First run

Today was the day. I went for my first run since leaving Vancouver in September. I didn't run in India because the crowds, the traffic, and the smoky air would be too much for me. So needless to say, I'd been anticipating this moment for some time, and it was indeed glorious. Now that I'm living 3 blocks from the beach, the logical place to go was along the sea wall. I headed out in the late afternoon, running along at an easy pace with a park to one side and the beach to the other, listening to the silence and the sound of the ocean lapping against the shore. It was a clear, crisp day - one of those that you savour in Vancouver because of its beauty and rarity. The downtown skyline was silhouetted against the bright blue sky (no haze!). The low sun made the calm water of English bay shine a brilliant silver grey blue. As the sun gradually set over the islands and the Point Grey peninsula to the west, the sky became a rainbow, morphing from pink to brilliant orange to yellow before opening up into the vast grey green blue above. These days always make my heart flutter a little, but today, especially today, after the oppressive haze of Delhi, it all made me understand once again how fortunate I am to live here. India's smog does make for spectacular sunsets, but I wouldn't trade this air for anything.