My Morning Run

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Tangled limbs unwind
Toes testing the air to find
A sign of some kind
A reason to tuck back under the covers.
And remain blind
To the dawning of a new day.

But the desire to run smothers
Any physical ease
The mind already focussed on the run
The physiological tease
Paired with the need to
Be outside and see
The first rays of morning sun.

Breaking the horizon
Like a surfacing titan
A blinding Poseidon
Lifting his head from the sleepy abyss 
Drawing me from my slumbering bliss
Not wanting to miss
The sun’s first kiss

Witness to the day breaking
The view as breath-taking as the effort
My heart is making
To pump blood to my lungs
Inhaling, exhaling
Always exhilarating.

I seek the satisfying toil
The stretch of muscles and sinews as they uncoil
Lungs filling with fresh sea air
Cleansing body and mind
Legs turning in time
Until I find my  rhythm, the grace
Of a perfect pace.

No trace of fatigue
I’m simply consumed by the need
To run and be freed
From the stresses and strife
Of daily life.
Hoping to experience
The runners high 
To empty my mind
And fly, fly, fly.

That floating feeling
Like I’m awake but still dreaming
Managing to transcend
The physical plane
To render all thoughts captive in their train
Awareness and presence
Combined in their essence
Elusive as phosphorescence
Traveling by foot, the very essence
Of the human experience.

Not just physical
But spiritual
A meditative ritual
A practice now habitual
The best start to the day
And a way
To keep the black dog at bay.

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