Morning Run Photos

September 16, 2024

I’ve been trying to push myself on my runs, lately. I was at a point where I was doing some higher distances (9K/10K), but feel like I lost a lot of that when I went on a short hiatus.

I’ve just gotten back into the swing of things, and am trying to get myself re-acclimated to the process (and inherent discomfort) of running again.

Today, I had a goal of waking up early and trying to get 5K in before the start of my day. Despite being able to wake up early (circa 6AM), by the time I’m ready and have eaten enough snacks/fuel to start the run… it’s closer to 7AM.

Still, I’m happy to say I got my distance in today. Of late, I’ve been running faster than I should, and need to re-learn how to go at a much slower pace. It’s resulting in me having faster times, but I’m feeling more exhaustion earlier than before.

This morning, I was able to pull things back more… and got my 3.1 miles done in a fairly comfortable manner. Along the way, I spotted a few things.

A note about a note. Incredibly meta.

I know this was meant for a kid, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of this note I saw while roaming downtown Chicago.

A lot of cats. I think the technical term here (if we’re talking about collective nouns) is a Clowder of Cats.

A very stylish cat.

I was reminded a lot of a Japanese fairly tale that used to scare me a lot, as a young child: The Boy Who Drew Cats.

The story ends well, but it has some creepy undertones that always unnerved me, whenever I read it.

While these images were drawings done by children on a lazy, weekend afternoon… a part of me viewed them as talismans. And the memory of that fairy tale made me imagine these cats as guardians, where they would stand sentry.

A block or two away, I passed by this lovely vehicle just parked along the street. It felt like a good moment for a photo, and I dug the car enough to stop running and slow down to just capture the moment.