Three, or more, beautiful things about the below run...

The weather: It was breezy, but in the low 60's and sunny--really quite perfect other than the dust that got kicked-up and stuck to my sweat-dampened person. The grit in my eyes reminding me that perfection does not occur in this life.

Honey for sale: On the Old North Road, someone had set-up a stand selling honey from their hives. It gave a pleasant reminder of when I raised bees and a reminder to drive-by sometime to buy some. Also, it was nice to see an honor-based outlet. Trust still exists.

A loud motorcycle buzzed past on Rt. 225 and I did not mind the noise because it was compensated for by the wonderful view of speed and acceleration as the rider flouted the posted limits. Just after the bike passed, a large branch fell from above and crashed to the road about 2 feet in front of me. It wasn't large enough to have killed me, but would have caused much pain had it hit my head. I wondered for a second if the vibrations of the loud motorcycle caused the branch to fall. I think it was the breeze and that the passing of the bike was a coincidence.

I decided along the way to extend my run from around 8 miles to around 12. I didn't feel good at the time the decision was made (around 6 miles in), but I was glad I did: I felt much better in the final 4 miles and ran with a feeling of strength. The overall time was not great, but I think the tail end of the run improved things and that is usually where I am weakest.