Today was my first run outdoors in the new year, and it felt GREAT. I didn’t have high expectations, due to the fact that over the holidays I only ran on the treadmill and for shorter times. Today I ran further than ever before–such a beautiful day. It’s cloudy and cool but no rain. As I ran I thought about Wild, a new movie based upon a best-selling book about a woman who hiked the Pacific Coast Trail, which goes along the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. The scenery in the movie was so beautiful. It made me want to find a great trail to run on rather than the urban areas I’ve been running. Lucky for me, I live in an area that rivals the PCT in beauty. Even though when I run I try to get out away from traffic, I haven’t found many places that are pure nature. But now I’m looking so I can increase the weekend run anyway.
Here is a stream I saw today. Woo, right?
Anyway, I thought of that coast hike and felt the desire to run along an area like that. Purely just out there, away from civilization. The movie Wild (and book it’s based upon, which I read too) is a great reminder that we humans need…need to get out into nature. It restores us more than some busy-body, gas-guzzling holiday with planes, trains, and fancy hotels overlooking a few nice vistas. Getting outside around trees, wet leaves, streams, and the vast sky outlined with snowy mountains is always a good drug, a redemption factor.
I had another thought. I used to think I might someday run for the planet, but realized that really, I’m running with the planet. I’m just part of this big blue dot. Just a crazy little part of it.
As an aside, I heard some Indigo Girls during my run today. This took me back to when I lived in Indianapolis, just after college, and my sister and I used to sing a lot of Indigo Girls together. I played the guitar, and we harmonized very well–I could just faintly feel that lost time and it brought back such good memories!