Morning Run - Nature Observation #2

          I awoke one early morning to run the stairs at the football stadium with a friend. As we walked over, the sky was dark with the street lights as the only illumination to guide the way. The hour of rapidly climbing the stairs to only traverse back down were dreadful and exhausting. The intense focus of your foot reaching the stairs became quickly monotonous with the continual sight of cement with a white line across not exactly a glamorous sight for the eyes.

            While we continued to go up and down the stadium, the dark, eerie sky began to lighten. The bright stadium lights soon became insignificant as the natural light was taking over the sky. After one last climb of stairs, we reached the top of the stadium and took a second to see what lie beyond the last row of bleachers which soon took our breath away.

            As we had been sweating like buckets of water were being dumped on our head every five minutes, a beautiful sunrise had slowly exposed itself from the clouds. The shining light of the sun beamed distantly yet created ripple effects right above our eyesight. The clash of dark grey sky with patches of dark red and yellow sunshine created a picturesque moment as if red, hot lava from the shining volcano core slowly spread across the sky against the ashes.

            The scene was particularly spectacular in contrast to the dull images of cement that our eyes had absorbed for an hour. Also, our heightened perspective on top of the stadium added a level of depth to our view. I was somewhere between the earth and the heavens. So close to touching the sky’s beauty but just as close to the Earth’s pavement.

            In the physically exhausted state that I was experiencing, the view felt like a reward for an early morning’s work. A treat from above, saying job well done. While stunning, the view was fleeting us as we tried to accomplish our post workout stretches. Soon, the sun took back its rightful territory as we began our day of class.