the silence before the first hint of light, it’s not empty at all, it’s dense, a rich dark earth that holds everything i usually try to outrun, it’s in that space that my nervous system used to hum with all the anxious questions, the unsaid expectations, the mileage i thought i had to log to prove something, but now it’s a different kind of thrumming, a low vibration deep in my spine, a knowing that doesn't need words, it’s where the body remembers quitting, always, but the silence reminds me of the deeper current, the resilience that was there even then, even when the mind was screaming STOP, and that burn in my hamstrings, it’s not a protest anymore, it’s just information, a direct line to the ground, a deep listening that only happens when the external noise is gone, when i’m finally unmoving enough for the true signal to come through, and the hum in my hands echoes this, a tuning fork struck not just in me but in the whole unmoving expanse.