A Run in the Park

There is a place in this concrete jungle you call home. A retreat from the waves of modernity threatening to swallow you whole. A sanctuary that can soothe your tired old soul. People call it a park. You call it your makeshift heaven on earth. The first time you came here, you ran along a footpath that cut through the trees and claimed it as your own. You learned the contours of the ground beneath your feet as the stars started to come out one by one.

 

It is hard at first, running in the park. Your muscles scream and your heart threatens to beat out of your chest. There is a voice in your head that tells you to stop every few minutes. On some weekends, you don’t even want to get out of bed. Some days, other runners overtake you – they look so effortless in their running that you can’t help but be envious.

 

Then it gets a little bit better. You find that you can run a little bit further and breathe a little bit easier. Still, your body rebels and the voice in your head is as loud as ever. But you have come up with different ways to deal with this. You tell yourself, just a little bit more. Let’s just try to run until that bend in road. Then, just a little bit more. Until that vending machine. Until you have counted to 100. Now you are already at the sixth lamp post. Just two more to go. Before you know it, you have run more than you thought you were capable of.

 

And you learn to enjoy the runs more. You stop comparing yourself with other runners. You know how far you have come and how much further you will have to go. You also notice more. You slow down to listen to a street performer singing. You make sure to memorize the way the sky slowly changes color during sunset. You watch people as they live, laugh and take photos in the park.

 

Afterwards, you stop in front of a big fountain in the park.

 

Clouds shift overhead. Somewhere, someone laughs. People come and go. A bicycle passes. The fountain sprays water into the air. Your heart beats loudly.

 

And you think..

 

How nice it is to be alive.

 

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It’s already the beginning of another journey around the sun.

You know it’s not going to be a walk in the park.

But it can be another run in the park.

 

Just put one foot in front of the other.

 

Slow and steady.

 

This is not a race.

 

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