Monday 14 January 2013

QRS is for Quick Run, Quick Step, Rumba and Snow

In the interest of getting through our Alphabet Dates so that we can concentrate on our 50 things to do before we're 50, we have cheated slightly and combined Q, R and S.



After a Casino Night at The Queen's School in Chester fell through as a date option, my husband and I decided that a Quick Run together would qualify as a Q date - and could incorporate the R component as well. We had visions of an early morning, romantic run (if a run could ever be considered romantic) while the trees were transformed into fragile, glittering masterpieces by Jack Frost's paintbrush. However, the mild weather over the Christmas holidays when we were both available with babysitters on standby, meant that the perfect opportunity never really presented itself.

This weekend we had a bit of a 'now or never' moment, put on our running gear and went for it (the Quick part of our Quick Run being descriptive of the duration rather than the speed)

I am not a good runner by any stretch of the imagination but I felt quite efficient with economy of movement compared with my rather bouncy, gangly 6' 5" husband. We were fairly evenly matched fitness wise which pleased me - I had visions of me coughing up my own internal organs as I attempted to keep pace with him. I think that any advantage he has over me from his Triathlon training and regular gym sessions are cancelled out by a recurring hip injury that he suffers from - a hip injury that can seriously affect his running ability. It turned out we were pretty good running partners - each of us pushing the other forward. We ran a 2.3 mile route with a reasonably fast finish and it felt great.

He has signed up to run a 10K Road Race in our town with me in May so we could be doing lots more training together. I think that the very best dates are the ones that unlock new interests, let you see a new side to someone and lead on to greater things. This could potentially have been an excellent date!

The date didn't stop with the run. We went out that evening for a dance lesson - the first in a long time. When I realised that we were going to be working on the Quickstep and the Rumba, it put me very much into a 'date' frame of mind rather than my usual 'learning' mode. I felt very connected to my husband as we worked through our rumba routine, the dance of love, and learned some new figures to add to it. It was a lovely session, even if our quickstep left a lot to be desired.

I was already feeling that life was magical and wonderful as I left our dance class. I received total confirmation of this when we walked out into a world blanketed in crisp white snow with a myriad of flakes falling gently through the cold air.

I never Dream of a White Christmas. I wait for it to snow then have a 'fake Christmas'. Driving home through the snow was lovely. The roads were clear but everything looked new and beautiful. I absolutely love what happens through the windscreen as the car drives into falling snow. The flakes seem to come straight at you in lines that converge on a distant point. Mesmerising. Not so good when you are trying to concentrate on driving but as a passenger I could totally lose myself in the 'hyperspace warp speed' effect it creates.

Back home, we toasted our 'fake Christmas' with a glass of port and enjoyed a slice of Christmas cake. It may not be good for the diet but it was definitely good for the soul.

The snow reminded me of my wedding day. I had a February wedding. The weather was amazing - blue skies and enough sunshine to do a few outdoor poses with the photographer (although you can see the goosebumps on my arms if you look closely at some of the pictures) and during the night it snowed. I woke up as a married woman to the most perfect white world. It was the best wedding present ever.



The Snow at the end of our 'Q R' date was such an amazing bonus and with S being the next consecutive letter, I felt it only right to add it. In the spirit of post-Xmas economising, it was a 'three for the price of one' deal - A QRS Date.

I was hoping that the snow would remain for a day of two so we could celebrate Fake Christmas in style with the family but Monday morning was predictably grey and drizzly. I will have to see if I can brighten things up with an imaginative T date.

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