O’Rourke writes blog post describing a literal run from near the capitol to near the White House

Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke wrote a blog post chronicling a literal run he took near the U.S. Capitol to closer to the White House this week.

In Medium post published Thursday, the Texas Democrat detailed his morning run through the nation’s capital, which has many speculating whether he is being symbolic about a possible run for the presidency. 

“There were in some places no tracks, mine were the first footprints down in the new snow. At other points I’d see someone walking in front of me, once another runner (only the crazies come out today!),” O’Rourke wrote.

{mosads}He then explained how his left knee began bothering him during his run and reminded him of home. 

“My left knee started to hurt. It has been bothering me some. I notice it when I bend down or when I get up if I’ve been playing with the kids on the floor or kneeling to give Rosie some love. I thought about turning around once I got to the Washington monument,” he wrote.

At that point, O’Rourke wrote that a supporter who “apologetically” told him he was from Massachusetts told the Democrat “thank you for being you.”

“I said ‘that’s ok, we love Massachusetts too!’ And told him thanks and decided to run all the way to the Lincoln memorial,” O’Rourke continued.

O’Rourke said that’s when he decided to journey up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Similar to O’Rourke, Abraham Lincoln also lost a race for a US Senate seat in 1858 before he went onto win the presidency two years later.

“I walked over to the north wall and read Lincoln’s second inaugural address. My body warm, blood flowing through me, moving my legs as I read, the words so present in a way that I can’t describe or explain except that I’m so much more alive in the middle of a run, and so are the words I was reading,” O’Rourke continued.

O’Rourke said after he read Lincoln’s second inaugural address his “knee no longer hurt.”

“Maybe it just needed to fully warm up,” the Democrat wrote.

At the end of the post, O’Rourke described the sleet stinging his face during his run but added that he “wondered if the winds had changed too.”

The Democrat lost his bid for incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz‘s (R-Texas) seat in last week’s midterm elections, finishing within 3 percentage points of the Republican senator. Since his loss, some have called for O’Rourke to mount a 2020 presidential campaign to challenge President Trump.