Early to rise

I've had an ambivalent/hate relationship with Oklahoma since I moved here. Mostly hate, since summer lasts from April-October, summer as in 95 degrees or more, plus 10 degrees for the heat index, and at least 50% humidity, on a good day. It's not easy to run outside, and of course treadmill running is no fun at all.

But outside there's another problem - there no magical places to be found. And I've looked. Hard. South Dakota was full of them. Wheaton was full of them. Even downtown Chicago held magic, and 1350 N. Kedzie had plenty, especially with Humboldt Park across the street. But no matter the lakes we've gone to, the nature preserves we've explored, and even the geese and cranes and egrets living in the pond behind the townhouse, I still haven't found anything. Pretty, sure, but not magic. Even my grief counselor said that she's lived here for ten years, and she has yet to find magic outside.

But then the city decided to build a sidewalk on our road (there are no sidewalks in this town???), which leads up to a bike path. I've learned that if I drag my ass out of bed early enough to drink some coffee and do my morning pages first, I can then run up the bike path, which slopes up and down hills away from the road and behind a little private airport, all the way to Lake Overholser, which I have yet to run to.

You can just barely see the bike path, here.

Only ten minutes later, the sky is already hazing over with humidity.

And running back.

It's not quite magic, but it's close. And maybe it will be enough until we pack up and move to Minnesota.