Frost Glow

We've seen the fog glow in the moonlight on early morning runs under the moon. The fog seems to have a life of its own. Whenever I see it, I still remember my childhood suspicion that the fog was the aggregate of the spirits of Indians who lived on that land in prior times. This morning the sky was utterly clear. On the way out, it was still dark and full of stars, but on the return it had turned into an expanse of glowing blue. When we came upon the commons, Denise asked me if there was a fog over it. Instead, we realized that it was the heavy frost glowing under the sky. It was glowing pale blue. Frost glow.

April Frost

The morning opened with a veneer of frost on rooftops and exposed lawns. We worry about the hummingbirds during late season chills. The feeder at the kitchen window keeps us apprised of their spring time arrival and level of activity. I dread to see a sudden drop in squabbling over the sugar water in the feeder after a cold spring night.

I ran 6.5 today. Its been eight years since I returned to running. At the time, I picked up a book on marathon training and was depressed to see the long run of the first week of training was 6 miles. There was no way I could do that distance when I started again. For the past several years, my standard 6 mile run is the backbone of my weekly training program, doing 3 or 4 runs like that each week. All around me at work coworkers of my age are in full physical decline. They don't even seem to be aware that there is an alternative.

My plan this year is to slowly build the daily 6-miler into a daily 8 or 9 miler.

April Full Moon

It the end of April and the month's full moon is brightening the pre-dawn sky. The hours I spend every week running outdoors synchronizes my mind with the cycle of day, month, and year. I celebrate each dawn, each full moon, each spring as a new beginning. We tell ourselves that we get to choose our course at each beginning, but the past exerts a strong influence on determining the future. When we do not think, when we act out of the habituation of so many rehearsed previous actions, we give up our control of the new beginning nature lays before us.