Weather - 45-35 degrees, clear. I worked in the darkroom in
the early afternoon, then got out the door for my run at 3:15pm. The
weather was very nice for late November, and I wore shorts and 3
shirts. Consequently I felt very light, and the run was beautiful and
effortless. It is hard to believe running 13.75 miles can seem
so easy. I get into a trance-like zone after 1 or 2 miles, all
discomfort fades, and I am left with the late autumn sunlight and a few
field crows pushing me onward. Part of the reason my daily
mileage has recently increased is because of having found the South
Farms route. I have an affinity with the landscape there. When I start
my run I don't know how many miles I am in for, and I usually begin by
going to Busey Woods. After 3 or 4 miles I find myself running to the
arboretum, and once there I can't resist the pull of the South Farms.
Once on the dirt road I feel happy and child-like, and I gaze at the
sublime beauty that surrounds me. When I reached the South
Farms road today the sun was sinking into the horizon, and the sky was
an ethereal pink/orange/pearl blue, with clouds shooting like arrows
into space. I stopped a few times to gaze at various vistas, and I
thought of Van Gogh, how he would have liked to paint the big clumps of
shadowed dirt that edged off the road into endless space.
Once I got into the corn fields I felt the depth of the fast
fading shadows, and the cool evening air put a charge into my stride. When I reached run's end at Jimmy John's, the last vestiges of light were being swallowed by long lines of car lamps. #373 I made a second version of the Railyard, Winter Study a few days ago : 
The Railyard, Winter Study, Version 2
Printed 2008
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