Running Against the Wind

Went for a nice long run tonight through the streets of Kearns and West Valley. My running shoes felt snug and light weight on my feet as I set out. I must have been feeling my oats because it never felt better to run uphill. Jason Call's music and the hymns we recorded in the mission office were my music selection for the evening. As I ran, the rain began to drizzle.  The rain never turned into a downpour but never slowed down either. After a while I wasn't sure if I was more damp from sweat or rain. I don't sweat much so it was probably rain. I passed over 5600 W on the catwalk and ran around the elementary school a few times. From there I headed up to the Usana Amphitheater and around the fire station. I crossed 54th south and headed down to our old band house.

Running through suburbia gives one an interesting impression of modern life. The smells: sometimes it's water from a sprinkler that smells like the rubber hose it came out of. Sometimes it's pungent odors of trash sitting in a barrel waiting to get picked up in the morning, sometimes it's the fragrance of flowers and trees in people's yards. House after house, street after street. What a strange grid we live in. No one around, no one making noise. It is after all, nearly 11 p.m. - my favorite time to go running. The air was thick with humidity, the ground seemed warm beneath me, the sky overcast and reflecting a dull orange from the rest of the valley below. So much on my mind, yet it all seems far away when I run.

My worries seem to burn off like calories. I seem to stay at least a few paces ahead of them, and as long as I don't stop running I know I'll stay content. I ran around the LDS chapel on 62nd south a few times. The grounds were as pristine and beautiful as they should ever be. I stopped in front of the doors just to look at my own reflection for a moment. Reality hits me once and a while and when I look in the mirror I see a grown man. I wonder who I'd think he was to see that guy for the first time. I ran through the sprinklers, and kept circling. My legs begin to burn after a while, but that was somewhere in the background. I thought perhaps I'd figure something out if I just ran around that building enough times. Finally I turned toward home, feeling a blister beginning to form and having escaped for 6 miles of solitude. The night -  quiet, dark, peaceful, all mine... I came home, but in truth felt like I could have ran all night. I'm starting to really enjoy this night running.