This is why I run

I run because of runs like this morning. I run to stay fit, to be healthy, to alleviate some stress, but mostly I run because every once once in awhile I have a run like today.

It was the first winter snow of the season. It was real snow too, not ice, real live snow. About 2-3 inches of the heavenly white stuff had fallen through the night. I arose much earlier than I normally do on a Saturday morning because I was working for Julie today. I donned my winter gear and walked out in to the peaceful quiet of Dartmouth Avenue in the lightly falling snow, I snapped a few pictures of the blessed calm and started to run. I felt light on my feet as I ran past white branches, Christmas lights still on from the night before, I made fresh tracks and jumped over slush puddles. I even threw a few newspapers closer to the front porch. It was impossible not to smile.

There were a few others out enjoying the first sign of winter too. An older man standing at the end of his sidewalk, hands on his hips, "This is great isn't it?" Yes, it is! A woman walking her dog, "It's a beautiful morning!" Indeed, it is! Two black labs running through the park with such freedom and exhilaration that one would assume they'd just broken free of prison. And the best, a 40-something lone man in his front yard rolling what was sure to be a pretty big base of a snowman. I smiled from ear to ear wondering if he was reliving memories of his youth, or prepping them for his sleeping children still inside the house.

I ran along hearing little but the sound of my feet hitting the soft pavement and my even breathing. My nose was red and cold, but my heart, that was warm as could be. As I headed home I noticed more and more people rising and coming out of their cozy igloos to welcome the Christmas storm. I turned back on to Jackson Road, just a block from home dismayed the blessed 50 mintues was coming to a close but so grateful that I didn't hit snooze. That would have been a shame.