Earth Day usually sneaks up on me, but this year I remembered it was coming. I’ve been thinking about it a lot this week. I find the vastness of space terrifying and overwhelming. The enormity of the Earth scares me too but my fear scales down proportionally. What alarms me is not space or the Earth themselves but how much smaller I am in comparison to them and how little control I have over large scale things.
I’m grateful for running and how it connects me to the Earth. I love #crushingit in the gym but outside I’m like a fitness explorer. Running leads to discovery. When I travel to new cities, I run to learn more about the area. I run to see people. Running reminds me that I’m small too, but in a way that isn’t terrifying because it connects me to others. I always nod at other runners and walkers if they look at me when we pass each other. “We’re in this together,” I like to think we’re saying with our nods.
I started my Earth Day celebrations early last night with an 8.5 mile run through some of my favorite spots around Decatur. Captured a glimpse of the Earth’s beauty lakeside. I call this shot Monet-ish.
Sarah Zureick-Brown 