Post-run

Good day to be a robin. Bad day to be a worm.

Running in the cool rain is just about as good as running gets, at least for me. It makes me feel like I could go forever. The fact that today really feels like spring is simply icing on the cake.

Without my iPod, I was able to let my senses take in everything around me. The rolling hills have taken on a distinct green hue, and I could hear spring 'peepers' calling from the culverts near the roadside. Some of the cornfields resembled rice paddies after yesterday's torrential rains, and along their borders I was cheered to see the first vestiges of day lilies and tulips, spring onions and dandelions. Black birds cheered me on with their distinctive crackle-squeak. The smell of the earth waking up flooded me with joy and gratitude.

I am aware that there are many weeks to go before the leaves will appear on the trees, and it's likely that we'll have another snow before all is said and done, but today - running outside - was a gift. Happy, happy, happy.