There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and Music in it's roar.
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

-George Gordon, Lord Byron-

It's been almost a year since I graduated from college, and looking back over this year I am amazed at the life that I have somehow stumbled into.

Living with the brother and SIL, they've given me a foundation like no other. We started running together when I first moved up here, and after a year I've found that I can go farther, push myself harder, dig the burn and sweat and breathlessness. My dad told me that running gets under your skin, that if you stick with it you will find yourself going for runs to clear your head, relax, refocus. I've found it to be a way for me to shake off the days and lose myself in simple motion, one foot in front of the other and again. As our day to day lives have all shifted drastically, more often than not I'm running by myself or with the puplet, and that is a feeling like no other, simply because every day I run I can look back at the mile, or 3 miles, or 10 miles and think, that's what I did today. And I did that on my own. My SIL reminded me over and over that it's not about winning the race, it's about starting it at all. And one of the house mottos is "first mile, worst mile", which has spilled over into every bit of my world.

As I went through high school and college, I often found myself wondering if I'd missed out on some community by not being raised in any sort of religion. Not that I'm religious at all, but there was always a community there that I never experienced. And I always wondered what it would be like to be able to put your faith so wholeheartedly into one thing, one belief, one idea. What it would be like to have a place to return like that on days when you doubt yourself, your choices, your world. And as much as I have vowed to put my faith in humanity first, and as much as I believe more than ever that people are good at heart, and that the work that my friends and family I do does make a difference, there are days where it is simply impossible for me to return to the idea of humanity as my touchstone. This is where running has suddenly broken through for me. At first it was a way to get in shape, keep my head up and out of depression, something to do with my family. But somewhere along the way the very philosophy behind the simple motion crept into my heart and I have realized that in a way my religion is found in running. I don't say that to degrade anyone else's faith in any deity whatsoever, by the way!! Just wanted to make that disclaimer, and perhaps religion is too strong a word. I have found faith in the act of running, a place and action I can return too on bad days and good, and it is an unexpected joy.