Sights
Full Moon-set - you don’t get one of these every day, and sometimes you can go a couple months without catching a good one
Sunrise over the Ocean - I know that the West Coasters get to see the sun SET over the Ocean everyday, but being up before Dawn to enjoy a few miles on the Beach or the Boardwalk takes a little more commitment, if I may say so, and a greater payoff
Wildlife / barnyard friends - Deer, rabbits, chipmunks, turtles that require saving to get across the road, the occasional snake, wild turkeys & pheasants, hawks, buzzards, eagles, herons, seagulls, terns and other shorebirds ; horses, cows, hogs, bulls, goats, sheep, llamas, ducks, chickens, geese, and even this one bastard of a peacock who chased me down the road once … fucker!
Fog - there is something about running in fog that just slows everything around you, and by turning down the contrast outside, brings inner thing to clearer focus
Ponytails on Race Day, or any day for that matter - no elaboration needed
Sounds
Silence - see “Fog” above
Spring Peepers - they only chirp when the temperature is above 45º, which means it OK to wear shorts
Owls/Woodpeckers - I’ve heard them out there in the Woods dozens of times, but I’ve only caught glimpse of a woodpecker once or twice, and never seen an owl on a run
Trains: there’s a NJ Transit track that crosses my route; as luck & scheduling would have it, the Westbound & Eastbound use that crossing about 4-4½ minutes apart = when the *first one blows its horn, I set my pace to get ½ a mile down the road before the next *one sounds
Pine trees: didja ever notice that when the winds blows just right, they sound like the Ocean?
Smells
Pretty much everything mentioned above = fresh-cut-grass, breakfast, flowers blooming; I have to admit though, I also liked running past SEPTA buses on blazing hot Summer evenings, getting nose-fulls of hot asphalt steam & nasty NASTY diesel exhaust, thinking “THIS is how badass I am!!!”
Tastes
OK, now we’re talking POST-Run, right?
Beer - duh!
That’s pretty much all I’ve got really, sorry
Feelings
In all but the the coldest weather, I’ll wear short socks , so I can feel the wind whipping around my ankles
I’m not a big fan of the Brain Freeze, but its such a rush when your noggin defrosts
The sizzly tingle of a well-earned sunburn from a mid-summer’s day trot, flash-cooled by running straight from the Boardwalk into the Ocean
The waddle you do the day after a race, which just begs for people to ask “How’d ya do?”
That hug your kid gives you after seeing your medal and she asks “Did you win?”