I wrote this what seems like a lifetime ago, but was really barely 6 months ago. I was still living in Phoenix, still very unsure of my next steps in life, but, as always, still very focused on continuing to put one foot in front of the other.
Night runs have always been cathartic for me. Most of my contemporaries in the endurance sports world pride themselves on being earlybirds, but I am a proud night owl. Looking back on this run, this night, wherever it took me, I'd be lying if I said my feet were the only thing that missed it.
The night was cooler than the day, but still alive with warm petrichor. Not the natural kind, but the minerally, salty kind you only get from the "gray water" coming out of sprinklers in the desert grass. Say what you will about Scottsdale residents' thoughts on environmentalism, at least they had the decency to water their contrived grass at night - though that was probably more out of financial motives than a desire to save the planet.
His tired legs complained loudly at first. It had been a long day. Soon enough, they found a rhythm with his heart, arms, lungs. His exertion finally breathed the anxiety out of his chest and he found a sort of peace in the tapping of his feet on the pavement, even as his mind wandered.
His thoughts oscillated between the girl, the job, and the city. The flow mimicked the air coming up from the ground as he passed asphalt parking lots, wet lawns scratched out of the desert, and the hardpan of abandoned space the desert had reclaimed...
Hot, cold, neutral. Hot, cold, neutral.
The night passed without time or space according to his ever-moving feet, and he found himself surprised and his feet disappointed when he arrived again at his front step. His chest heaving, slick with sweat, he looked up at the sprinkle of stars available in spite of the city.
In that moment he knew that no matter what his feet may do; board a plane to a far off destination, sit at a desk, hurry to catch a deadline or twist the sheets next to hers, they'd always miss running through the hot night. Awake with the sounds of the city and asleep with the silence of the desert.
