This morning, I wanted to run, but I didn't want to know how long or how fast or how far I'd run. I just wanted to get up and go. I ran out into Edgbaston and up towards the city, the safe direction from Harborne, at least as I imagine it. At 6AM on a Saturday morning, you can run in the streets for the most part. Everything is open. You only meet people waiting for buses, or other runners, or a group of Chinese university students walking home. Of course, if you run enough, you know how long and how far and how fast you ran, even if you don't measure it. I got home, feeling light and pulled off my shirt in the garden, the steam rising off my body, the moon setting, Birmingham waking up.
