Dear Xiaozi,
Now you already know I had another 70-min run in heat yesterday, Sunday. But as promised, I am writing you a message about my running anyway.
Crazy ideas like running at 98 degrees and high humidity always excite me. This is no exception. Thinking about how you would be impressed, I left home and started to run at 1:08PM, the hottest time during the day. I couldn’t wait for any longer. I brought a bottle of water with me, which proved to be smart later.
It wasn’t too bad. I was telling myself so. I know you wouldn’t agree if you were here. It was hot, even worse, it was also humid. I won’t give up readily once I started. This is one of very few things that I am determined or strong-minded about. I followed the same route. I wasn’t sure how far I could run.
The first thing I noticed about the canal was the smell, a smell of sun-dried sea grass. The trail was of course still green, but the greenness seemed burned and dried out. As expected, the trail was almost empty. Occasionally people who were riding bike would pass by me, most of the time they were a couple. It was so quite that I could hear clearly these sounds: my own breath, my footstep, the water bottle and the rustling keys in my right pocket. I was a sophisticated and boring song by smoothly moving myself forward.
Very soon after entering the canal trail, I decided to run as far as last time. I was thinking about you. Do you remember we played tennis on a concrete court for 2 hours in one smoky hot summer afternoon, when we were dating? It was like 15 years ago, wasn’t it? I vividly remember everything about that afternoon, the heat, the sun, the sweat, the fun, the smile, both of us totally soaked…You said I looked like a lobster in boiling water…Now here, I was sweating, I was like a lobster in boiling water, but I was alone, I missed you.
The hardest part of the run was the uphill right by side of the canal. It was 2pm; the road smelled funny. I got some goose bumps on my arms. I might be de-hydrated. You need to make sure you stay hydrated in summer, OK?
I saw a street sign “Newton ST” hanging on the wall of someone’s garage. It could be two reasons: this family used to live on Newton Street or this family’s last name is Newton. I decided it must be the last one. If one happened to open the door while I was passing, I would say hi, Mr. or Mrs. Newton. What do you think? Here is another tip for running alone: play little games with yourself while bored.
I didn’t immediately go back to air-conditioned home after I finished. I went to the tennis court to do some stretch. Standing under the big trees, I closed my eyes and just wanted to feel the little breeze and listen to bird singing. That feeling was wonderful, just wonderful. I was in my childhood, adolescence, and adulthood before we came to US. I was also who I am now. I was with you. I was all alone too.
You know what happened afterwards. You called me and I asked you to guess what kind of situation I was in. You said: just came back from running and you were all sweaty. I couldn’t help laughing out loudly. How can you know me so well? You warned me not to run in the morning and now you were so impressed. I enjoyed it.
Keep running!
Love, HM
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