Since March 14th, traveling any distance away from my house feels morally criminal. However, last Tuesday night after enduring my own “Groundhog Day” exercise of attempting to run 20-30min. pain-free, and failing, I decided it was time to change things up. I wasn’t at the point of eating Mike and Ike’s while driving home from therapy, but I needed a change of scenery.

The following morning I hopped in my Jeep and drove a few miles north of my house to a neighborhood with a large park, wide roads, and minimal traffic. It is the same spot where Simone and I were caught in a mini-blizzard last year.

I felt at ease immediately after closing the driver side door. Not only was I closer to nature, but I was in unfamiliar territory, which automatically simmered any expectations to return to my usual self.

A few days earlier my coach encouraged me not to use my Garmin during my runs, because seeing the actual speed I was clocking was crippling my self-esteem. I am accustomed to running a cruisey 7:35-8:15min. mi. pace, vs. 9:15-9:35min. mi. pace, and even though I am happy to be running at all, I still have an ego.

My plans were loose, but I wanted to run four miles. I love that distance. It allows enough time to get warmed up, speed up, hold onto that speed for a mile or so, and then relax into a half-mile cool down.

The route I chose alternated from smooth asphalt, to hard-packed dirt, across clumpy sidewalks, over uneven grass, up hills, down hills, and through massive mud puddles that slowed my pace, but woke up my senses. Every step was a joy. A few of them hurt. My right leg is not cured entirely, but everyday I discover and work on new ways to loosen it up and encourage healing. Although it's still a work in progress, it's working just fine.

About one and half miles in, I relaxed, leaned forward, and began to breathe in a familiar rhythm. I didn’t feel a painful twinge of any kind, just the ease of allowing my body to do what it loves the most, moving.

I'm really trying to stop my right leg from over-striding, this is an improvement.

I am not happy or healthy being stagnant and stuck in my head all day. I need to be in my body, let it take the lead and assume the stressful load my mind carries most of the time; even if it's only for a few minutes or hours, it appreciates the reprieve.

I didn’t run with music either. That’s a change for me. I LOVE running with music. But as I continue to strip down each layer to discern what really matters, works, and helps gain back the ease and bliss of running that I took for granted for decades, the tapping of my large legs and lively lungs against the ground and through the air is my new favorite soundtrack.

Gloria was right, if you let it, and I strongly recommend you do, the Rhythm will get you.

That run was awesome. It wasn’t perfect, they never are, but it was fun, empowering, enlightening, and definitely worth the drive.

I hope you all have a fantastic week, and allow yourself a change of scenery and a few chances to get out of your head and into your body, too.

The song and video choice this week is a catchy tune, and interesting video from Arcade Fire, Everything Now.

*BONUS*

I had a piece published for Live Feisty Media last week that you can read HERE.