and then our exile

...i have been called "mad", a "piece of fruit", and "absolutely insane" for doing this, but today was beautiful. Morning-pancakes (love to Ammi_Noor), followed by watching_moose; 9.30, we were off, a few hundred people (half in spandex) zooming across snow; we got to the other side, 31k later, just before three. A great time, and my whole body is sore and skin on my right big toe is rubbed raw and my left big toe is all pussy and infected and needing to be hospitalized (same old recurring thing).
But: it was good stuff. After the first three kilometers i honestly couldn't go any further--hands were getting frostbitten--i like a fool had brought gloves instead of mittens--had forgotten both that Reyno's is contagious and that gloves are evil--palms were all spotty, deoxygenated blood turning to ice and numb and tingly and whatnot. Except, guess what? Lara was not a fool and was wearing mittens! and so she was nice and let us trade for a bit so that i could continue moving. The rest of the 28k are kind of blurry in my mind, except the last ones were way long. We became Mike H and stuff. i took the wooden skiis after all--zooming along like a 5'8 (9? 10? i don't even know.) 142-pound bird. i had a potbelly for a few hours.
At the end of the day, i am heading out to take a bath for the first time in years, have a date for February 2015, and have learned that i too contributed my unconscious part to spinsterness. Always a pleasure.
We must also all thank Ph-R-D for making me get up tomorrow to drive at 5.15 instead of 7.45. ^_^