Novice

Was it ‘pandemic 15’? I didn’t know, but it sure felt like ever since all the jobs that could, went remote, I was sitting way more than I ever did normally. And at home, it was easy to grab a snack here or there or make another hot creamy drink. Mmmm.

So I started running. Walking at first. But then I had the urge to move faster, so I started jogging. Then running. I couldn’t believe I was doing it! I’d never been a runner. My lungs would burn far sooner than my legs muscles. I just wasn’t designed for it.

But I had to do something. I had to move. So I was now three weeks into running. Perhaps I could even call myself a runner. The humidity was increasing recently and I could feel the sweat bead on my forehead before becoming too much, and dripping down my face. I pulled up the sleeve of my tshirt and wiped my forehead. I knew that salty sweat dripping into eyes was not an experience worth repeating.

The news was never enough, no matter how many podcasts I listened to. The abandoned rail trail was wide enough for a car and relatively flat. Nobody was around to hear as someone from NPR provided commentary on the latest numbers about the virus. I deftly moved around a wet depression in the path that was full of water a week ago. The perimeter was slick, so I slowed my pace to avoid losing my footing. With the muddy area cleared, I picked up the pace again.

When I first started walking, I brought Sadie, our 12lb dog. Sadie loved frolicking with me. But as I got faster and ran longer, I noticed she immediately dropped to her belly whenever I paused mid-run to stretch or sip water. She was doing her best, but I’d moved beyond her speed. But that was a good thing. Running had become this half hour of time with no responsibilities, besides putting one foot in front of the other.

The path was overshadowed for much of my route, with tall overarching leafy trees, providing ample shade. It did little to bring relief from the humidity, but it dulled the blinding heat from the sun. I wasn’t sure how many more days I’d keep running. It was getting too hot. Was it dangerous to run if the humidity was too high? Or was I just talking myself out of something hard?

One foot in front of the other.

The curves in the path made the run interesting. The deep ravine to my right had likely not had a human trek through it for at least a year — if not longer. Generations of leaves lay at the bottom, brown and soft, teeming with life, I knew. This was why I ran here. Every few runs, I made it a little farther. Being among the quiet, except my podcast, my breathing, and my own footstamps as I ran, was relaxing. Seeing the season slowly unfold as my running ability did was a joy. Sometimes I noticed animal footprints and perhaps more often, random crude huge nail looking things — old rail ties, left behind when the railroad was removed.

I heard a sound that made me slow my pace to a cautious gate — it was the sudden exhalation of something large. My skin prickled alarmingly. A dragon? That was my first thought, and then I almost laughed out loud that that was the first thing I thought of.

I heard loud crashing as something half-slid, half-galloped down the side of the trail, into the deep ravine. I glanced to my right, down into the ravine to see a deer running frantically along the bottom of the ravine, keeping pace with me.