When she runs, runs like the wind, healthy heart thumping, strong legs pumping, when it's just a blister of a day, much too hot for this sh*t, and the sun simply will not quit, and her feet feel heavy, as they pound along the ground, and she's thinking, just thinking as she goes, of all the ways she is different now, the changes within her, all the new stuff she knows, the good stuff, it propels her forward, those thoughts turned into words turned into actions they gently push her, to put one foot in front of the other, and keep going, even when she wants to stop because she's not done yet. And when she gets to that hill, the one that's daunting and steep, she thinks I'm too damn old for this sh*t, what do I have to prove? But still she puts her head down and manages to creep slow as molasses,but determined and steady stealing glances at her feet, at that bright, little bead, the one slipped onto the lace of her shoe, shining, a symbol that tells her someone else is struggling too and she remembers that last mile the one she thought she couldn't run that one, well it's gone now it's behind her it's done. This road, this hill less traveled, it finally breaks, and levels, it becomes a merciful plateau, and she is reminded of another, different kind of hill she climbed, not so long ago. And the wind - it kisses her face, it embraces who she is these days, as it guides her stronger pace. In her mind, when she runs, she simply becomes, a fabled woman warrior, someone you've read about in books, a heroine identified, the one who wasn't afraid, the one who wouldn't be denied, the one, you know the one, the fighter who won her fight because she swallowed her pride, and she knows she will finish what she started today she'll do it she has no choice it's flowing through her heart, and it's ringing in her voice, her thoughts turned into words turned into actions with no secrets left to hide no pain harbored, or festering inside. And when she runs, runs like the wind, her soul becomes the wind itself a whipping, screaming, howling force, a force of nature amplified, she's both terrifying, and terrified, because - can't you see? She's too damn tough to just give up, and that's what makes her free.