the burn

For me, it starts in my shins.
Old shin splints flare up whenever I press them too hard. Suprisingly, never when I am dancing, only when the pounding of my feet on the pavement becomes soothing in its rhythm.
Then it's in my calves.
We learned in anatomy today all of the muscles in the calve. Mostly I feel it in my soleus and my gastrocnemius.
The tingling pushes me farther.
Depending on if I stretched or not I feel it behind the knee. A tightness and pulling as my knee bends and extends, each step advancing me.
My hamstrings start to itch from the friction of contracting and releasing. The heat warms me as I walk in the cool evening.
And if it makes it up into my stomach, deep into my stomach, I know I've made it.

We've been walking places, getting up our stamina, testing the water. Seeing what problems we encounter and what we need. We haven't yet walked all together, I've been out of town and our school schedules are a little complicated.
But each of us still walks when we can (see jonathan's previous entry). Walking feels good on my body. To be moving all the time. Sometimes I don't walk with a destination in mind, just where my heart leads me. I like to look around and see how the world changes, and how this moment in time is completely special. Never again the same people, the same clouds, the same flowers, the same air being in that same place at the same time. I'm romanced with the world around me.