Chasing the moonlight shadow

I had never thought that running at night could be that satisfying.

Winter is approaching and so does the cold. The problem with training during cold weather is : it takes time to warm up properly. It is difficult to cool down when the weather is hot, but when it is cold, it is the other way around. But once your body is warmed up to the optimal point, you will be flying through all the coming kilometers. At this point, the cold of the surrounding becomes good to your body. It keeps your body from overheating, something which I have to pay attention to during summer. 

As the daylight is shortened drastically, training during night time becomes inevitable. While I do all my cycling session indoor nowadays, I still jog outdoor since I don't have a treadmill or subscription or membership of any gym. Believe it or not, I have never jogged during night time before. But after first try, it turned out alright and I actually prefer during night time now.

I always jog along the Isère river : there is a cycling path along both sides of the river. Compare to summer, the number of joggers is reduced sharply, probably not many people like to run under the cold condition. And at night, there is hardly any people at all. I like the feeling of being out there, in the dark, in the cold, training alone, while other people are staying indoor and having their warm dinner. It gives me goosebumps almost by simply thinking so : I am the only one still training at this very moment of the day. It gives a very unique experience. It makes me feel fulfilling and almost, heroic. 

Most of the time, my training route would pass by a 1 km path with no lamp post, no streetlight at all, with one side is the river and the other is a cemetery. It is flat and exposed. Not a single tree is there, nothing to block the sky above. It is just me, the earth, and the sky. Running through there alone and at night, I feel like I own the night and the sky. But at the same time, the long stretch of the sky also reminds me of how tiny and how vulnerable I am to the nature and it feels like the other way around : the nature owns me. While I continue to run and try to catch my breathe, this particular thought is literally breathtaking. It is the most sacred moment throughout my run.

Sometimes when the sky is clear and the moon is out, I would simply switch off my headlight and let the moonlight guide me. The moonlight would cast a shadow of me on the path and suddenly I am no longer running alone. Suddenly I got a running partner and this one is perfectly synchronized with my pace. Sometimes he runs in front of me, sometimes following closely behind me. But I always prefer running after him, chasing after him, because in this way, he can motivates me more. 

If God exists in our world, this is probably how it feels like to get in touch with Him.