Yoo 294 - If I Could Bottle Up Today's Run...

...it would look like...

It would taste like sweet strawberry honey and replenishing water.

It would feel like a pleasant mix of warm sun and cool breezes.

It would smell like a concoction of rich soil and musty grass and faint flowers with a hint of sunscreen.

It would sound like birds chirping and trees swaying and insects singing and footsteps treading onward.

It would be absolute serenity. A little piece of nature, all to yourself. A special gift from your Heavenly Father. Just one of the many ways He shows you He loves you.

Can a Friday afternoon get much better? I challenge the next one to try...

This.

Is why I run.

I keep a gear stash in my car for opportunities like today. Running clothes, my bike, a helmet, socks, hydration belt, energy gels, anything I might need to satisfy an adventure whim.

That way, when a gloriously beautiful and relatively meeting-free afternoon presents itself, I can prematurely escape the confines of my cubicle and be where I really want to be.

Outside.

Running. Biking. Sweating. Living. Breathing. Thinking.

It's so relieving and replenishing. To me, life is easiest when I'm on a long run. (besides being asleep, of course...) There are no temptations. There is no stress. There are no meaningless, time-wasting distractions.

Life is stripped down to the bare essentials when I'm running. And it reminds me of who I am and where I come from and where I really want to go.

Maybe that sounds weird and crazy and annoyingly "spiritual". But it's true. I have my good and bad days, like any other runner.

But today.

Today was a good day.

And it made up for at least a hundred bad ones.

Have a great day :-)