>     Jogging has been going well. I got out and scoured Mandan for the past three days, including today; and I can feel the difference already. Of course, I’m worn out at the end of the day, too. I had an intense pain in my knee last night when I kneeled on the floor. But I breathe easier, it’s not so challenging to go up the stairs to the apartment, and I’m looking forward to losing some of this dead weight. I let myself go for too long.
     I’m also finding it easier to jog. I head up the sloping streets of Mandan, past houses yet asleep and passed by cars, heralds of the busy day ahead. I reach what I feel may be the zenith, the high point of the area I’ve been hiking; I look upon the blue dome at the corner of Collins and Division from beyond the fence with its “no tresspassing” signs. I do not fear prosecution, and yet I have no desire to go any closer. Roughly eighteen minutes into this walk, this slog up the steeply sloping sidewalks of this hill-studded city, I turn around and begin to jog lightly down. With Last.fm playing a klezmer version of the Pink Panther theme into my ears, I focus on keeping pace on the downslope so that I can make it last.
     A lady in a truck passes me by, and I see that she has a huge grin on her face. I’m thinking, “yep, it’s a great morning, people are out jogging, what a great day to come.” It hits me about a minute later, while I’m rounding the corner from Division onto 6th Avenue that she was probably amused with my cans. I’ve taken to wearing my Yamaha RC-3 headphones while I’m out in the morning because they’re sturdy and stabile, not to mention they keep my ears warm while I’m still warming up. The thing is, I probably resemble Ben Stiller from Starsky and Hutch, when he’s jogging on the beach with those ridiculous 1970’s radio headphones – except mine aren’t sporting telescoping antennae.
     I got back to the house, huffing and puffing but not so badly, and went right past it to the grocery store. I had planned this, so that I could pick up yogurt cups to put in lunch this week. I also picked up a loaf of bread for myself and a couple of energy drinks for Karisa and myself. Got back home, showered, and woke up the wife. Not a bad morning, if I may say so. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning!