August 29 (10 miles)

It's often difficult for me to peel myself away from the couch, or the computer, or my own daydreams. Daydreams have their own importance, though, and shouldn't be ignored. That's the real reason I originally started running: an hour or more of time inside my mind, uninterupted by other people or television or music or internet or anything other than my own thoughts. Running allows me time to unfocus and let the brain's natural chaos overflow its banks. It doesn't shake me back to reality but actually allows me to delve further inward.

So my mind drifts in a daydream and I decide to go for a run, the reveries grow deeper and wider and consume my whole range of vision. Mental knots get untied, or maybe I realize there was never a knot to begin with.

Today I ran and ran and ran so long, 95 degrees outside, until I stopped sweating and my body just seemed to emit these white salt crystals. I could probably bottle and sell this stuff at the farmer's market. "Locally made, organic human salt." Perhaps I should save the stuff and put it on my own food. Wonder if it might taste better that way. I usually tend to avoid any kind of human anything in my food. A curly hair in my sandwich, for example, is promptly removed.