When You're Falling in a Forest

Rough weekend. Gorgeous mountains. Still smells like autumn. Saw a huge bird fly right over my head and perch in a nearby tree to eat lunch, but couldn’t ID it. Whatever it was, it was close enough to hear the wingbeats and they were SOUL STIRRING.

I wouldn’t say the run helped, exactly. I still feel an enormous sense of impending doom. Of current doom. But the run was a break from thinking, at least. And I carried myself through another 3 miles.

I’ve heard it said that some workouts are more mental than physical. That makes sense to me—in running, in life, some days you just have to practice going through the motions, if only to maintain the muscle memory.

That is not what happened today.

My body was much more involved in this run than my mind was. Don’t get me wrong, my body wasn't very invested either. But whatever part of the ether my mind decided to visit for however long this run took, she didn’t invite me to join. We reconvened in the car for the drive home, where I sang Cowboy Take Me Away a cappella to myself for 45 minutes.

It's probably a good thing I’ll be running with people tomorrow.