What a wonderful world

I have been slacking on my runs and taking it too easy since the last few weeks (baring the recent full marathon run). I seem to enjoy lying in bed long after my alarm has gone off; and surprisingly, I am able to go back to sleep! I told myself last night, that I've about had it with this tryst with sloth and that I need to call on my "other self"; the Sergeant (Pepper) that barks at dawn saying, "Wake ye, wake ye, you good for nothin' bums - and line up for parade with your shoes shined enough, to reflect your clean shaven face!"

And so it happened that my alarm beeped this morning and got me rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, still contemplating some ridiculous excuse such as "tomorrow I'll run twice as long!". I sighed and dragged myself to the kitchen, wondering whether age was catching up with me. The aroma of coffee, as always awakened my senses, and it was while sipping the scalding java that I thought of a plan to re-ignite my senses to the power of my inner GPS (my "Rating of Perceived Exertion") and do a run that would last as long as I want it to, with nary a physiological indication of distress.

I started out hesistantly with nothing more than a shuffle, ready to walk in case my ventilatory threshold went over the brink. But lo and behold, I had soon made the transition to a canter and then I had to hold my horses, or I would have galloped:). It must be the two days of high quality plyometrics, I thought. What else could be the reason for my being able to float and glide along so easily in the rich green forest that I had now entered. For once, I was not looking at the road blurring past, but up at a beautiful sunrise, blue skies, wispy white clouds and dense undergrowth of tree branches dried to tinder. I felt happy that I had dispersed the clouds of slumber, in whose comfort I had been sinking for a while. I felt the rich guttural strains of Louis Armstrongs' classic fill my senses, even as a beatific smile graced my countenance.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world