Easter Sunday

Day off

Easter Sunday dawned sunny and cool, and I was looking forward to hitting up McAlpine with Jordan for a long run. Unfortunately my foot was having none of it. Note to self: Don't wear high heels on Saturday night. Even if it's only for a few hours, even if you don't think it will do any damage. I could barely put on my shoe this morning, let alone seriously contemplate running. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed out. I love running with Jordan, and on a beautiful morning like this one there's nothing I'd rather be doing. Instead I drove him out to the park and dropped him off for his 18-miler, then headed home and showered up to get ready for the day ahead.

A few hours later I was back at Old Bell to pick up Jordan, who had a solid run minus his shirt getting stolen less than three miles from home. To be fair, Jordan was not a "2008 Brookhaven Run Award Winner" as the shirt claimed, so I suppose the lucky Mexican soccer player who swooped in and snagged it probably deserves it just as much as him. At any rate, once Jordan was home and cleaned up it was time for the Easter festivities to begin.


Masters of the grill

Less than an hour later, Jeff, Tanya, Melanie, Jordy and myself packed up our grilling supplies and our meat products and set out for an Easter cookout at Freedom Park. Apparently half the city had the same idea on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon as the park was packed. Luckily we snagged a grill and a picnic table up on a hill, which meant we had our own space while maintaining a bird's-eye view of the passersby. This made for prime people-watching and kept us entertained for hours. During that span of time we saw countless walkers, runners, dog walkers, rollerbladers, cyclists, skateboarders, scooter-ers and even the occasional Segway rider. We were also treated to drumming from a nearby bongo player (which gradually expanded into a bongo quartet as the afternoon went on) and an evangelist who passed out pamphlets explaining why the teaching of evolution in schools is the root of all societal evils. We even participated in our own Easter egg hunt and doled out candy to a few passing kiddos. In short, it was a great time.


Digging in to our gourmet Easter buffet

Just shy of 6pm, we decided to pack it in and head home. It's funny; most of the afternoon was spent doing a whole lot of nothing but chilling out at the picnic table and taking in the scene, but I never felt bored or restless. Once this whole "school" thing is over and I'm off and running to my next destination, I'm pretty sure I'll look back on today as one of my favorite memories of my time in Charlotte.

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A section of Freedom Park as seen from the top of the hill