The air was colder than I expected, which helped.
I kept the pace intentionally easy and stopped looking at my watch after the first kilometer. That made the run feel much lighter. No chasing splits, no trying to turn a simple morning into a performance review.
By the time I finished the 5 km, the sky had started warming up but the streets still felt half-empty. That brief quiet window was probably the best part.
I want to keep more notes like this: not because the run was extraordinary, but because small good moments vanish quickly if I do not write them down.