Happy Halloween

As a newbie to these shores I am amazed at the entire phenomenon of Halloween. Sure, we have it in the UK, but if you are older than 6 you don’t pay any attention to it. Instead the big event at this time of year is Guy Fawkes night on November 5th. It was named after Guy Fawkes who planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on this day in 1605. He failed, but the day is still remembered fondly by setting off fireworks and creating bonfires. The Fire service hate that night…

All these events have me reminiscing about what we left behind. I don’t miss Guy Fawkes night too much (it terrified our poor cat!) and I am having fun thinking up costumes for various Halloween events. I’m still quite conservative this year, I’ll need time to get confident enough to really push the boat out on that one.

And then there’s the lack of daylight that also starts being a feature of this time of year. Our ocean swims are getting later and later waiting for the sun to rise. And I am having to leave earlier if I want to get an evening run in before it gets dark. With the clocks changing next week the prospect of it getting dark at 5pm are not too welcome.

Then I remember what it was like in Bonnie Scotland. In winter it gets light at 9am and dark at around 3.30pm. If it is bad weather it never really gets light at all. I spent months doing every training session in the dark. And because it is generally cold, wet and windy even getting out there to train tests your strength of character. It does build a sense of community amongst us crazy athletes, i.e. anyone stupid enough to venture outside. Whenever I went riding and passed another cyclist on the road there was a nod of acknowledgement between the multiple layers of warmth to a fellow athlete just trying to hang on to the end of the training session. No, I don’t miss that one bit!

Training out here in the dark has it’s own challenges. There is much less street lighting so I have to choose my routes much more carefully. Because the roads are dark but still busy in the morning cycling is also more scary. I have dug out all my Scotland lights and reflective winter clothing. The lights are coming in handy but it is still way too warm to wear the reflective clothing. I’ll figure out my new wardrobe eventually.

I think it just shows, regardless of the local culture or environment, there are challenges everywhere. But more importantly there are great memories and opportunities everywhere as well. I for one will be embracing my first Halloween. Next stop on the great American cultural adventure: Thanksgiving!

Corina