Hot Chocolate Run--thank you!

[asakiyume]

Wow, the running conditions couldn't have been more different this year from last year--last year's post-run entry reveals that it was 37 degrees F, and rainy. This morning we awoke to a world glittering with hoarfrost-the side of the house was decorated with sparkles--and temperatures below 0 F. By the time I reached the race start point, it had warmed up to a balmy 16 F.

Here's a shot of everyone waiting to get started:



I knew I'd run much more slowly this year than last year. I've done way less running this year, first because of the jail job and then, IDK, dispiritedness maybe. And 2018 was slower than 2017, which was the year I trained for a 10 k. But you know, 2015 was only a few seconds slower than 2017, and 2015 I didn't train for a 10 k. I felt **comfortable** running this year--in spite of the cold (I was well bundled), and that's worth something.

Much more importantly, thanks to you all, I was able to raise $665.00, and the event overall raised $632,729, which will keep Safe Passage of Northampton running for another year. Thank you!

(Also thanks to you, I got a really race number--56. I like this number very much--and it's the age I turned late this year [ETA: in October, to clarify], so it meant I was running with my age on my chest.)

Later in the day I went for a walk with a friend who lives in Northampton. There was still some hoarfrost clinging to branches of trees by the river:



For my own record, some specific times--DON'T LAUGH

2019: 35:05
2018: 32:27
2017: 31:23
2016: (didn't run)
2015: 31:49

Comments

[sonia]

Respect! I'm not fond of biking when it's that cold, can't keep my hands and feet warm enough. Glad you felt comfortable running. And happy birthday!

[asakiyume]

Oh whoops! I misled: It's not my birthday today--my birthday was in October--but I turn whatever-I'm-going-to-be for the year late in the year, if you know what I mean.

Thank you!

[sonia]

I figured it couldn't have been too long ago if you mentioned that it was late in the year. I should have said, "Belated happy birthday!" Or general good wishes, if you prefer!

[asakiyume]

I'll accept one and all--thank you ^_^

[marycatelli]

Many happy returns of the day.

[asakiyume]

Hee, I hope to see many more returns of both my October birthday and this December race--and may you too live long and prosper!

[mallorys_camera]

Go you!!!!!

I am impressed that you run at all in this cold.

I keep exhorting myself to drag my sorry ass out on sunny days, but if it's under 40° out, I. Just. Won't. Do. It.

[asakiyume]

I have had a whole lot of Don't Feel Like It recently myself.

[pameladean]

That photo is breathtaking.

Honestly, how often does one get to run, or do anything, with one's age on one's chest? That's such a nice bonus.

I wouldn't dream of laughing at your numbers. I'm sure mine would be genuinely laughable.

P.

[asakiyume]

My friend Julia Rios did me a world of good getting me to see it's all about just getting out there and running and not caring about the times, and I mainly, usually, remember that... but sometimes I still feel self-conscious.

But you know, one year when I ran, there was a woman with asthma running it. She had to run very slowly so as not to trigger an asthma attack--so she did run really slowly. She impressed me. She wanted to run, but she had to be careful because of body limitations, so she took her body into account and ran accordingly. Wise woman.

[amaebi]

That is such a good remembrance.

My goodness, how we USians are taught to shrivel everything into some desiccated knob of contest.

[asakiyume]

desiccated knob--I like that. I mean, I don't like the actuality of it, but I like how vivid it is in conjuring the thing itself.

[amaebi]

*beam*

[pameladean]

I understand the self-consciousness. We are trained into it for so long. So I salute your getting past it.

Also I salute the slow-running woman. Letting go of notions of how things should be done, when those notions prevent one from doing something one could actually do, is also very hard.

P.

[sartorias]

Congratulations for all on a splendid fundraiser for a good cause!

[asakiyume]

Yes! We should all pat each other on the back. Thank you for donating and for spreading the word!

[osprey_archer]

I'm glad it warmed up just a little bit before you had to run! Bet the hot chocolate was particularly appreciated this year by all the frozen runners.

Love the hoarfrost photo, too. (And isn't that such a satisfying word to say? Hoarfrost.)

[asakiyume]

I am *so glad* it did too.

Hoarfrost is a great word to say!

[sovay]

Much more importantly, thanks to you all, I was able to raise $665.00, and the event overall raised $632,729, which will keep Safe Passage of Northampton running for another year.

Yay!

That's some nice hoarfrost.

[amaebi]

Oh, wtg!

And you personally raised over 0.1% of the total! That's fantastic!

I'm also way impressed that you went for a walk after having gone for that run.

[asakiyume]

I am a 1 percenter! A good kind, in this case ;-)

I was very glad for the walk as a post-run stretch, and the destination was a craft fair, where people had all these amazing upcycled things for sale... usually well out of my price range but some of them things whose ideas were very easily actable on for oneself, and it was just fun, anyway, to see all the creativity. There was someone who had made paper-towel-sized squares of old flannel sheets and put them on a paper towel roll to make reusable paper towels. Now obviously, just using your own rag or washcloth or whatever accomplishes the same purpose, but the flannel clothes stick to each other so they stay wrapped around the tube, so they do look just like a roll of paper towels, and they're interesting gentle (b/c slightly faded) colors and patterns, all neatly bound at the edges, and I just thought, what a fun way of getting people to consider using small cloths rather than paper towels. (Looking online, I see many people have had this idea, but it was a first for me to see it.)

[amaebi]

I read in passing of roller towels* for decades before encountering one. That's a thing, that is. A sordid thing, but serviceable compared with plain towels.

* The classic roller towel is naked of casing and not very long, and that's the sort I didn't see for decades. The kind in a case with a long roll of towel, each bit only usable once and then rolled away inside, I encountered often enough. Think on, it's now been decades since I saw one.

[asakiyume]

Yeah, I remember seeing those in restrooms and things.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Congratulations on not only this year's run, but all of them!

[asakiyume]

Thank you, my dear.