Month: May 2017

The other day my sister asked me what it was about Florida that created so many thunderstorms? I hadn’t really thought about it, and when I did I realized how much I had forgotten from high school science. It’s possible that I wasn’t paying attention, but that doesn’t sound right.

As it turns out, Florida out distances the rest of the United States when it comes to thunderstorms and keeps pace with the world’s maximum thunderstorm areas, equatorial Africa, near Lake Victoria, and the Amazon basin. Those two areas have thunderstorms virtually year-round, whereas Florida’s thunderstorms are more seasonal, from spring to late fall. The western half of the Florida peninsula counts more than 80 days of thunder and lightning in a given year. That’s almost three months!

We are just now kicking off the rainy season and thunderstorms are beginning to show up for the party. It’s been a particularly long dry spell, so the summer rains are welcome. The light show these powerful storms produce are beautiful, fascinating, and lethal. All too often people don’t respect its power and the results are deadly. The very thing that makes Florida such an attractive tourist destination…warm weather and lots of water, also makes it the lightning capital of the country.

Lightning is fascinating! It super heats the air to 50,000 degrees, resulting in the shockwave we call thunder. Lightning has positive and negative polarities, though most strikes come from the negative charge at the bottom of a cloud. Less than 5% come from the top of a thunderhead’s anvil, where the positive charges hang out, but when it does, the strike can be 10 times stronger than a negative one, making them more deadly and more destructive. They can hit the ground directly beneath the cloud, but mostly these positive charges are found on the outer edges of the cloud and can release their energy more than 10 miles away, resulting in the phenomenon known as, “a bolt from the blue”.

As magnificent as lightning is to watch, its power is deadly and no more so than in Florida. Last year 38 people were killed in the U.S. by lightning in 17 states, 9 of them in Florida. It happens because we don’t want to be inconvenienced by something we feel is unlikely to happen. Using a wide lens it probably is unlikely, but what if you were one of those 38 at the beach, hiking, enjoying a family picnic, under an umbrella, jet skiing, working in the yard, working construction, or simply walking to the car, because you thought it couldn’t happen to you, only it did.

We’ve all gotten caught outside at one time or another. I have to climb a flight of stairs to our apartment. Some days they can be steeper and longer than usual. I take a deep breath before grasping the rail that I use to drag myself up to the landing, but when Thor is throwing lightning bolts from the sky I can make the dash up those stairs like an athlete in training, never even brushing my hand against that metal rail, because that would be crazy!

We had our first thunderstorm of the season a few days ago. LeAnn, a neighbor, who lives downstairs, was so surprised by it that she wondered what in the world the folks upstairs from her were doing to cause such a racket! It wasn’t until she saw the flashes of light that it dawned on her what was happening. Us upstairs neighbors get blamed for everything!

Today more thunderstorms are predicted as the raining season gets underway, sharing the spotlight with hurricane season, but that’s another story.

My friend, Jeanette, use to teach a Silver Sneakers class, an exercise class specifically designed for the over 50 crowd. She would pass on interesting information on occasion, good stuff for all of us, regardless of age. Most of it I would incorporate into my daily routine, except when she sent an article about how wearing flip-flops are not good for any of us. What!? Those are my favorite shoes, staples really, and actually my only footwear since moving to Florida. There was no way I was giving these up!

I don’t wear those cheap, yet cute flip-flops, big on fashion, but low on arch support. I wear fairly expensive ones, with strong arch support technology, therefore I knew my footwear was exempt from the problems they were talking about here.

This particular article talked about how your toes have to grip the flip-flop in order to keep it on your foot, which in turn messes with your gait. So, I paid attention to how I walked with my flip-flops on, almost walking into a pole with such focus!  I discerned no such toe gripping. That must plague the casual wearer only. I am an expert, having mastered walking in flip-flops with relaxed toes and normal gait. I’ve got this!

