Testing my Legs.... Again

When I was 15 I had a total Forest Gump Epiphany... "I Loved Runnin". I went out one rainy Sunday afternoon and started walking around some of the horse pastures.. and then started running along the canal bank and found in fascinating that I could just keep going and I didn't fall over dead from exhaustion. It used to drive my Dad crazy when I would go running because I prefer running at night, and I tend to get lost in the darkness and run for long periods of time. I can remember hearing his walking stick through the night, this would cause my feet to move a little faster because this meant I had been gone for too long and he was coming looking for me.

I noticed how bright the stars where tonight in an almost moonless night while I was screwing new house numbers over my garage door. The chill in the air and darkness of the night caused something inside of me to stir. I ran into the house and got on my dust covered running shoes and a special safety jacket, so that cars might try to not to hit me and snagged my ipod and took off. I have not been exercising very often lately, this is due to pure laziness and excuses that are so easy to come up with instead of putting one foot in front of the other. As I stepped out onto the street and turned my music up the excuses started flowing..."should I go the 4 mile route or just run 1 mile tonight" ... NO! I just started running  and where and how far would be justified while my feet where hitting the pavement.
It took me about the first 200 yards to get my breathing in check and my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the houses as I ran by.

While I got lost in the lyrics of the random songs flowing through the earpieces my mind started to just let go of all the craziness of the past. When a word or phrase would key a memory I would look at the horizon and see those bright stars filling the skies and realized how insignificant my worries really are and the worries would again slip away.

I ran a little over three miles and felt amazing as I stepped back onto my doorstep again. I was amazed that I still enjoyed getting lost in the night as much as I did 13 years ago. So here is my great news today I now have my first Hobby box entry: Running.
Now I can run in the Buhl St. Patrick's Day 5 k on Saturday. I only signed up for the motivation to do something healthy... I am so glad I did.