+Photo by Gervyn Louis on Unsplash

Gasping for breath, I impatiently rush to unlock my phone so that I can change the song booming in my headphones. At this point, keeping the “hype tempo” at levels consistent with my heart rate is so helpful! And minutes before changing songs, the app tracking distance traveled, just let me know my jog is coming to a finish. Usually, when you get to this part of the run, your mindset shifts from, “You should probably slow down or stop” to “You’re already three quarters done, speed up, challenge yourself!”

Inside myself, I wonder what the drivers passing by are thinking. Once upon a time, WAY BEFORE I was this person, currently on the side of the road, taking these long-distance runs/jogs. I started as a driver, wondering what the runner was thinking while jogging in the cities opposite direction. Ironically enough, the gains I was headed into town to grab, was a huge cheeseburger and fries and maybe even a large vanilla milkshake.

You see, I had it all flip-flopped when it came to pleasing my appetite. I mean, sure, food is great! It was my way of rewarding myself, I guess, that was terrible. Just because yesterday, I almost got close to taking that same jog as the person on the side of the road. It was as if “wishing” I could be the runner was like running on a treadmill. I was getting somewhere in thought but had no sense of direction like where to start and always ended up nowhere, physically.