On the bank of the Saint-Charles River, the gravel trail is hard. Compacted by use and frozen solid. Under the lampposts' beams, your breath is visible. A trail of vapor you leave in your wake.
The wind has died down with the sun. The lights of the Rothmans water tower come on as the sky turns indigo. The river has become a mirror, showing you the city upside down.
You head back up towards Saint-Sauveur, guided by the strings of streetlights and their yellow halos. The sodium lamps in Victoria Park make the soccer field's grass sparkle where two amateur teams are competing, but the sound of the game is muffled by the rumble of skateboard wheels in the nearby park.
You plunge into darkness, past the basketball court. You turn on your headlamp. When night falls, the city belongs to you. Pedestrians are rare. Cars are gone. The city's murmur has become reassuring. So many people around you, yet you see almost no one. The only witnesses of this presence? The distant hiss of the main arteries. The smells of food and antistatic wafting from the air vents of stove hoods and dryers.
You love running, knowing you are surrounded by these people. In your city.
You run without a specific route. These streets are more familiar to you than the lines on your hand. You take one or the other as you wish. You return east via Saint-Vallier. Its sidewalks are yours. A few early revelers leave a neighborhood bar. Others, further away, from a microbrewery. You are about to take Saint-Joseph when you realize that the upper town is watching you. Majestic. Almost unsettling, with its monumental buildings standing guard.
The slight pain you had in your foot is gone. Your stride is light. Your steps lengthen as you begin the last few kilometers separating you from your finishing point. You perceive snippets of conversations, fragments of life. You see people through their windows. This is how they exist, in parallel with you. Running allows you access to who they are. Their happiness. Their misery. Their daily lives.
Even solo, running is a social exercise. It puts you in touch with the world. You find the sound of your breath along with the breath of your city.