Some days it all converges, a perfect symphony plays out and unfolds before you. It as if the red carpet is being laid perfectly in front of you and the world seems to be completely yours. It is within these moments we grasp on and lock them down in the memory bank to use when the times get tough later.

Today, our Strength and Conditioning Coach at work, Josh Bullock, set off to help correct some glaring deficiencies in my movement patterns based off a test we did before I headed off to Utah. Basically, I do a funky move at the end of a step which is adding to the hip pains I am currently working out. He took an hour out of his day to help me work on these patterns. Basically, we are retraining my brain to move correctly. I worked through a series of exercises with were completely easy to the onlooker but much more difficult in practice. After a good session with Josh, I headed back to my office, the plus of working at an athletic school. I  finished up work for the day and headed out for the trails.

The weather was perfect, the black flies have yet to turn vicious and the temps were just around 70 degrees with a slight breeze. My first run of the season in shorts and a t-shirt, not including my flip-flop adventure yesterday. I headed out to Deer’s Leap a quick mile uphill trail nearby. I headed up the trail and felt myself moving, passing a few hikers along the way. Sixteen minutes later I was at the top of the mountain. I remember a year ago psyched when I broke twenty minutes on the way up. Pretty happy I headed the long way back down turning the run into just over a 5k.

I found myself moving along the trail, bounding off rocks, flying over the muddy sections and smiling the whole time. This is the first run in the a long time I just felt myself alone in nature and at one with myself. A calm fell over me, my shoulders relaxed down, and my speed picked up. Towards the end of the run I was flying. As I reached the end of the run it had barely been 40 minutes since I went out and yet I felt as through I had spent a lifetime in the woods. I hopped in my car relaxed contented, oh and a little muddy.

Truly, nothing in life is quite like the feeling of running through the woods alone with just you, yourself, and your thoughts. It was the symphony of life playing out all around me this afternoon. This evening I relaxed in with some leftover curry, sat on my porch soaking in the evening listening to the Ingrid Michealson Pandora station, and watching the world come to an end with the faint sound of a brook in the background. Truly the symphony of life playing out all around me.