tonight I ran

Like everyone, I am saddened by what happened at the 117th Boston Marathon yesterday.  There are some really evil people out there. But I believe that most people are good.  I have faith in humanity and I see evidence every day that it is, indeed, a beautiful life. 

I have not been in a running routine lately.  I've had a knee injury, been working a lot, gone skiing, biking, drinking, making cakes and generally avoiding lacing up my sneakers for a jog around the track, the park or the neighborhood.  When I got home from work this afternoon, after all this talk of the bombings and the people racing and the fans and the injured, I felt compelled to just go for a  run.  It was snowy and cold and muddy and windy, but, being that I live in Colorado, I own some fabulous Gore-Tex trail running shoes, wool socks, an awesome running beanie and all the layers you would ever need to run in temperatures down to zero.  So on this sloppy post-spring-snowstorm evening, I layered up and I went outside and I ran. 

While I was out I thought about the races I've done myself or been on the sidelines of, cheering my friends on - only two of them were of the magnitude of the Boston Marathon.  But I thought about how it could have been any of my friends or family members that had been injured or killed in the same manner as the Boston participants and spectators, and I thanked God that it wasn't.  And then I thought about how pretty the snow was, and how great my dog is and how wonderful Mr. Blueberry Pancakes is.  I thought about my friends here and how I get to go to Moab with some of them this weekend.  I watched the snow fall in big clumps from the branches of the giant beautiful trees that line the streets of my neighborhood.  I smelled the smoke from the chimneys of several houses, and smiled at the other people who were out walking their dogs or doing their own runs. And I had a magnificent, exhilarating run in the cold quiet snow-covered wonderland.  I can't think of anything I would rather have been doing this evening. 

May God bless you and keep you safe, and may you and your loved ones live to hug each other another day.