One year ago today I bundled up in my new wind pants with pantyhose underneath, 2 longsleeve t-shirts, windbreaker, headband, gloves and spankin’ new running shoes to walk down to the park where I did this twice: 30 seconds walk, 30 seconds jog, 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes jog.

And that was the start of my love affair with running.

It’s exactly a year later and while I would love nothing better than to commemorate this powerful anniversary with a long, crazy run on what happens to be a freakishly warm day, I am instead sitting here in a nightgown at 4 in the afternoon, nursing the flu after having just bid farewell to the last of my weekend houseguests. And I am incredibly happy.

On the scale of life-affirming moments, my love for running was just about eclipsed this weekend when I looked around our apartment on Saturday night and saw our beautiful collection of friends from all different factions, deep in pockets of conversation and laughter and having a great time with each other.

I can’t tell you how lucky I felt during the night, as one-by-one, different friends approached me to say, “I love your friends, they’re so cool” to which I’d reply, “I know, you’re one of ‘em.” I swear, it happened at least 8 times.

So the party was a success beyond my hopes, everyone had a blast and even the bout of flu I’m dealing with has a silver-lining – I didn’t have much of an appetite all week so I’ve lost a few pounds which I wanted to do for racing anyway, so the gifts keep comin’.

I haven’t been sick like this in, well…ever, so I’m not going to hurry it, but I hope to get out for a run on Wednesday. In the meantime, I’m happy to remain housebound, contemplating friendship, a future of running and the joy that is my life.