It was absolutely gorgeous and I not only managed to get pinked by the sun but I'm pretty sure I was drunk off the prettiness of it all.
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When James first moved to North Carolina, I seriously contemplated joining Teach for America because the town he was moving to was in the middle of their "rural North Carolina" designated area and it seemed like a great way to transition from what I was currently doing. When I was reading the description, I distinctly remember the sentence stating "You will quickly find yourself joining the locals at the Friday night football games."
In the four years I've been here, I've never been to a game. This past Friday, my work sponsored a hot chocolate give-away at the high school just down the road from my house. I didn't have to stay (just bring cups), but I did. The game was pretty bad; the home team got slaughtered (and it was homecoming - ouch), their kickers struggled with their punts, their scrappiest player was their best, their quarterback threw more incompletes than successful passes. But it was such the quintessential Friday Under the Lights that I kind of got caught up in the magic of it all.
The young ones ran amok outside the fence while the high schoolers tumbled around, between, and through each other, not unlike an enormous school of tuna. The stands were full of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The temperatures quickly dropped, the bleachers grew cold to the touch.
The air was dry, so the night shimmered with that sparkle in the way only chilly fall evenings under bright lights can.
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The next morning was clear, bright, and chilly. James's schedule called for an eight mile run and since I hadn't run since Tuesday and was myself due for 5, we ran a tempo run together. A little over two miles to warm up, followed by 5 at a 9:00/mile pace, and a mile to cool down.
We ran past the church across the street where the whoops and hollers from the small back field signaled the opening day of flag football for the five year-olds. My coworker heads up this organization and he told me to stop by - "Getting these kiddos to play flag-football is like herding cats."
After the run, we joined our neighbors under the blue skies to work in the yard - covering the pool, trimming trees and bushes, cleaning gutters. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was bittersweet.
But it was also beautiful.
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Morning came fast. David and James were scheduled a 15-miler and had planned to head to base around 7:30. When 7 am came, I swam up from the depths of a deep sleep and declined joining them; there was no way I'd be firing all circuits within 30 minutes. By 8 am, after a small breakfast and some water, I was ready to go.
Alone for my long run, I opted for some old stomping grounds.
When James and I first started running in North Carolina, we did a small 3-4 mile loop out our apartment door and back. As I grew to know the area through my incessant Google Map use at my job, I added an adjoining neighborhood. Then James's old coworker Margaret joined us and we would run from her downtown loft apartment in a loop. This morning, I mish-mashed them together, really appreciating my Garmin watch and my own understanding of the area to let me wander as I needed to get to ten miles.
I'm not going to lie. Doing back-to-back long runs in a weekend whooped my tail. I am sore. And since I'm sore today, I shudder to think how I'm going to feel tomorrow.
But that's what coffee is for, right?
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After a breakfast at IHOP, James and I showered and headed down to the once-capitol of North Carolina New Bern for the Mum Festival. It wasn't so much that the festival promised to be something amazing, but the weather was truly spectacular. So without further ado....
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