Laura and I got up early to head down to Virginia. Trees down all around the area made the trip interesting.

(This is me turning around...notice the wires down on the side of the road!)

So finally we arrived in VA to hang with the awesome Rev3 crew...

Lenny and Amanda working the screen printer (I helped fold).

Amanda will probably hate me for this picture...it was hot in there!

The Rev3 Fleet!

Ashley checking out old merchandise. 

Alex, the Master of Merchandise, and Lenny loading stuff for the expo store. 

Ashley

Alex, the Master of Merchandise

Laura and I in the truck waiting for another load.

The end result!

So we helped load the trucks, and since we had power went ahead with our BBQ. It was great to see everyone (and whether they wanted to see us or not, we had power). The evening took a twist when Tommy had to leave to check on his Grandmother. She was fine, but had no power and ending up having a sleepover at our house. The more the merrier! 

I'm happy to say everyone got power back after the storm, but there are still trees down everywhere. This is the view on my run:

Happy training and racing to everyone. Be safe out there!