Running outside

Today I ran on the nature trail near my house. It had rained all morning and the path was a bit of a mess. The air was clean though, and the leaves on the path were way more scenic than the picture shows here.

One of the advantages of hitting the trail over hitting a treadmill is the view. I saw a turtle of unknown type crossing the path in front of me. Later I saw five deer and I took a bad picture of them too. The nature was quite distracting from the running part. I hated to bother them.

I think the choice of animals that I ran into was not a coincidence. I saw the turtle first and realized that while I felt like the turtle, and probably looked like the turtle to those who I passed in my mind's eye I was the deer. In my imagination, my mind's eye, my self-image, I'm still young, lithe, and have boundless energy. In reality though... I'm not as young as I used to be. I feel younger when I run. Even when I can't breathe because I pushed too hard... even then I feel younger. Moving helps. I wish I had a trainer. I wish there were someone I knew who would tell me what I'm doing wrong or what I'm doing right. The internet is beautiful and wonderful, and I love it to pieces for finding things out there... but it stinks for finding things about me or how I'm doing... or about what's in here. (Taps head and heart)

So... I continue to run and think about what's in here while I run... and, while running, I feel young again.