run to love

i have a lot to talk about.  but for a moment, i revert to an old summer subject: run.

i learned to run (and learned to love to run) in ivins.  well, behind ivins, actually.  back in those weaving red canyons, i learned to talk to my Heavenly Father - really talk; i learned to be happy, learned to love myself.  a large portion of that learning peace came from the surrounding peace of the mountains, the barely-dawn light, chirping birds, silent streets, sparse housing.  there, back in that desperate-clinging-overpowering peace, is self-discovery, is God-discovery.  there, it's easy to pull my legs out from under the covers and into my running shoes, easy to get on that running trail.

naturally, then, returning to provo-running is more than slightly jarring.  stop signs at every corner, backpacks back and forth on every street, crowding the thin sidewalks.  houses with no yards or stacked right on top of each other.  thousands of other runners with their ipods and minishorts.  but peace? thought? prayer?  especially when the privacy of your own room is invaded by roommates' music and upstairs residence movie nights twenty-four hours a day, those are scarce things to come by.

yesterday, i found a slice of that mountain-peace in provo.  it resides at 6:00 am - before the beginning sunrays touch the mountains.  i don't run alone in provo, especially in pre-dawn darkness.  happily, my roommate genni is a willing *accomplice this week, enabling me to rediscover that peace.  re-recognizing that provo is capable of holding a feeling even slightly resembling my mountain-prayer-peace encourages my good-opinion-growth of the city more than ever.

so there you go.  it was dark.  it was raining beautifully and freezing cold.  but quiet, still, sleeping, inspiring, dreaming.  and i remember that i have enough love, enough love for all of provo now, too.


ps. i saw a note in a campus bathroom this morning that read: smile! remember you are a beautiful daughter of God!  it did make me smile, and i sent a silent thank you to the kind girl that reminded me.
pps. today was provo's first real snow of the season.  thick flakes falling in clumps gracefully to the ground.  and yes, they stuck on my nose and eyelashes!
ppps. and now i have officially used too many hyphens and dashes in a post... oh dear!
*also,  i know i'm not technically using the word accomplice in its proper setting. i just like it a lot. it's what came to mind! and i wanted to use it today.