Running with Trains

Yesterday I told myself, "I might go for a run tomorrow, if I'm not feeling so sick."

Today I woke up exhausted, having run for miles and miles... in my dream.

It began just outside my house, as I was standing around with my husband and friends. Someone had made a comment about a holiday or something, and I turned to find Waylon, to tell him the news (an extra day before something was supposed to happen maybe?) and I wasn't surprised to see my front yard had transformed into the boarding deck of a train station. He was half hidden from my view behind a wooden beam, but I was able to see him hold a hand out to wave me over. I walked toward him, his brother Wayne standing beside him, and asked what was going on. He was putting his girlfriend Raven on the train so she could go back home. A few minutes after getting on the train, we saw her appear by a window, and knew she was safely on board. Waylon seemed a bit worried about sending her off this way, but I reassured him that trains were extremely safe and it would be a smooth ride home. She would hardly even feel as if she were moving.

The train began it's slow pull out of the station, and for some reason I followed beside it. It was still going slow enough that I could keep up, and I seemed to be playing a game where I slap the side of the train as it's going, all the while noting to myself just how smoothly it was gliding along the tracks. It started to pick up the pace and it wasn't long before I felt myself falling behind. I kept going though, and after the train had passed me I followed the tracks for a while.

There was a narrator's voice hovering in the air, though at the same time I felt he was just in my head. He was presenting me with a sort of audio documentary on trains, though not much that I didn't already know. He talked of how trains went for thousands of miles, and most of that time through forests and mountains and just straight-up wilderness. He said that many people were worried the train would hit an animal and be thrown off the track. Well, trains did hit many animals in a year, and it was sad, but given the speed and weight of the train, such a collision would go virtually unnoticed by the riders and the animal's body would be tossed to the side of the tracks by the front "bumper" of the train, which was angled to the sides (though not necessarily for that purpose). He also spoke of how one following the tracks should be cautious for oncoming trains and make sure they stay very far from the tracks as the train passes by, since most wanderers are not killed by the train itself hitting them, but instead from debris being whipped off the tracks under the wheels and train cars and hurled through the air to the sides of the train. Many bodies had been discovered over the years with cause of death being a scrap of metal through the eyesocket, a tree branch running through the stomach, and limbs removed by animal corpses.

I trotted along the tracks, keeping an eye (and an ear) out for oncoming trains. There were two tracks now, side by side, with just enough space for a person to stand safely between them if need be (though according to my narrator that was a bad idea). I was shocked at just how quiet a train could be as it snuck up on someone, probably why so many people did get hit; drifting off in your own world as you travel alone along the tracks, expecting the sound of the engine to snap you to reality in time for you to get to a safe distance, never noticing the speeding cars rushing toward you, or the fact that the tracks had begun vibrating violently. Before you know it you're just another statistic.

A few trains had passed me as I wandered along the tracks, but I had plenty of time to move away from the tracks and watch in wonder as this huge metal beast sped by. It was like a giant blue and silver bullet, smooth and quick. I was moving at a decent pace, not quite running but moving faster than walking.

The scenery began to change. I moved out of the forest and into what seemed to be a field of white sand that spread as far as I could see. I suppose that meant a desert, but it wasn't hot at all. It was still pleasantly warm with a cool breeze. There were multiple tracks here, and the trains were more frequent. I started to pick up the pace, finding myself jogging along, the sand a bit difficult to get through but I still wasn't feeling any pain from the amount of exercise I was getting, so I continued on. The tracks curved a few times, and I found myself in the midst of a bustling intersection, train cars left and right, and an upbeat vibe in the air. There were also a lot of construction vehicles in this area moving sand and piling it high in mounds. I knew this was as far as I was meant to go, and so I stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, sighed, and turned around. The air here was fresh, and I was ready to head back along the tracks and go home.

I put one foot in front of the other, and before I knew it I had broken out in a full run. I had a smile on my face and the sun was shining; it was a good day for a run. I still had to watch my surroundings and avoid the trains, of course, and I was still working harder to get through the sand, but I was happy to do so and it didn't seem as much of a challenge as I once thought it'd be.

I went back around the curves in the tracks, and took one last glance at the sandy pasture before the grass began to poke through and I was in the forest again. I was still running along the tracks, but this time I seemed to be more along the second set of tracks, which I suppose meant I was still going the right direction, even if that direction was the way I had come. The trains still seemed to be coming frequently, and I was starting to feel a slight burning in my legs, so I knew the run was starting to get to me. I was close to home though, so I pushed on, motivated by the thought of being so close to the end of my journey.

I found myself back in the train station I had started at, but there were a lot of people and trains in my way and I couldn't see the boarding deck. As I was weaving my way through the crowd, my run reduced to a snail's pace, I heard someone shouting for soft pretzels. It sounded like a good idea, and I was a bit hungry after such an adventure, so I followed a group of children toward the shouting voice. We came around the back of a train car, and down a few steps, and I realized we were on a path that led straight to the deck! I could see my destination, and just to the right, along the way, I could see the soft pretzel vendor. I had everything I wanted within my view, and I smiled.

Then I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing; it was my husband calling me. =)

I don't know exactly what this all means, and I haven't thought much about it. But I know it means good things. ♥