Sunday jog

I could get used to this.

For the second consecutive day, I went on an early-morning jog around my neighborhood. It was just as comforting this morning as it was on Saturday, both physically and mentally. Physically I was able to handle another decent run without too many problems and when I was nearing the end felt like I could have gone on another mile or two.

Mentally, it was relaxing. I know it sounds kind of strange but I enjoy the alone time I get when I run around the neighborhood. Typically alone time for me means I'm sequestered in my office here at home or maybe alone in the truck after dropping off my daughter at preschool. But this alone time is truly alone, just me and my thoughts... and my heaving chest and hard-working muscles and sweat-drenched forehead. It's relaxing though, being alone out there with nothing but my thoughts.

Not all runs are like that. Some runs I'm just dying to finish. But maybe it's being back outside. Perhaps the months of runs on the treadmill at the gym got me used to running in front of a mirror for so long that now any sign of actual life during a run is soothing.

That's probably why I feel so open to running in the open, so comforted by the early-morning sunshine, the sleepy feel of quiet houses in the early hours of the weekend, the lack of cars on the road. No one was working 'round these parts except for me, and the was empowering as it was comfortable.

In the end, I ran for about 40 minutes, got in almost four and a half miles and completed yet another successful run. The picture (not one I shot during my run) is of the final leg of my run, somewhere after the four-mile mark.