Zeus didn’t get the memo…

 Dear Zeus (ye olde Greek God of clouds, rain, thunder and lightning),

I regret to inform you that your moody attitude does not jive with the 2011 Run for the Reason. We here at Alabama Power are quite aware that something has soured your mood, and we are most unappreciative. In watching the radar and listening to FoxAL6, I have had the distinct privilege of hearing all of the on-duty meteorologists use the terms "debris ball," "violent tornado," "relentless storm" ad nauseum (ß that means "until I'm nauseated"). All of this would be fine and well if not for a couple of little gems of information that you, All Powerful God of Weather, may not have received. So I will – Designated Team A Blog Enthusiast – delight in informing you of these particulars:

 

Fact #1 – We are trying to cure cancer. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't realize that each of us who signed up for this grueling 2 ½ day adventure in RVs have singularly compelling reasons to want to cure cancer. We do. Now, we understand that parading around the state in running shorts all sweaty and high off of endorphins isn't actually going to cure cancer. But we've raised 40 G's for the American Cancer Society for this event and it'd sure be nice if we actually got to run this year. Some of us (myself excluded) have even trained pretty hard for this. As an aside, my lack of training was not because of a lack of need but more so a lack of time (pathetic, I know). My fellow teammates and the greater group of folks will surely be impressed by my aggressively slow pace.

 

Fact #2 – We work for the power company. All travel complications aside, when the weather is bad the power goes out. It's not our fault, we promise. We do our best to keep the great retail customers of Alabama's lights on and our people work day or night. Speaking of which, a good portion of our folks are now on "storm duty." This means that they don't get to run because they're getting the electricity restored. I'm going to go easy on you ol' Zeusy and figure that you didn't put two-and-two together on this one. But, when we have fewer runners, we run more miles. Again, as an aside, I'd like to point out that my aforementioned lack of in-shapedness is likely exacerbated when I have to run more miles. I'm just saying…it ain't pretty.

 

Fact #3 – We run on back-roads. Because we are as considerate of traffic patterns and urban congestion as we are, we like to keep it country (reference last year's blog about local scenery). What kind of condition awaits us on these trusty colorful back roads? Will we be hopping over trees? Dodging displaced mobile homes? Skirting down power lines? These kind of obstacles can't be predicted. Go easy on us, pal.

 

Fact #4 – Target Zero – Every Day, Every Job, Safely. The end.

 

I hope, dear friend, you aren't offended by the specifics that outlined. And, I expect upon receipt of such dire information that you will immediately somehow rectify the situation.

 

Hugs and Kisses,

Brooke (and the rest of the RFTR crew)