Run Happy

 If you read the Semi-Rad comics, you probably have already seen this one, but I thought it was pretty good. 

The Decolonize December 55K Run Challenge is fun because anyone can participate from anywhere, but it can be a bit lonely too. I love running races surrounded by other runners, or ideally, with a whole lot of runners behind me trying to catch up! But this is a long week and a half of running on your own. Are you ready for it? 

These cold December nights mean new temperatures and new equipment for some of us who are transitioning to real winter (say hello again to headlamps and gloves). during DD55 2020, through lack of interest in the weather forecast, I ended up running my longest run in a blizzard at night wearing ski goggles and neon soccer socks over my tights. My frozen feet were not happy with me. I remember everything was tinted yellow from the goggles, until they fogged up right around the gas station about 4 miles in. 

My shortest run came on a night when the news of the local bludgeoner came close to home. My town experienced a series of random attacks in quick succession night after night for a little over a week. A guy was hiding and jumping out of the bushes to club strangers with a blunt object. Nobody died, but most ended up in the hospital. I ran that kilometer on the street I live on. It took 4 laps to complete the distance, and I looked around the whole time like I was looking for my family in the crowd of a mega marathon, or the race photographer at a finish line. 

As the winter weather took a turn for the worse, the bludgeoner stayed inside. But 12 runners took to the streets to complete the Decolonize December 55K Run Challenge, defying the general sense of paranoia and the challenging winter conditions.

Here we are, looking December straight in the eye, saying there is nothing that can stop us.