Solace in Snow

In Colorado still. I have adjusted to the time zones at night.  Staying up late. But mornings find me, clock set to the mountain time zone, awake at east-coast-mother-of-young-children times. Tired. Made fragile by responsibility and negotiating life. Nerve endings too close to the surface.

So today I again—predictably by now but still always surprising to me—found solace in my running shoes. My Colorado friends have grown tired of snow. But on May 1st, there was joy and peace on a snow covered and slushy trail, the branches white, my running shoes quickly filling with ice water, snow coming down heavy and soaking my hair, stinging my exposed skin as I moved. 

About a mile in I stopped, lifted my face to the sky and breathed for long moments, tears of relief mixing with the snow on my cheeks and making me whole. Running shows me my strength and hands me the courage to trust myself. In its moment, there has never been anything more perfect.