There's beauty in a morning run

If you know me personally, you may know that I've recently lost 16 pounds - in part by curbing my hedonistic glutton ways, and in part by exercising at the gym almost daily. The beauty in working out at 5:30am before work is that you're done and don't need to make up excuses for why you can't hit the gym after work. You also make better decisions about food all day. This summer, I have found that contrary to the feelings I've had about it my entire life, running is actually an enjoyable thing to do as well. To enjoy running, first and foremost, you need good shoes. I learned this the hard way when I started having knee pain after a few consecutive days of running. After an Internet medical self-diagnosis, I discovered I had flat feet. It really hurt my ego at first (ducks have flat feet), but then I got proactive. I went to a store specifically geared to runners and spent a million dollars on some kick-ass sneakers, and my knees are now fine. Secondly, you need good music. Thirdly, you need a destination. Katie told me about http://www.mapmyrun.com/ where you can click and drag your route and see how far you've run. Finally, you're off. The beauty of morning running for exercise, is that there is actually beauty in it as well. My observations this morning:

• One neighbor majorly expanded and changed the shape of her garden. She added some very pretty hot pink annuals around the beds. It was quite lovely.
• Grace's yellow gladioli are beautiful in full bloom and her window boxes positively glow.
• The city must have removed weeds that had enveloped the creek, because there is beauty in the sight and sound of a gently flowing stream.
• One neighbor had a great iron planter mounted on her house, planted with annuals. I need to figure out where to get one of these - it would work perfectly on a blank space on the front of my house.
• One neighbor had thriving squash and tomato plants hidden behind his hostas right in front of his house.
• One neighbor has the really cool money plants growing in the shade of his front yard.
• One garden was planted with annuals, weeded and mulched meticulously, and decorated with 6 inch Mickey Mouse statues.

There's beauty in the fact that during an early morning run, my neighbors don't really see me ogling their gardens. One morning, I was so bold as to stop, and on tip toes, actually peek over the fence of a neighbor's garden (it was a beautiful vegetable garden with meandering path). I can run past plain lawns, and slow to a light jog in front of gardens I like and that I want to remember details of.

There's beauty in the fact that on this Monday morning, I estimated that about 90% of homes in my neighborhood had gardens of some size and of some style, that someone has been tending. Every garden did not necessarily fit my taste, but there's beauty in the fact that in my neighborhood, people work to make their little spot in the world a little more beautiful.