I have not had one of these days in a long time. The island shuts down on Sundays, so I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. I took the scooter for one lap around the island, and then settled into my chair by the water to read a book. Just like in the morning.
Only this time, instead of coffee, I had red wine.
You may remember my picture of the dogs venturing out into the ocean. This morning, as I sat by the water with my coffee, I noticed another one doing something similar. I followed it closely. At one point, it suddenly jumped at something, almost as if it were trying to catch a flying fish. I have no idea what was going on, but it was fun to watch.
I had just finished my 5K run on the runway, which had taken a fair bit out of me. So after stretching, I just sat there with my legs stretched out and my palms resting on the ground, trying to look more composed than I probably felt.
That is when these two adorable kids came along and struck up a conversation with me. Their English was broken, and their version of asking my name was, “Who are you?” But they were curious and cheerful, so we chatted anyway.
Apparently, they were sisters and already in school. They had plenty to say about it, though I did not catch much because their Tuvaluan kept slipping into the conversation and leaving me behind.
After generously sharing the story of their lives, they took off down the runway just as suddenly as they had appeared.
Not before they let me take a picture of them, of course.
You saw the toddler learning to crawl on the runway. She was adorable.
You have probably seen models walk the runway. They are elegant.
Now you get to see a runner run the runway. He was… difficult to watch.
Evenings are not my ideal running time. It was hot, humid, and I was painfully slow. But I was determined to complete three end-to-end trips on the runway, a little over 1.5 km each way.
So, I can now proudly add another completely unnecessary achievement to my running résumé. Right next to “Ran the original Marathon route of Phidippides” (back in 2015), I can now claim, “Ran a 5K on a live airport runway.”
My running logbook may be fading with age, but at least it is getting weirder.
You may remember Sharmila and me standing on the glass bridge in Eleuthera, looking out at the cerulean Caribbean blue on one side and the deep Atlantic blue on the other.
Today, I found another spot like that. Here on Fongafale, the island narrows to just about 20 feet. On one side is the sky-blue lagoon, and on the other, the deep blue Pacific.
Surreal.
