Even though the morning was hot and humid, it was pleasantly cool in the shade of the wooded trail. I had never run on this particular creekside trail. Each bend and turn brought new sights and sounds and smells. Not another soul intruded upon my time in the woods. I was alone with my thoughts.
Until the last mile of my run, that is. I had remarked to myself that I had seen very little wildlife in the woods -- a box turtle was the most interesting creature to cross my path. No sooner had that idea materialized in my mind than I spotted him up ahead. A young whitetail buck stood on the edge of the trail lazily chewing some greenery. Clearly I saw him before he saw me. Once he heard my plodding footfall, he bounded back into the woods a few yards. Feelng safe he turned to look at me.
As I shuffled along at my moderate pace, we made eye contact. The young buck seemed incredulous. Why was I running? Or more to the point -- why was I running when nothing was chasing me? I smiled as I imagined the young buck voicing his question to me. I even turned back to look to make sure nothing was chasing me. There was nothing there.
But then another thought occurred to me. I looked back again. That's when I saw them, my pursuers. I was not running for no reason. At least, I wasn't running out of pure enjoyment. I was running to stay ahead of my over-40 nemeses. I was running to outpace inactivity, to fend off weight gain, to stave off disease and physical decline. These, these were my pursuers. For the time being, I am running fast enough to elude my would-be predators. But I can't slow down. I've got to keep moving, or they will catch me.
I wonder what that young buck thinks about that?
