I should have listened to the dog

My dog is "special". She has canine epilepsy that is controlled with medication, but she still has her moments when she acts a little, as I call it, "seizure-riffic". Yesterday I was finishing up eating lunch and the baby was playing with her toys in the kitchen and the dog was being a little bitch. She was whining and pacing and poking me and in general acting like she was about to have a seizure. I kicked her outside so I could eat my lunch dessert in peace (Tootsie rolls if you're curious) and then the whole house started swaying and windows rattled.

I am a black belt in the Art of Panic

My first thought was a terrorist attack and then when the shaking continued, I worried a jet had crashed in the neighborhood. I had dropped my Tootsie rolls and grabbed the baby and proceeded to run like a headless chicken around my kitchen. You know what I don't know? What to do in an earthquake! I'm an east coast girl and the concept of an "earthquake" is pretty low on my idea list, right below "unicorn attack".

My thoughts were racing:

Shit, the dog is freaking out in the yard. Should I try to get her in?
Should I go outside or stay inside?
Do I stay under a door frame or hide in a tub? 
Is this happening to just my house?
Is this real life?


The whole thing only lasted about 40 seconds, but it was really terrifying. All the cans in the pantry were falling down and our chandelier was shaking and rattling. I ended up curled up over Faith in the doorway to our dining room. She didn't care about the quake at all, she actually only got upset after it was over and I wasn't holding her anymore:

Mommy, make the house go bouncy-bouncy again!

After it was finally over and I realized that the world wasn't ending, I had to check to see if I had actually peed myself:

All clear

I was surprised how shaken up I felt after the quake. My hands were actually shaking for about an hour after. Peanut gave me "I told you so" looks all afternoon yesterday:

No one listens to me

Yesterday was proof that I'm probably not cut out to ever live in CA. I need the earth to remain still, I can't imagine handling a bigger quake.

Earthquake hilarity: the guy who cuts our lawn told me that his girlfriend was on the crapper when the quake hit and that's a good way to need a post-quake shower. That's a far second to my worst case scenario of being on this bridge during an earthquake:

I sweat more driving over this bridge than I do running

Other than crouching in a doorway and trying not to pee myself, I ran 9 miles yesterday. It was actually chilly in the morning when I got up, so the run outside felt good and then I had about an hour to kill before the baby went down for her nap and then I ran the rest on the treadmill. There was also a cookie break in there too. :)

I'm not going to do 5am runs if I can avoid it because it's rough on my husband. I did it last week because the baby's naps were unpredictable, but now she's settled back into a routine, so there is no need to torture my husband with a 5am alarm and subsequent hour of dog whining. Peanut won't run in the dark, so I can't take her, but that doesn't stop her from crying about it the whole time I'm gone. Sounds pleasant for my husband, huh? The extra sleep for me isn't bad either, but I will try to do some runs early so I can build experience in running in the dark since I will have to do that in the JFK 50.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? How did you react?


Has your dog ever tried to "tell" you something?