I am not a runner.
Sometimes I try to convince myself that I am. I'll get a surge of motivation, lace up my Nike's and hit the road. About .2 miles down the road, I come back to the realization that I am not a runner.
But, one night, I was. Briefly. And, because I ran for just one hour, I was able to witness something. Something that I had witnessed one hundred times before, but never quite like this.
And, it was quite worthy of a celebration.
I live fairly close to the shoreline of Lake Superior, the most superior lake, in my humble opinion. It is well known that the Gitchi Gumee is powerful. It can create massive, disastrous storms. But, when we live so close to it for quite some time, it is easy to forget about its' power.
The night that I decided to take a run down to the shore was a somewhat eerie night, the sky had a red glow over it and it was very misty- my feet were soaked when I got home.
I started my run, got short of breath in my run, but decided to keep going. I ran until I hit the water, or the water hit me based on your perspective. The waves were big. Not big enough to be dangerous from where I was, but it almost felt like it was building larger and larger; gaining more strength with every surge towards the shore.
I could see the glittering lights of town to the right and left of me along the shore, but they were dim. And when I looked straight out, I saw glistening darkness with an faded red blanket laying over top of it. I had never witnessed Lake Superior like this.
When I began to think about the massive size of the lake, it was frightening- like the water could reach up in just one instant and swallow me whole. No one would ever have known. Woosh. Just like that. Swept out into the water.
It was a moment that scared and humbled me. Mother Nature's forces are so much stronger than little ole' me. But, in the incredible strength, there are mulitudes of beauty.
And that is worth celebrating.
Beautifully written. Makes me wish I was there.
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