Having had knee issues for most of my life, I have altered my gait in order to compensate for the pain. Since having my knees replaced, I noticed that my shorter stride has become a habit. One that surely has not been reinforced by my incessant flip-flop wearing. Nevertheless, perhaps I should try a different sandal to see if I can elongate that stride, and eliminate some bad walking habits that could be causing me other issues. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to buy a new pair of shoes.

I bought a pair of Tevas that strap on.  A small step up from the more convenient slide on flip-flop, yet still leaving my feet exposed to the Florida sun. Would you believe, the first thing I noticed was that my toes were not gripping my shoe! What?! How could that be? I never noticed my toes gripping before, but I could obviously feel a difference. My feet were relaxed. Is that the right word? Yes, they felt relaxed and because my shoes were strapped on, rather than gripped on, I was able to stretch out my stride. Who knew?!

I’m not here to do a promo for Teva. I have other issues with those strappy sandals, but my point is this…what other things are out there that we know we know, that we really don’t know? When you’re absolutely sure you know, super sleuth it. Do your own experiments and research, so that when you swear you know what you know…you really do know. Am I getting rid of my flip-flops? What, are you crazy?

Some people just love to run. That’s pretty evident with all the different marathons taking place on any given weekend around the country. The Boston Marathon, the granddaddy of all marathons, just took place on April 17th. 27,221 runners started that race, 26,411 finished it. But that’s just one race. There is the Disney World Marathon and the New York Marathon. You name the city and there is probably a marathon. Then there’s the Color Runs across the country that have become popular, and 10Ks for all occasions, along with the Two Mile Fun Runs for the less ambitious and more practical runners.

I am no longer a runner and I never was a distance runner. When I was in Jr. High I was on the track team. Must have been driven by a competitive spirit that was out of control, as I’m pretty sure I never found it “fun”. I was fast, but I was a cheetah! Able to gain top speed over very short distances. I gave it everything I had and then some, but when I crossed that finish line at 50 yards I was used up.

Why coaches insisted that everyone train by running a mile I have no idea. For me, running a mile was akin to running a marathon, felt dreadfully as long and equally painful! Why not have cheetahs practice what they do best, sprint? I never saw the cross-country team running sprints! They didn’t cross into my domain; I would happily stay out of theirs.

After I graduated from the 8th grade I hung up my cleats. I would run on occasion, over a very short distance, like to get out of the rain, or if I was late for class, but no one ever held a stop watch as I did it. There was one time however….

Shortly after the birth of my first child, Ft. Bragg, California, where we lived at the time, was hosting a 10K and  Two Mile Fun Run to celebrate the Gray Whale migration. See what I mean by “every occasion”? My husband, Kim, prefers the longer rhythms of a 10K, but I was coming off a hormonal overload and thought two miles wouldn’t be bad. After-all, they call it a “Fun Run”, so he joined me, pulling our son along in a rolling convertible backpack (I’m not sure they make those anymore), promising to stay with me. “It’ll be fun”, he said.

Long before we got to the mile mark it ceased to be fun for me! Distant memories suddenly flooding back. When I rounded the corner to head back to the finish I was quickly enlightened that the last mile of “fun” was to be run uphill! I waved Kim and my baby on, ordering him to, “save yourselves”! At my insistence, he and Ben pulled away and it wasn’t long before I lost sight of them.

I finished and I wasn’t last, but I had a revelation. There is nothing fun about a “Fun Run” and I have never been tempted or lured into that trap again. If ever there was a more inappropriate word to be linked with running, I surely do not know it.

I recognize that some people need to run. Some run to clear their heads, to quiet their minds, to feel their muscles work. I don’t pretend to understand them, but I do cheer them. Later this month my sister will participate in her first half marathon, a little over 13 miles. Because she loves to run? No. Because she needs to run? No. Because her daughter asked her too. Now that’s love! She insists I don’t call it a race and I think she’s crazy, but most definitely I will cheer her on!