The Full Sense of Running

I think it's important to run with all your senses going full blast. It's cliche but you need to feel that ground underfoot, you need to sense how that trail is under your shoe. I thought about it tonight during the weekly 5k that I need to feel the branches whipping my legs and arms, need to feel that maple leaf on my face.
And the smells, don't get me started. We just went through Lilac and Honeysuckle season here and it's a wonderful time to be running. Next stop hot sweltery summer days, bring it on. I can just taste the humidity now rising off the pavement. The sticky thick air so moist you can hardly breathe.
Can you taste the run? Maybe, the taste of the sweat. The taste of the gatorade afterward.
Sights and sounds, those are easy. That bird on the roadside, the runner in front of you you're going to pass, the sight of the final turn toward home, the sight of the first mile under your feet in a run. Sounds? One of my favorites is the sound of footsteps at the start of a race. The trampling thudding sounds of dozens, hundreds of feet all ready to go.

Run with your senses open.