About five miles into my 14 mile run today I saw a half smoked pack of Marlboro menthols most likely discarded in a moment of absurd passion in an attempt to quit smoking. I smiled.

About five miles later, against the wind and rain, nothing but four miles of straight flat tar and chipped country road keeping me from home, I could see the silver roof of our barn over the tassels of the corn mocking me as it refused to grow larger at a noticeable rate. My wrapped, strained left ankle was throbbing, pains were shooting from my right knee to hip as a result of compensating for the ankle, and it was raining. I hung my head and squeezed my eyes shut to allow the sweat and water to slide over my cheeks and past the corners of my mouth, I glanced at the shaggy grass at the roadside, and saw an opened pack of Marlboro reds, missing one or two, soaking up the rain. I smiled again, then noticed the packaging from a Marlboro red buy two get one free promotion, and an unopened, still shrink-wrapped pack, without thought, I stepped into the ditch and snatched it, about three steps later, there was the other one. I got it too. The rain stopped almost immediately after, and the last four miles I spent trying to run a smile off my face with my paws full of cigarettes.