For over 5 years, I've gone on a midnight walk/run with my aunts on New Year's Eve. NYE had become a stressful holiday to try to find some party to go to and someone to kiss, so I left it all behind and did something different: run through Portland at midnight! A few years ago, my niece started going with us. We actually ran sometimes because she wanted now, instead of just walking. I had lots more fun because I loved watching her watch people. She loved to watch people dance at the after-party, eat as many of the snacks and cookies as she wanted, and we talked about all of the crazy outfits that people had on. I always enjoyed the regular NYE revelers who leave the bars to cheer us on. Before the walk, I always took my niece to coffee, too; a special time with Auntie.
This year, I sent out a Facebook invite to my friends who might be in the area to try to get a bigger group. Then my niece decided to go to her youth group party instead of the run. She's 12 going on 20 right now, so it's very understandable. As I watched the weather reports, and the temperature went down, down, and down, I started to reconsider going myself. I've been re-connecting with old friends from high school in the area, so the search for a party would have been much easier. But I didn't want to back out on my aunts.
As I was reconsidering, I heard from a couple of friends that they were actually thinking of going! But then my aunts didn't want to go! In the end, a friend from high school, two of her friends, and a friend from Orange County (who happened to be near the area for the holidays) went on the run with me. I hadn't seen my high school friend in years, so that was nice!
We got there about 10:30pm and registered. It was about 20 degrees! We were cold, so we went to the closest restaurant (Macaroni Grill) and ordered hot beverages and appetizers. They closed at 11pm, and we left around 11:30pm. Just in time to line up for the race! My OC friend didn't bring his running clothes, so he waited for us at the Finish Line, but I did get a kiss from him at midnight! We lost my high school friend's friends before the run even started, but my HS friend and I stayed together for awhile. I didn't even use my headphones at first. At the half-way turn-around point, I let the others go and started walking. Even though I've been training for a 5k, I usually run and walk the 1.5 mile course with my family on NYE, so this was quite a change!
I ran and walked the last half. During the run, I decided that I didn't like running and wouldn't do another 5k. But then I finished and didn't do as well as I thought (36 minutes), so now I want to run more and improve my time. I'm not sure why I didn't do as well as I expected. May be the cold? I do remember thinking, "That calamari was a bad idea!" during the run, though!
I was about ready to pass out after the run, but was looking forward to after-party and snacks. My friends wanted to go to their friends' house, though, so we headed over. They had some great snacks, including my favorite type of cheese (Camembert with blue). We hung out for a few more hours, then went home. My OC friend left the next day, before I even woke up, to finish his drive down to Cali. I eventually woke up and went to visit Gram on her 97th, and last, birthday. It was a tough day, but more on that later. May be.
So this past NYE was full of friends from the present and past to join me on a traditional activity (for me) done in a different way. New and old, it worked!
No comments:
Post a Comment