What you missed at 6AM...

When my feet not so reluctantly hit the pavement at 6:04 this morning, I didn’t realize what all you were missing while I was running. I had so many observations that the run became rather mentally refreshing.

As I started I noticed it was kind of cool and pretty foggy outside. My earlier 2-mile runs this week were rough so I jogged easily as I knew this would be a long run. (When I say long run, I’m speaking mentally not distance.) My mind always wanders while I’m running and my goal is to keep it away from how much more I have to run before I can stop.

This morning I observed the sun rise. I observed the birds gathering food and heard their beautiful song. I smelled honeysuckle. I heard the dogs barking at me and hence I surely woke up the neighbors. I heard a cow giving birth…at least that’s what I’m assuming it was…it was quite strange.

I realized I wanted to change my weekly runs to morning runs…it’s too perfect not to. I realized at a 10:30 or 11:00 minute pace I could run forever. I realized thinking about writing is better than thinking about running when you run.

Occasionally I would change my stride to see if something else made me faster; I quickly realized this put out of the “run forever” pace and stopped changing my stride. I reaffirmed that finishing with breath is more enjoyable than finishing fast and feeling like I’m about to die.

I ran over a shotgun shell. (Did I mention I live in the city limits?)

Forty-three minutes and twenty nine seconds later I finished my four miles and I kept running. I decided to trot on down Pilot Circle. Note to self: there is a large black dog at the end of Pilot Circle in the mornings. He meets you with a loud bark and an intimidating eye.

As I walked back in I realized the fog had faded and it wasn’t so cool. For some reason I was surprised that my hair was wet…it was like the work I had just done was somehow easy and sweat was an odd thing.