Running Queen

Queen's "We Will Rock You." is playing in my ears.  I can feel the weight of my High School's standard issue sweatshirt around my shoulders.  The thick gray jersey keeping out the chill from a crisp Minnesota afternoon.  The sun is beginning to set, even now as we are just out of school.  I'm shoulder to shoulder with my fellow runners.  We sound like a mass of locusts coming through the woods; the nylon from our pants rubbing and shifting on us as we warm up.  My pants are too large and with every other step I have to adjust them.  I try to run with just one arm, the other holding up my pants.  Through the woods we run.  Leaves crunch beneath us.  Tree branches give way.  We hop and jump over random tree roots.  Free.  Powerful.  Unaware that there is any other way to spend an afternoon....

Suddenly, an earbud falls out of my left ear and I hear the pounding music from the sound system in Gold's Gym.  I look down from the treadmill loft and see people hefting barbells over their heads.  I realize it is 6:30am and I best get on with my day.