It’s 7 o’clock in the morning.
The sun is out but the autumn wind is blowing on my face.
The hair on my arms and legs have risen and I’m shivering in my sneakers. I’m trying to ignore the little voice that’s reminding me that I left a warm bed in my room.

I haven’t done this in a while so I start with a slow jog. Five minutes into it, I start picking up my pace… things are obviously going well.
I see a dog at the side of the road. I hate dogs. So, I look straight ahead, increase the volume of my music and pretend I didn’t see it.
As I’m running at a comfortable pace, I feel the dog tailing me so I run faster. And faster. I turn to the around the nearest corner and keep running. I don’t know at what point I lost it but it was nowhere in sight.

I don’t remember when last I run that fast but it feels good. Scary, sure but good nonetheless. I feel like a whole new person. Now, the “old me” would’ve patted myself in the back for that two-minute run and walked proudly to KFC. But suddenly, I felt the urge to carry on.

I keep running. I’m running at a faster pace than my comfortable pace this time. I can’t feel the cold anymore and I feel like I could do anything. I have moments when I go faster and laugh to myself about how I outran the dog earlier (which, in retrospect, might’ve been a puppy… but that’s not the point).

I’m finally at my destination and I am both sad and happy. Happy that I did it, but sad that it’s over.
A workout suddenly feels like a good idea. I’m doing ab-exercises that almost make me want to cry. After a few squats, I stand in position to strengthen my leg muscles but I’m feeling the pain in all other parts of my body too. I try out other positions and feel tension in places that I have never felt before.

I go to the mirror and stare at my body in admiration. Not necessarily because of how it looks, but because of everything it made me feel today.
I pushed it further than I ever have and it didn’t break.
I didn’t break.
Every muscle wanted to stop almost every 30 seconds but the little voice was now saying “Keep moving. You can do it.” and my body listened. Everything was in sync.

And in that moment, I’m aware. Aware. Aware that my body can do things I have not yet discovered and more things than I can imagine.
That it’s never the body that’s in chains but the mind that needs liberating.