I Am A Road Warrior.

Road Warrior: (n) A person who fights to make peace with the road and ultimately, the entire path they are on.

On my run this morning, this role was revealed to me. As cars sped past, wind in my face and at my back, feet meeting the pavement to move me one more step, the thought came. It was as though it was a revelation, a remembering of who I am. It was amazing.

We lay down the road and take our cars and drive right over her. We carve a path into the earth that allows us to move where we choose. Like a mother adjusting for her kids, the earth complies. Yet like spoiled children, we forget to thank her. We go farther, faster in our cars, thinking not of the earth speeding past us under our tires but of the person driving to slow in front of us or the idiot tailgating us or whether we will make the green light or lamenting the traffic jam ahead.

Today, as my feet met the road, I again remembered her.

I come as an enemy, fighting to conquer hills, avoid potholes, still get farther - faster.

Yet as with any war, the ultimate goal is peace.

I aim to become friends with the road, to let my body do what it naturally wants to do - move in harmony with the earth. Today, on a final hill during my run, I experienced a brief taste of this relationship. The earth carried me as my mind stopped its complaining, its fighting...the wind was blowing against me but somehow supporting me, the ground meeting my screaming legs but somehow lifting me through each and every step.

Next time I am in my car, I will remember the road. I will be again on the side of the enemy, yet far more familiar with my opponent. I will thank her for what she provides - a path. A path for me to travel, to move, to become more familiar with the earth...and with myself.

I hope and pray that each person has the chance to experience this, to remember the path themselves, to give other road warriors the chance to find their own peace (by slowing down and moving over when speeding past in a car!), and to hopefully travel into harmony as well.

A smile still rests on my face as I remember: I am a road warrior.