Oh, I Loved That Book!

I love books, and I love talking about books. There are times when I see someone reading a book and I want to stop them--a complete stranger, mind you, and gush about how much I loved the book they're reading, but I don't usually. I hate spoilers, and I wouldn't want to ruin the book in some minor way for that person. So I have mixed feelings about reading in public. I don't want someone to ruin the book for me in any way, like when I was reading one of the Harry Potter books at about 12:30 in the morning of its release and someone walked by and said, "Oh, I heard so-and-so dies in this one." WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!? unless you're some sort of sadist. I mean, come on. So that's an obvious breach of etiquette...but the seemingly harmless "oh, I loved that book!" gush can be just as annoying. There are some books where if you'd really read the book you just would not do that. Instead, knowing how traumatic the book was for you, how treacherous some books can be just to reach the climax and ultimately the finale with your heart still in one piece...you wouldn't be so exuberant and bouncy with words like "love". You would gently lay a hand on their forearm or maybe their shoulder and look deep into their eyes with strength and understanding and maybe not say anything at all. Just nod in understanding. Maybe your eyes would tear up a little. But you have to be careful with that. The reader might be just at that breaking point and the teary eyes might push them over the edge and you might have to sit there with them for a moment as they grab hold of you in a bear hug and sob uncontrollably. And you'll know because you'd been there before.

The Color Run 2013

At the starting line, color free

I ran my very first 5K today. A friend in my neighborhood and I had tried to start walking at night together, but we were not as consistent as we would have liked, so Meredith decided it would be best if we had a goal for running--well, walking really, in a 5K, so she started a team for us for the Color Run. 

I've always wanted to be a runner, to just step outside and take off running for fun. I've had dreams where I could fly, and while I enjoyed those, my favorites were the ones where I was running effortlessly. I guess I appreciated those dreams more since that is something possible in my waking life. To be reasonable, it is possible if I train. So I started training. I've been working my way through the C25K app. I have been going through a series of sessions where I walk for so long and then run and then walk and then run and so with increasing time increments. I appreciate that I'm not in nearly as much pain as I was when I started C25K, and I do feel like I'm getting faster. I also appreciate that I have energy afterwards--well, if I run in the evenings, I do. I may be a morning person, but I am absolutely not a morning runner.

Me, Meredith, Kristie with downtown skyline in background

Back to the Color Run. It's called the Color Run because at several points throughout the race, there are color stations, I guess you could call them, where volunteers throw dry powdery paint at you. It's a very fine powder that gets everywhere. The day of the race was cold and very windy, so the paint made clouds the runners could see from some distance. I got my sister and my niece to join me in the run and my niece would ask throughout the race, "what color's next?" She's nine and not tall enough to see over the crowds.

That was something to see, though. All the people running and walking and dressed in white and tutus and crazy socks. I'd seen a marathon before (in Naha) and all the crowds of people running, but I'd never been in the crowd, so that was really neat--to be involved in something that so many others were doing just for fun.

Me, Jennifer, Savannah at the finish line

At the end of the race you were supposed to open the bag of color they had given you at pickup and then throw it all around in celebration for having finished. I was able to throw part of three different bags since Jennifer couldn't get hers or Savannah's open. I opened mine and started celebrating but then she handed me hers saying she couldn't get it open, so I gave her mine and opened hers and started throwing it around in celebration but then she handed me another. It was funny. The best part besides finishing with what I think was my best time so far--which is amazing considering the number of times we stopped to take pictures or get really covered in paint, but it was that my mom and Joy were there at the start of the race and at the end. They had to sit in the cold and the win to cheer us on, but I'm so glad they were there to share in the experience of my very first 5K.

Mom and Joy rooting for us