How it went, from start to adjustment.
I ran that half marathon without headphones. One reason was practical: it was raining, and I didn’t want to damage them. But the experience opened another space.
Without music following every step, I was closer to my thoughts and to what was happening around me.
I thought about my life. I talked to myself and to what I understand as spirituality. I noticed other people moving through the same course, each with their own story.
I remember that presence because it was part of my experience. It doesn’t mean every run now has to be like that, or that there is one right way to feel a journey.
I want to keep the possibility of paying attention. On another day, music might make sense. On another, I might want to hear my surroundings.
What stayed with me was a concrete memory: I was there, with my thoughts, that day’s weather and other people. The course had more to show me than its distance.
