running with the dogs

i used to do it when i was a little kid...like really little. i was an only child in the country and they were my pals, those dogs. we'd run through trees, chasin' stuff.

as a teenager, w/ out a dog, i'd go to back to where i was a child and run through the hilly woods between ponds and swamps. i liked how i had to dodge and jump. nimble on my toes, i felt like a deer.

i'm trying to run with my dogs here in town. the dog park is all we've got for open space nearby. i don't schlep heavy buckets of feed now, or muck pens or throw bales of hay. city life, under the right circumstances, is so easily sedentary. my wheels spin and spin and spin.

so i run.

now, i'm not a very good runner really. i don't get very far. at all.

but i notice just a bit farther each time. my lungs expanding just a bit more. my abdominals carrying me just a bit better, less impact on my knees.
i like running up hill.


i like how the colors get brighter when i get lots of oxygen.

i like the sound of my breath.