Light

I ran my first 10-mile race today.

It was totally awesome.

I just may detail my mile by mile experience for you over on Thirty Days, lucky you.

Suffice it to say, for now, that I beat my time goal by 4 minutes and felt really great the whole way.  If a bit sweaty.

The day was tailor-made for a run, breezy and fifty and brilliant, bits of lake view flashing perfect blue between the houses on Lake Avenue.  Delicious.  And inspiring to be out with a thousand other crazy people using this beautiful morning to push ourselves, test our limits.  We put one foot in front of the other and moved towards our goals.  

That felt really good.

I've been in this mood recently, to just grab hold of all the good in life. It's seemed really important to do this lately, in the face of a lot of not-so-good that's been happening to some people I care about.  I know, maybe that seems inappropriate.  Maybe a little rude, like I'm flaunting my good luck to make others feel worse.  But I don't think of it like that.  I feel like I am fighting sorrow with joy.  Naively holding on to happiness because that's what we do to keep darkness at bay.

This weekend the light of joy has been strong in our little world.

Here, I'll share some with you.


Thursday night walk around the block.  Chilly but sunny.  My girl can really scoot these days!  And the boy has a great new haircut.  And my children have this thing about clearing moss out from the sidewalk cracks.

See what I mean about joy?

(but lets keep it real.  my two beautiful ones, upon arriving home quickly disintegrated into puddles of whine and exhaustion and the sunny evening became a bit...well...long...)

Friday night out with the girls.  A stolen moment with some marvelous friends.  We ate lots of cheese, drank expensive wine, and even got Bananas Foster made tableside.

Before and after shots of my 10-miler.

Told ya it was sweaty.

The race started and finished at Edgewater park.  The view of our wonderful city from here... priceless.  Also the lake breeze was much appreciated.

I mean, really, we live in a wonderful wonderful city.

We took the kids out into it again this afternoon.  Couldn't get enough of this lake.

We had a wonderful visit to Whiskey Island.  Its this forgotten bit of green, complete with an abandoned Coast Guard station, off-lead dogs, and fascinating views of city skyline juxtaposed against industry and highlighted by bridges.  I love this town.

Soak up the light, everyone.  The weekend's only half over!

More to come...