Ted's Run for Literacy

It’s been a while since I’ve last run the Assiniboine Forest trails. Located in Winnipeg’s Charleswood neighbourhood, this hidden gem is the largest urban forest in Canada. It was destined to be razed for housing, but was saved in 1971 thanks to concerned citizens and naturalists (source Wikipedia).

This morning I run these trails, humbled in the moment, humbled in the beauty.

I run these trails with a blank mind and an open heart. I’m taken with the immense beauty, the solitude, the tall grass, the old growth aspen forest bustling with life, the lush vegetation. A deep blanket of fresh wood chips soften my steps as I run languid loops around a pond thick with towering bullrushes.

I run these trails to quiet my brain and, paradoxically, to open my mind. Colours and smells flood my senses. I think of those I love. I think of where I am and where I need to be. My thought are more dream-like than tangible. I am razor focussed in the moment. My thoughts are a complex amalgam of sadness for the state of the world and happiness for my being. I am content in this moment as endorphins flood my brain.

It’s a good day to be alive.

See Mike Run

Playlist: John Craigie, Jake Blount, Boris