now i've done it. i have crowbar-ed sky and ground apart as each fades into its own, separate color, and run right between them. i don't know if i have a need to feel like the only person surviving a michael bay apocalyptic film, or if i am simply terrified that while i run i look like a shambling, shuffling fool...and people will be able to see. either way, i ran later today that i usually do.
my runner friends will understand this. i am still a boiling-over pot of sensation--tactile, olfactory, auditory, visual. today, i turned a corner (actually, i turned several...duh! my runs are rarely in a straight line) in my progress, and the tactile joy was the most immediate sense tugging on my sleeve for attention. any runner can tell you the difference between that feeling where feet are pushed into the ground and legs ache from the lift, and the sense that one's inertia is moving the body along, and the steps are there only to insure that the runner stays tethered to the ground. it's the difference between jogging and running, and when one flips the switch between them, oh, but does it feel good. that sensation is only surpassed by the roll of heel-ball-toes-flight of each step.
remarkable.
the visuals stepped in to knock tactile sensation out of place. i watched a mother cat and two kittens dissolve down the street, looking for a place to spend the night safely. i was treated to the sight of those way-way up concentric circles of spiderwebs between phone lines that one just doesn't get to see when sun-blind. i smiled to myself as i watched my shadow catch, pace, pass me, then grow longer in front of me as i pounded past each streetlight.
not to be outdone by the pretenders to the throne, my closest friends will tell you that my favorite of the five senses is smell (right, nate?) i believe that scents are time machines that can only take you very short distances in the past, and only to places you've actually been. because it is 4th of july weekend, the smell of lighter fluid and charcoal were the ghosts of barbecues recently dead as i ran through memories of cookouts and backyard parties.
it was only sound that kept me focused enough to actually finish (and, evidently, split my infinitives) the run. i use the i-pod james gave me to drown out the sound of my breathing. now that i'm home, i remember the argument romeo and juliet had about the birdcalls they heard as they woke. she, wanting him to stay, pleaded that it was the nightingale, and that there was time left for sleep. he, fearing her family, warned that it was the lark to signal the start of day. right now, i'm siding with juliet and using these bird sounds as a sleep aid. time for bed.
...if you're interested, here is the playlist i use to block out my mini-heart attacks. don't judge me.
1. heartbeats--jose gonzales (a cover of a song by the knife)
2. now this is fun--depeche mode (its own version of a time machine, catapulting me back to senior year track meets)
3. music for a found harmonium--patrick street (if you are not familiar, it is the tune played towards the end of napolean dynamite)
4. young lions--constantines (a rare few of you will know how important this song is to me)
5. breathe in--frou frou
6. fake empire--the national (lyrics, man. it's always the lyrics that get me)
7. space age love song--flock of seagulls (remember what i said about not judging?)
8. in the morning--junior boys (good beat...'nuff said)
9. haiti--arcade fire (anyone for whom i have made a mix in the last five years has heard this song)
10. heartbeats--the knife (see track 1)
11. timebomb--old 97's (used in the movie clay pigeons. best. opening. scene. ever.)
12. down by the water--pj harvey (the music actually undulates in the ear!)
13. fine-james
14. having an average weekend--shadowy men on a shadowy planet (kids in the hall? anyone? anyone?)
15. nemesis--shriekback (only because at this point, i need to siphon fake energy from somewhere).
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