Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free / Silhouetted by the sea
So my friend and occasional running partner nickate phones me up the other night; asks if I want to dress up like Santa, and go out running.
"Ummm... sure?"
"It's on Saturday morning," she informs me, "and is called Run Santa Run. It's for charity. And I figure that if I'm going to make myself look all ridiculous, I might as well do it with someone!" ("Who already looks ridiculous," she didn't say.)
And that would be my Saturday morning.
So yeah. That.
But the day was just beginning, really. There was a party the same evening, and in the meantime, I had to get home and make samosas for the party. (Well, didn't have to, but...)
Which is precisely what I did: went home, and after a quick shower, headed into the kitchen.
Now all told, it's been a pretty long, crappy and stressful week. For... reasons. And it was while messing around in the kitchen that it occurred to me I was at my calmest and happiest since, well, the last time I was in the kitchen, really (last Sunday, to be precise). It really is a marvellous de-stressor. I should remember this: next time I'm wound up like that, get my butt into the kitchen!
Some further reflection identified the whole day, in fact, as being pretty damned ideal:
That's pretty close to perfect. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that: if I could do whatever I wanted, and had to design a perfect day for myself? It would probably look pretty close to that one. At least in, y'know, the overall structure. Details would vary, but that's why they're details.
I need to remember that. It was a good way to climb down from an ugly week.
About the only major downside was that Sheba didn't make it to the party. (aww)
Hey you, I missed seeing you there! Was really hoping to see you at some point before I head off to Kelowna for Christmas...
"Ummm... sure?"
"It's on Saturday morning," she informs me, "and is called Run Santa Run. It's for charity. And I figure that if I'm going to make myself look all ridiculous, I might as well do it with someone!" ("Who already looks ridiculous," she didn't say.)
And that would be my Saturday morning.
- Caffeinate, Santa, Caffeinate!
- Some Santas prefer a pre-run juice to a pre-run coffee.
- Kate looks a little uncertain about all this (actually, we just had a coordination failure, and I kept snapping pictures while she was between poses; and vice-versa).
- Kate and yours truly.
- Warm up, Santa, warm up!
- Sooner or later we had to go to find the start line somewhere outside.
- Taking (non-blurry) pictures while running backwards in a Santa suit is hard. (Cue quip about Rogers and Astaire.)
- "Grace and Style."
- We went out, turned around, then came back. This was about 1km after the turn-around, and Santas were running every which way.
- And again. Slippery ice is slippery, etc. Being used to longer runs, this was more or less the point where my body finally decided that "warm up is over; now we can start the run for real" and I actually got into it. I have to work on that a bit.
- Because before I knew it, we were at the finish line. Stretch, Santa, Stretch!
So yeah. That.
But the day was just beginning, really. There was a party the same evening, and in the meantime, I had to get home and make samosas for the party. (Well, didn't have to, but...)
Which is precisely what I did: went home, and after a quick shower, headed into the kitchen.
Now all told, it's been a pretty long, crappy and stressful week. For... reasons. And it was while messing around in the kitchen that it occurred to me I was at my calmest and happiest since, well, the last time I was in the kitchen, really (last Sunday, to be precise). It really is a marvellous de-stressor. I should remember this: next time I'm wound up like that, get my butt into the kitchen!
Some further reflection identified the whole day, in fact, as being pretty damned ideal:
- A morning full of running,
- An afternoon in the kitchen,
- An evening at a party.
That's pretty close to perfect. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that: if I could do whatever I wanted, and had to design a perfect day for myself? It would probably look pretty close to that one. At least in, y'know, the overall structure. Details would vary, but that's why they're details.
I need to remember that. It was a good way to climb down from an ugly week.
About the only major downside was that Sheba didn't make it to the party. (aww)
Hey you, I missed seeing you there! Was really hoping to see you at some point before I head off to Kelowna for Christmas...