Night Run

not my picture.
I was going to go back with my camera
but I had already said my goodbyes.

It was a beautiful February night as I headed out for my evening run at 5:45 just after the sun had set. Earlier I had watched the huge lava ball ignite the sky and was disappointed that I had missed the spectacle of it all out on my usual running route on Freeman Rd. It was dark when I began my ascent out of the village and as I reached the top of the hill I was greeted by a huge full moon sitting low in the clear black sky. I couldn't believe how bright and large it appeared and seemed to follow me on my right shoulder as I ran north, further and further away from the village on the desolate country road. After a few kms I turned west with the moon now at my back I smiled as I realized it would be waiting for me when I turned around at the other end. Unlike a sunset which is fleeting, I knew the moon wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and looked forward to spending some more time with my lunar friend in another 2kms. I was running a bit conservatively and decided I didn't want to run any faster with a sore quad and knowing I had the tempo tomorrow. The further down the road I got the more the clean pavement gave way to patchy clumps of ice and snow and I really needed to be sure footed, picking and choosing where to land my feet. With my mind busily keeping to the task at hand it was not long before I had reached the end and turning around I was once again greeted by the bright white orb in the cool winter sky. In contrast to the warming rays of the sun the Moon's glow was fittingly cool like the night. Now running towards it, the moon had become a huge omnipresent streetlamp keeping me company along the way and lighting my path home. I even turned off my headlamp and ran entirely by moonlight and though I knew I was alone I did not feel that way. So I ran steady, perhaps picking up my pace a bit and turned heading south,, with the moon just behind my left shoulder now, I said goodbye and did not look back again as I ran home alone in the dark of night but it was not dark and I was not alone.

I found out later the moon I saw was called "the full snow moon".

I had a 3 inspirations today, one leading to the other and then to the other. Together and alone they each reinforced the same thing, that I need to go out and do what I need to do to get done what needs to be done. I am ready, willing and able, now all I need is the time, which I must beg, borrow and steal. Time is the precious commodity that I am constantly rationing, endlessly running out of, feverishly chasing after and painstakingly bartering for.
And this from the last of my inspirations-
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”…George Eliot