Dark night rising

I really didn’t want to go out for a run tonight. Since the clocks changed, it is now dark when I get up and dark when I get back from work. Depressing, rolled into the depressing prospect that this is all I’ve got for the next few months.

Fortunately, I am stubborn, even in the face of ruining my leisure time. So I made myself, and my husband do it anyway.

Durham Cathedral with Lumiere lights

And it was gorgeous! We had to take a different route with more streetlights, so we went up to the Cathedral. It turned out they were setting for the Lumiere festival on this weekend, so we got a sneak peek at the lights, and the wall-of-sound choral music could be heard all over town. As we ran up the Bailey, all the students were heading to formal halls, wearing Harry Potter style academic gowns. Our run was transformed.

Maybe these winter runs aren’t so bad after all.

Starting to feel winter creeping into my morning runs

It was the kind of frozen morning in which moon shadows seem to be pasted on the sky. The sound of my footsteps resonated in the silent blue air and faded away into the emptiness of the streets.

– Banana Yoshimoto