Ran clean.

As you all know by now if you’ve read my blog regularly (as regularly as possible considering the absence of posts to read), I am a gym rat. I love a treadmill. I love it because there is ice cold water in my little cup holder, my iphone can sit easily on a handy little tray in front of me where crappy running songs can be easily skipped (i.e. Shirley Horn….sings the slowest songs ever….lovely but not what you’re looking for to pass the time quickly), and most importantly air conditioning. I am a creature of comfort and I make no apologies for it. Well, today I ran in my neighborhood. I ran outside for a long time and it was perfect.
I ran up and down streets and cul-de-sacs where lots of other people were running, walking dogs, walking with friends and chatting. The wind was blowing just enough to keep me cool but not enough to make it feel like I had a train tied around my waist trailing behind me. Every step was like it was releasing some sort of poison from my brain. I’ve been stressed about a major change happening at work and all of it just went away. I smelled the trees and the yards being watered. I talked to old dudes as I ran by them while they raked their yards. I ran through some sprinklers that were watering the asphalt. I thought about nothing except what was happening AT THAT MOMENT. Wow, that is a bold freaking statement for me. As I wrote that sentence that came out so easily just now, I realize how very unusual that is for me. I didn’t even worry about how far I was running. I ran until I was tired and until it was almost dark. I ran until I felt clean in my heart and in my brain.