I live for the weekends

I went running for the first time in over a month Monday morning. It felt good. Especially because 60% of that run was a trail run on a dirt path through the forest. I haven't been trail running since I left Alaska two summers ago and how I have missed it. Running felt so good - just stretching my legs, waking up muscles that haven't been used, getting my lungs so thirsty for oxygen, reminding my body that sometimes it needs to work hard. And doing all this, not with the jolting impact of foot to pavement, not with the struggle to breathe while avoiding car exhaust fumes, but in poofs of red dust, crunches of leaves, and frenetic, bounding leaps to avoid rocks, roots, and other potential ankle-spraining hazards. There is something really liberating and primal about trail running - like my body is remembering life as a prey animal running from saber-tooth tigers or velociraptors. The only problem is, before getting out there, I have to build up the motivation to brave to weather. I had every intention of running again this morning, but after a poor night of sleep, here I am writing instead of bundling up for another frosty winter jog.

I discovered this trail last week - I live to the west of a big mountain park - in fact of I have a nice view of it from my classroom/office.

Work is alright, its pretty easy aside from the two classes of middle school boys I deal with, and I've got a lot of free time. So really, what's been most exciting about being here is outside of work. Well, outside, period. I'm pretty stoked about the fact that even though I live in a typical densely populated Asia city, where skyscraping condos line the streets I walk to work, I can find dirt and trees.

My first sojourn to this neighborhood mountain was over the weekend, where I first discovered that a 25 minute climb up out of the traffic led to a panoramic view of the city -- of a bustling, working, urban hub nestled innocuously in the crook of a rolling mountain landscape.

There were some burial mounds along the trail, and I decided that if I were to die, a final resting spot affording such a view wouldn't be such a bad place to spend eternity.