on the iPod: "vide cor meum" -- patrick cassidy
After six weeks of blistering heat, the mildly annoying local weather guy started calling for cooler temperatures. Alot cooler. Highs in the eighties as opposed to the mercury reaching numbers comparable to the lowest depths of hell. Or Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (It's getting really close to football season and I can't stand the Crimson Tide. Gotta get some jabs in. SSSOOOIIIEEE!!!)
Cooler temps make a runner salivate. Pavlov would be proud. As soon as I saw the extended forecast I got excited about an evening run. I live in a fairly new neighborhood, full of young families and runners, on the edge of this little hippie college hamlet. While I'd rather live downtown, I enjoy myself in the burbs. Because of training, however, opportunities to run the neighborhood streets have been few and far between. I was ready to do it. So I did. Just like Forrest Gump.
Having no set route, I headed in an eastern direction to avoid the sun in my eyes. Sprinklers were turned on, burgers were on grills, dogs were being walked, kids were playing. It was clearly the end of summer. Feeling a rush of nostalgia, my pace quickened. I can remember summers growing up as if they were today. My friends and I rode bikes all over. We'd eat snow cones or yogurt. I would idolize the older kids and think they were so cool. My sister and her friends tried to act annoyed, but I knew that she liked me.
I turned south at the softball park and my pace slowed to an average jog. I was loving the cooler temperature, it must have been around 82 or 84 degrees. It was so nice to not be drenched in sweat! That might be too much information. Sorry.
A quick right turn and I was facing the sun, low and huge in the western sky. Amazingly powerful and monumental. Epic. Gaining energy and momentum, I felt like I could have run for days. An beautiful aria called "Vide Cor Meum" shuffled through my iPod and started a rush of emotions within. I was fully in the moment.
The timing was perfect as I came full circle through the neighborhood going east again just as the moon began to rise. Majesticly floating above the horizon, It's visible craters looked massive. I made it home just in time to pick up Abe Lincoln for a cool down walk. He's such a great dog. Love him. Love running, too.
Thank God for the cool temp. --- Not only for running but for just standing in the yard and watching the birds feed in my water sprinkler -- and remember... our seats face the sun at the U fo A ballgames!!!!!!
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