For a 36-mile run through rolling wooded hills on December 29th , I saw surprisingly little. But I did see three Pileated Woodpeckers, their laughs echoing through the forest.
They seemed to be laughing at me, and who wouldn’t? I had decided that it would be fun to run the entire Waterloo-Pinckney Trail. In the middle of winter. I even laughed at myself as I peered up a hill whose end seemed to be lost in the whirling snow. I thought of what I could be doing instead: drinking hot chocolate, or eating a large meal, or eating dark chocolate. Or sleeping. After a couple of eons, I reached the top of the hill. The view was dazzling. The snow swirled above a scenic landscape and a flock of robins gorged themselves on berries beside a small creek.
The combined pain in my legs and the serenity and beauty of the scene made me truly feel alive. This was fun.
