The First Running Step Outside
Anywhere, any weather
Humboldt Half-Marathon, October 2000, when I was 50 and part of the Excelsior team. This out-and-back course of road that striped through the evergreen Redwoods’ was always a bracing, refreshing Big Lift.
The First Running Step Outside
The first running step outside
Feels good even when it hurts.
The air may be drizzling mist
Like a San Francisco morning,
Or snow may dapple West End yards
And crust and slick UBC’s Forest trails,
Or Copacabana’s glinting broil
Of dawn may wave to stones swirled there,
Or Parks with ponds of Fukuoka,
Tokyo, and Berlin may beckon,
Or Mounts Tamalpais and Chuckanut
May ask you to climb into their Evergreen vibrations.
Anywhere, any weather,
That first step is yours for freedom.
6:54 a.m., October 13, 2024We may remember and/or anticipate those mornings when air and light greet what we know will be liberation and refreshment through “a Run.”
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