Friday

It's hot outside. Spike supposes that the end of July is supposed to be hot no matter where people are, and he thinks for a minute about all the places he's been and how most of them are modeled after 21st century Earth. That thought makes him grin. As he runs around the lake, warming up his muscles, he focuses on what's going on inside: visualizes the oxygen coming in, feeding his blood, and his blood flowing around his body feeding his muscles. It's an old trick, an old meditative method, designed to get the body and mind into one space instead of separate ones. Almost like concentrating on breathing, like he's teaching Elaine to do.

Because in that space, all other thoughts simply dissipate.

It's being one with your body. You understand its physiology, it works better. And really, human bodies are pretty fucking amazing things. Complex machines.

And that's what he thinks as he makes his way around the lake once, twice, a third time, picking up speed each time.

I can't run like the wind, but I can run like me.

That's good enough.