When I run, I feel relieved
By my run marking the end of a day or week,
My problems can be put on pause, something for future me to worry about
All I have to do is follow my right foot with my left,
Deluding my confusion with the calm of the sunlight and pasture fields.*
When I run, I feel rewarded
Reaching one goal after another,
Every extra mile farther or minute faster meaning the world to me.
I think about how past me would be unable to do what I do now,
And what future me could do.
When I run, I get bothered
By all of the small things:
The weather being either too hot or too cold or too rainy or too windy,
Being only a little slower than my speed goal,
My planned trail crowded by everyone else enjoying their afternoon,
Or being closed straight up.
When I run, I feel the fatigue
Of my legs and of my life.
I still don’t understand how my body can follow up an exhausting day of school
With the amount of effort I put into running
And add that to everything else I do
And the loads of homework waiting for me at home.
When I run, I feel bored
After all, what is there to fill one’s mind up for all that time?
The most important thing is to not worry about the run itself
When by myself, I talk to myself, about
What I did that day,
What I’ll do the next day,
What I want to do in the future,
And the next thing I know time has flown by and I’m back home.
When I run, I make sure to enjoy my time
I enjoy the sun; it relaxes me
I enjoy the rain; it makes me feel stronger
I enjoy the cold in the winter, the heat in the summer
I enjoy the calm of nature or business the city, or both
I enjoy because I’ll eventually have to go home
And do my homework either way.
When I run, I feel free
Of the rest of my life,
Of all of the expectations,
Because the ones in running have already been surpassed,
Of all the conflicts,
And of all the work.
I have found the perfect way of running away from my problems.
*Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Pg 41