Mercury

I love running. I'm a dedicated runner. It's something I'll probably do until I can't. This morning I was feeling so good, it was like my shoes (Pearl Izumis) had wings on them...kind of like that old gas station sign...if you run long enough you'll find that there's always someone faster than you, (which is humbling - "damn it's like I'm stuck in mud!") or slower than you (which is validating - "man, I still got it!"), and sometimes it happens on the same morning (which is humbling and validating at the same time! "I'm fast, but not the fastest, I'm slow, but not the slowest."). And you realize it's the same for all the other runners too...although somewhere there must be someone who is the fastest, and someone who is the slowest, at least at that particular time and place, although, since my morning jaunt isn't a race, (although once in awhile a runner will go out of their way to challenge another - "death on the highway" don't ya know!), everyone is starting from a different place, and going to a different place too, there is no real way to say what's what and who's who - we are all on our unique journey, with our own unique goal. The guy or gal keeping that blistering pace may be going around the block, that twisted old paralytic-looking dude one of Samuel Becketts long-suffering survivors, may be doing a marathon. So who's really impressing whom? Some mornings I fly with the Angels, with no effort, some mornings it's like I'm pulling a ball and chain...some mornings I'm ready to dance with the clouds, some mornings my only mantra is: "just don't hurt yourself!"