Running at the start of the evening on the first day of fall

Running with Tim over the course of two years was such an enriching experience, but on days like today I can’t help but acknowledge how great running alone can be. Once again, I didn’t get out until after dinner because of everyone’s schedules, but we had an early dinner so I was out the door at 6:45, when there was still plenty of light, albeit grayish, in the sky. The temperature was mild; it was ninety minutes past the official start of autumn. Belle and I ran for 30 minutes, looping through the Center and then up to the soccer fields and back.

Two nights ago I was frustrated not to get out until evening, but today it seemed like the ideal time. The kids had a half-day at school and my workday was shortened even further by a volunteer stint at the school library and the need to bring a casserole up to the teachers’ luncheon before dismissal time, so I didn’t want to cut into my work time for a run. And then the kids and I spent the whole afternoon together with what could best be described as a mercurial ambience. Holly had a friend over for a while and they played together very happily – they sang and did art projects – but the friend ended up in tears when it was time to leave. Tim woke up this morning seeming utterly exhausted and didn’t shake off his air of melancholy weariness all day – I know this because I saw him during my volunteer time midmorning – then at 2 PM fell into a sound sleep from which I had to wake him for his 3:00 trumpet lesson.

Later in the afternoon, I suggested both of them do their homework in the kitchen while I start preparing dinner, which sounded like a cozy plan and for a while it was, but then at some point Holly flogged Tim with her blanket, which infuriates him, and then he teased her for counting window panes instead of windows when the assignment asked how many windows our house had, and then Holly dissolved in tears when I told her that since the assignment said “Use a lot of colors in your drawing of your house,” she had to use some colors, and also that if she didn’t know today’s date she had to research it rather than put a question mark on the date line at the top of the paper. As I said, mercurial.

All of which is why I was guiltily delighted to take off right after dinner for a run, and it was such a good run, too. Not just because of the solitude but even physically it was great; my breathing was very steady, for some reason, and my pace felt just right. I listened to a “Fresh Air” podcast, first an interview with Lebron James and then a story about a Palestinian filmmaker. Terry Gross is such an inspiration to me; I learn so much from listening to her interview people, especially those with whom she seems to have so little in common like Lebron James. Her interview over the summer with comic Artie Lange was one of the most interesting segments of radio I’ve ever heard.

Belle and I didn’t pass any other runners or even any drivers we recognized; we just sailed along through the gathering dusk, happy to be out alone in the cooling air as the day, and in fact the summer of 2009, drew to an end. Running in the midmorning has been great lately, but sometimes the end of the day is best: for the peace, the solitude, the closure it brings on whatever has happened during the course of the day.