Running on Full

This morning I managed a full run of my old jogging route!

Less than a minute into my run I could just feel that my energy was going to hold, and sure enough I managed to complete the full circuit without slowing to a walk. Given my recent difficulties with running and the icy ruts on the flash-frozen sidewalks today, I wasn't expecting to get very far. Let's hear it for surpassing low expectations!

Until I can do the full route consistently, I'll continue to supplement my running with walks whenever I can. On just such a walk through Mount Pleasant Cemetery last month, I had the breathtaking experience of spotting a very large hawk swoop low among the gravestones and land on tree close to me. Its huge wing span (four to five feet, I would guess) was hard to miss, and even with wings folded, the bird appeared too large for the tree in which it perched. I managed to snap a photo with my crappy cell phone camera, but it doesn't do justice to this majestic bird:

Here's hoping this is a symbol of how my health and energy will soar in the year to come (we'll ignore the symbolic implications of this being a bird of prey in a cemetery).