President's Day

Our President's Day holiday started out with bright, though rather cold, sunshine, but I opted to lie in bed rather than head out for an early morning (or even not-so-early morning) run. I figured I had the whole day; I could run later on or just go to the Y if running did not seem like a good option. Happily, my legs weren't really bothering me from yesterday's long run, although I did take Advil around 4 a.m., which probably made the lie-in much more enjoyable.

I decided to capitalize on the day off from work by sneaking off to a midday movie. I say "sneaking off," because although I have no one telling me what to do with my time, I know there are a lot of things I should be doing. Cleaning house. Cleaning up the garden. Running or working out. Even going into work to make a phone call I didn't have time for last week and really didn't want to make anyway because it is to a very unpleasant parent who spent a good half hour screaming at me on Wednesday. So I really did not have a lot of motivation to call this person back really promptly. Tuesday is soon enough.

Anyhow, I also call it sneaking off because it seems very selfish to go to a movie alone. But I have also determined that if there are movies I want to see I might as well go see them, because waiting for somebody to go with me is equivalent to waiting for the movie to come out on DVD. At which point I probably won't see it either because I am not good at watching DVD movies. And I tend to fall asleep. I don't expect Rod to go see chick flicks (and why would I want him to?); my friend that I do like to watch movies with has daycare issues that pretty much eliminates any kind of non-work hour childless activities; and although I will occasionally invite my mom to a movie, I have to screen it first to make sure it is "appropriate" for her to see.

And you know, although I might gripe a lot about the price of movie tickets, $10 or so is a pretty good deal for two hours of entertainment. Two hours of shopping would cost me a lot more!

So I went to see He's Just Not that Into You. Totally a chick flick. Because you (I) really would not want to see it with a guy. Like the non-fiction book it was based on, it is somewhat disturbing in the way it can strike home with dating "truths" that seem so obvious but yet can so easily be overlooked. But this isn't a movie review or advice column so I won't analyze it further. In the end, I enjoyed the movie.

But the day wasn't over yet! It was getting on toward 3:00 by the time I got out of the movie theatre. The day had started out bright and sunny and it was still pretty nice out. Nice enough that going for a run was an attractive alternative to going to the Y, and since I had conveniently determined that there was a pretty low tide at 3:22, I decided to head over to my parents' house to run at the beach. First time this year!

I didn't actually hit the beach until around 3:40, but the tide was still well out on the flats and there was plenty of beach left. Here is the view I had starting down the beach. It looks pretty rocky in the picture (as it is), but it does turn to more sand after some distance. My route would take me down the beach and around the point (Mission Head) that can be seen in the far distance.

This picture is looking back where I started. My parents' cabin can be seen slightly. I was able to go about 2.75 miles before I reached the "end" of the beach at Tulalip Bay. When the tide is very far out I can go almost another quarter of a mile onto a spit, but today I stopped rather than risking soggy feet.
When I had rounded Mission Head I was joined by a gingery dog who decided to run along with me. She was friendly and not agressive, so I didn't mind the bouncy company. She stuck with me to the end, as I turned around and headed back toward Mission Head. But as we approached then passed Mission Head the dog seemed to have no inclination to leave me and find her way home. I began to get concerned, as I was still almost two miles from home and I didn't want her to follow me the whole way.

As I was thinking this, I suddenly tripped over a rock or log and fell sprawling to the ground. Luckily, other than the object that tripped me up, I was in a sandy patch and the fall was soft. As I sat on the ground, my new friend came over to check on me. She cuddled up to me and I put my arms around her and hugged her. I also took that opportunity to look at the tag on her collar. Her name was "Nalla" and there was a phone number.

I got to my feet and thought for a moment, then decided I'd better call and see if her owner was around anywhere. A woman answered, and I told her that her dog had started running with me and I was afraid she'd follow me all the way home. She probably would, was the answer; she's just a puppy and tends to follow people.* We had some discussion about where I was located, and I said I'd wait with Nalla until she was retrieved. We waited for a few minutes, then my phone rang back. Apparently we had some miscommunication about locations--she thought I was in the opposite direction! I told her I'd come back in her direction.

So Nalla and I began running (slowly) back toward Mission Head. About a quarter of a mile back I spotted the woman and handed off the friendly dog. I wish I'd taken a picture of her but dogs are so hard to photograph. Either they're moving around, or if you bend down, they run to you!

So by that time, I was ready to be done, but I was still (again!) almost two miles from home. It was pretty dusky out, and the brisk, cold wind was making my nose run (much faster than I was!). On the good side, my extra jaunt brought my total distance to six miles, once I was finally done.

The sun was setting, but instead of setting over Mission in the west (as is typical), it seemed to be setting between Mukilteo and Whidbey Island, as shown in the picture below.

I finished my day of fun and bad eating (did I mention a doughnut in the morning and a small popcorn at the movie?) by eating "sliders" (miniature hamburgers) with my parents. Oh, correction, I finished the day by polishing off the remains of a carton of light peppermint ice cream (leftover from the holiday season) when I got home. (And I wonder why I am running slowly....)

*So why, I wondered, is she allowed to roam freely so she can escape to the beach and follow strangers home?