Racing the Sun

The days are short this time of year, and sneaking in a daylight run is sometimes difficult.

I drove home with zest, and raced to the bedroom to change. I hadn't ran in two days, and I really felt like I needed to, or maybe I just really wanted to. At any rate, I felt like I deserved it, and I was going out to enjoy this run; to nurture myself.  I decided where I was going before I had my shoes laced. A favorite spot up in the foothills above Flathead Lake, nearly 6 miles round trip.

The snow was nearly non-existent and the air was unseasonably warm. I decided to run the loop backwards from the direction I normally run so that I would get to the overlook cliff before the sun set and I might have some good light for photos. Along the lake, and up the trail before gaining any elevation the light was flat and blue. The snow had a soggy crunch underneath my lightweight racing flats. It was like tramping across a huge Icee that had begun to soften. The Icee had exposed a couple of lightly trodden offshoots which I explored this day. The travel was short as the paths abruptly yielded to granite cliffs, wild rose, cottonwoods, and lodgepole pine. I continued on my normal route (still backwards) until I chugged slowly up the steep hill to my favorite old dead tree. A Grand Fir, or perhaps a Ponderosa Pine, maybe neither one but it has character, and I wish I could hear its story. The golden late afternoon light shinned brightly on it, and I stopped for a self portrait in front her. It leans to one side, and it's brittle and dry. I doubt it will remain standing for too many years, but it's home to insects and animals this day. It has beauty and honor, and it very much still has a purpose on Earth, in this life dream we call reality.

I continued on, panting and sweaty, I reach the cliff. Normally I don't stop running when I reach this spot. I slow down momentarily and look out at the lake, down at the road below, and then I'm off again. Not today. Today I stop completely. Long enough to catch my breath and hang my feet over the ledge. I sit still and feel the warmth of the Sun on my skin. I feel precarious up on the ledge, but also tranquil and whole. I have struggles in life, and things are not always perfect, but I'm accepting the imperfection and transcending the bumps along life's path. I work at doing this daily by reading, praying, studying, and I know that my efforts are especially rewarded because of days like today. Days like today that I choose to take for myself, to re-charge, to think, to appreciate, to show gratitude. These times that I choose to run.

Good Morning!

11/19/11

Heavy and wet, the warmed air exits his lungs and lingers around his head briefly before melding into the atmosphere. Another step, his chest expands pulling in yet another frosty hit. Arms swinging, footsteps are rhythmic, efficient, purposeful. Exposed skin burns cold while rivulets of perspiration swell under his jacket and knit hat. Headlamp bobbing, painting the ice and asphalt in a blue pool of visibility. A white peripheral flash startles, four hooves clomp, clack, slip then recover. Determined paths are crossed. The deer scurries through the cottonwood and Lodgepole, intent on reaching safety deeper in the forest. His heartbeat has quickened as a warm shot of adrenalin directs the spine to straighten and the legs to accrue speed. His mind has already calmed but his body must burn off the chemical before resuming the prior pace. A passenger along for the ride, he is suddenly aware of the foreground developing into a small beach and a shimmering silver blue lake. Across the lake a snow capped mountain range surges upward, basked in deep hues of blue and purple. Above the mountains a contrasting tangerine sky is a glorious reward. He is tranquil and fulfilled. He rounds the corner and up the rough asphalt toward home. He is ready now. Prepared for another incredible day.