The Road

I'm training for the Philly half-marathon and had to do my eight mile run today. It's beautiful out, but it still took effort to drag myself out the door and off to the Schuylkill River. I've never run eight miles before, and it can be difficult to get motivated if you're running alone. I got on the trail and the road seemed endless out in front of me. As my feet hit the pavement, images flashed through my head of the past four years. Recovering from each new surgery, re-learning how to walk three separate times. Each time I would drag myself out the door and hit the trail on crutches, a cane, and finally my own two feet. During those times, the road seemed endless too. I felt as hard as I tried, as strong as I was, I could never reach the end of that road. All I could do was keep my head down and power through each step.

Today the sun was out and the leaves were turning, and I kept my head up to absorb everything around me. The river ran along next to me as I traveled further and further. And would you believe somewhere around mile 4 a monarch butterfly flew along with me for a few seconds? If you recall this post from almost exactly a year ago, you'll understand my life continuing to come full circle.

The road used to be so frightening to me because it was boundless and I never knew when or if I could get off it. Now I'm realizing that's the beauty of it. The road stretched out in front of me and I released my feet and just ran. For the first time, I enjoyed how limitless it was. Because this time I could keep running.