Jingle Bell Run

It was a good weekend.  Saturday I had a lesson with Courtney, then hacked General on the trails near Farrell McWhirter.  It was really cold, and General's arthritis was acting up a bit, but it was so quiet and peaceful outside.  I took a wrong turn, and ended up on a longer ride than I had planned, but we made it back to the barn before the snow started.  We ended up with maybe an inch overnight, but lots of ice.  I almost decided to sleep in, but crawled out of bed to meet Jennifer and Victor for the 5k Jingle Bell Run in downtown Seattle at 9am.  About 10,000 people participated I think.  It was a slow start, and the race had a number of icy patches, but it was a lot of fun -- everyone was festively dressed.  Victor and I hit a coffee shop afterwards, then I went home and took Ms. Cli for a walk in downtown Kirkland.  It was cold, but sunny and crisp.  Cli tried on some winter coats at Barkz, but I couldn't make up my mind as to what looked best between the Ivy-League Baker wool look, or the L.A. sheepskin shawl.  She looked really cute in both.  I then drove back to Capitol Hill to meet Victor for a movie at the Harvard Exit.  We saw Slumdog Millionaire -- it was great.  Afterwards we had a great dinner at Poppy, which included a number of creative vegetarian options.  It will be hard to go to work tomorrow.