Yesterday was a glorious day. Today is going to be even better.

Started with a 4am alarm clock ding and a speedy change to meet up with friends to run a 5 mile route. I had no idea what I was going to witness. We all met in the parking lot in the pitch black with only a flashlight to light our path on the roads.

I had never been on this route before, and there is something to be said about not knowing. Experiencing it all for the first time, like a new born touching an object. We ran through neighborhoods and then out to the farming fields.

Here is where we met the break of the dawn and welcomed the early sunrise. Sonnets by the most famous poets could not do justice to what we saw. To simply hold presence as the sun raised its majesty and shone upon the earth was divinely inspiring. Purples, yellows, pinks, and reds dancing with each other as they bowed to the grandeur of the sunlight.

To witness this was sheer magic and then with gratitude in our hearts we pushed forward back on track. Beautiful bridges and ponds and little waterfalls presented themselves as we ran back towards town. It was soon that we came upon peeping lights in the windows of the homes turn on, and some cars drove off out of their driveways and the smell of coffee emanated from the local grind cafes.

The birds stirred, the squirrels yawned and in the silence the orchestra of 3 pairs of shoes hitting the gravel of the road filled my ears. Thump, thump, thump went the beat. Sometimes in synchrony other times out of order, but the music of our shoes echoed the gratitude of our hearts to be able to complete this run with each step.

“ It does not suck to be us today huh?” My friend turned to me and nodded.

I replied “ Who has it better than us in this moment.”

This was an acknowledgment of each other and for how we set the tone for our day to proceed.

When we bid each other farewell back at the parking lot, with the beads of sweat pouring down like rain drops we took the obligatory selfie and went our separate ways with the promise to meet again soon for our “Rise and Shine” early morning run. I stopped at the traffic light to capture the city welcoming the bright star as it began its constitutional climb through the sky marking it as day.

The greatest learning for me in this experience was simply to surrender to the moment and enjoy it. I had no idea how the run was going to pan out, nor the route, nor how I was going to feel. I just went with it. And my reward was to observe nature’s awakening and see how a town stirs and rises. I saw many a person at the bus stop, and where the homeless travelled and began their walkabouts. To map out a small part of town and understand the life that exists there, was educational at the least, and enlightening at the most.

Always be open to the wonder of the day. Breathe it in, merge with it, and then set it free. Each of us have a choice to dictate what we do each day and how we intend to let the day effect us and how to proceed through a series of choices perceptions, decisions and actions.

Immense gratitude to my friends Melvin Lwm Jeff Castonguay and Suzanne Natale who accompanied me on this trip. Each day is a training day, but no one said training days cannot be fun.
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I love you