Runnin'

Running to get somewhere. Running away from something. Running to something. Running partially parallels with my life.
          I consider the physical act of running to be one of my biggest passions. (And now I'm thinking about  what my passions consist of, but that'll be for a later date.) I wrote my college essay on running. I consider myself an avid runner.
          I run when I'm happy, sad, angry, needing to work out, needing alone time, needing to think. I run for no reason at all. For about 10 years, running has been a consistent part of my life. I always thought that I needed to run though, whether it was to deal with emotions or to stay in shape.
          Guess what? I don't. I can deal with my emotions without running, and I don't need to run to stay in shape. But the other day, while I was cooling down after a pain-free run, I surprised myself with the thought that running used to be how I lived my life, all the time.
          I wouldn't stop to smell a flower, or take in a moment. Take in the smells, the feelings, the taste, the imagery. I was always feeling this constant push to moving towards or away from something, a fast pace.
          But now, I'm slowing down, in a good way. I'm not living my life like running. I'm running for pleasure, and my life has many memories because I'm capturing those moments in time. Examples of these memories will come later.