Oh boy! So much has happened since my last post.

On Thursday evening after a great day at the office I was rear-ended on the Interstate when traffic started to slow down and the guy behind me….well he didn’t slow down. He crashed right into the back of my poor little Subaru.

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It really looked so minor at first. But after further inspection most of the imact was under my car. His car went under my bumper and pushed my spare tire from under the car up into the trunk and also knocked my muffler loose.

This is the other car. his car went underneath my car so my damage was mostly to the undercarriage. It pushed my spare tire up into my trunk. And my muffler got knocked loose

This is the other car. He had to be towed.

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Poor Forest!

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just waiting for the police to come. From this far away you can barely see any damage. When I first got hit it was so loud I really thought the damage would be worse

This car is not even 2 years old and this will be the second time it’s gotta go into the body shop. (It got hit while parked last October). Thankfully nobody was hurt and the man was apologetic. My hands were shaking immediately after the accident. It’s the same adrenaline response that I get when having to speak in front of a crowd. But I calmed down quickly, made a few calls to the boyfriend and my friend who is a retired police officer and then called the State Police to file a report and my insurance company to start the claim process. It’s the perfect example of why I named my blog Sweat Out the Small Stuff. Before running I would have been so much more stressed over the entire situation. And especially now, where I rely on the vehicle to get to and from work. But running has been the main source of release to let those stressful things just ease up and become less gripping over me.

So I’m dropping the car off on Monday to get repaired and I’ll rent a car so I can get to and from work. I’ll be out about $600 for my deductible and car rental but hopefully my insurance company can recover the costs. It’s not guaranteed.

And now some random doodle pics:

He loves to sleep with his feet in my face.

He loves to sleep with his feet in my face.

The look I got when i told him I liked my new job and I'll be continuing to work out of the house full time. Poor doodle!

The look I got when i told him I liked my new job and I’ll be continuing to work out of the house full time. Poor doodle!

Yesterday morning I packed a bag with my running gear. There’s a park just 2 miles from the office and I wanted to check it out. Mr. SOTSS came over Thursday evening so I hadn’t had a chance to run my post-accident anxiety away yet (although Mr. SOTSS was wonderful and keeping my spirits up when he arrived.) It rained most of the afternoon but at 5pm it had eased up to just a drizzle. So I changed out of my work clothes into my running clothes and drove over to the park for a nice 3 miles.

no running car magnets were harmed during the fender bender

no running car magnets were harmed during the fender bender

lush vistas everywhere

lush vistas everywhere

I had the park to myself.

I had the park to myself.

I have a feeling I'll be running here a lot of summer evenings

I have a feeling I’ll be running here a lot of summer evenings

Meanwhile apparently Fridays at the office are “dress down” days. Everyone was wearing jeans!  I can’t wait for next Friday now that i’ve got the memo 🙂

Today I’m just so ecstatic it’s the weekend. I woke up at 7am and took Duncan to the park. He hadn’t been for a ride in the car in a week! He was happy. And I wore jeans. I was happy too!

He's been waiting all week for a walk in the park!

He’s been waiting all week for a walk in the park!

I've been waiting all week to wear jeans!

I’ve been waiting all week to wear jeans!

I’m going to squeeze in a run either later today or tomorrow morning and then it’s all about relaxation.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Ever been in a car accident?

Are you calm in those type of situations?

I’m always preaching about inner strength, sweating out the small stuff, being positive and happy, yada, yada, yada….(seriously, I just set up this link for inspirational quotes)

Well last night all that was tested…It started so nice. I had a speedy commute home from work, leashed up the dog for a casual stroll to go get my car that was parked at the bus stop from the morning. The sky was so clear that I could see so many stars including the Big and Little Dippers and O’Rien’s Belt! I felt pretty peaceful and had already poured a glass of wine that I left on the kitchen counter so when we returned I could drink up. We arrived at my car and the battery was dead. I know, I know!!! This is SMALL STUFF! I tried to keep it together but I literally cried instantly. The dog curled up on the front seat expecting we’d be driving home any minute. I could have just left the car there and walked home but honestly all I could think about was my wine and cheese and crackers. (yep I cannot tell a lie). I realized I was only two blocks from a friend so I texted him and sure enough he was home and willing to come give me a jump start. Thanks so much Alex! I owe you big!

I spent the evening obsessing over this. It wasn’t so much the battery dying but that it was only 3 months old and after researching a bunch of web forums discovered that the malfunctioning rear lift gate latch that I chose not to fix (they wanted $400) was the cause of the dead battery. There’s some weird link. I love my Jeep, but it has had it’s fare share of quirky issues.

So I had a moment and reached out to my Facebook friends to reign me in

cantfallasleep

 

My friends are great! Valerie suggested I buy a portable jump starter battery to keep in the car for future situations like this. And lots of other friends gave me the virtual slap across the face. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I actually own one of those portable jump starter batteries! I bought it after Superstorm Sandy when we lost power for days. It has plugs for usb devices, and regular plugs as well as the jump starter cables.

So this morning I woke up and immediately got my run in.

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I was going for the Punky Brewster look!

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6 mile dose of medicine

 

6 miles….and don’t ya know, by mile 4 I was feeling a WHOLE LOT BETTER!!! Running truly is amazing. And this song just reinforced the feel good chemicals going on in my head. Oh and while I was running my parents drove right by me. This time they actually noticed me and we waved to each other. So funny.

So I came home, showered and then whipped out that handy dandy battery and jumped the Jeep all by my very self!

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up and running! woo hoo!

Then it was off to Sears to get a new one.

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I had an hour to kill waiting so I popped into Starbucks for a long awaited post run meal.

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Caramel Macchiato (160 calories) and a turkey and cheese sandwich (450) = 610 calories!

My plan was to handle this situation in two separate days. Today, all I would worry about was battery replacement. I made an appointment at Jeep Service to have the rear hatch latch shmutchik thingamajiggy replaced on Tuesday =)

And so in the end I practiced what I preach. I sweat out the small stuff, and that my friends feel pretty darn good.

And in honor of Throwback Thursday here are some pics of my Lady (Jeep) Liberty from the day I brought her home and her first Christmas. Yep. She’s like a child and I can’t bear the thought of the day she goes to SUV heaven.

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Question: Do you have true love for your car or is it just a way to get from A to B? How do you handle stressful “small stuff” situations?