Monday, my family and I went for a run on some
of the local state park trails near our home. We run the trails there quite regularly because of the
beauty, the relief our joints and feet feel running on dirt instead of hard
road surfaces, and because the hills of the trails offer great interval
training. Instead of having to do
sprint work on a flat surface, we head out and push ourselves hard on the
hills, working our hamstrings and glutes, building our cardiovascular system,
and developing the efficiency with which our respiratory and cardiovascular
systems work together.
We receive the added benefits of being
surrounded by all the natural beauty…trees, foliage, underbrush, felled logs,
rocks, the lake, and a variety of species of animals. On this particular run, my daughter and
I had the pleasure of seeing two lizards and a chipmunk, several squirrels, a
black snake, and three whitetail deer.
The lizards are tiny, brightly colored critters that glisten in the
sunlight as it streams through the trees. We often see them scurry across the trail in front of us or
up trees as we run past. Chipmunks
seem to thrive out in the wooded areas and they are so much fun to watch. They are incredibly fast and they are
quite animated. When one actually
stops to look at us as we are running, I imagine a high-pitched, fast-speaking
voice chastising us for interrupting his peace and quiet.
The squirrels don’t receive as much of my
attention because I see them on such a regular basis off the trails, but they
are as much a part of enjoying nature as the rest of the animals we see. They just belong out there. They are part of the forest. Conversely, we see snakes very seldom and,
while I wouldn’t necessarily want to come across a poisonous snake, I like to
stop and look at the black snakes when we see them. You have no idea the significance of that statement. The fact that I like to look at any
snake is tremendous because it comes from someone who used to be deathly afraid
of snakes. This fear was to the
point that, when I was a child, I was adamant with my mother that she had to
take a puzzle piece out of one of my favorite puzzles and throw it away because
it had a snake on it. Mind you,
this snake was not an actual picture of a snake. The puzzle was a forest scene that had been drawn and was
more of a cartoon than an actual replica.
I was also adamant the box needed to be thrown away because the snake
was on the box top, as well!
Anyways, I no longer hate snakes and I rather enjoy seeing them. We stopped when my daughter spotted the
black snake. It was probably a
foot long, maybe a little longer at full length, but it was moving when we saw
it and so it was in its S-form as it moved. It stopped to look at us as we looked at it, definitely very
aware we were there and watching it.
We moved back a little bit so it could continue on it’s way and we
watched it as it re-crossed the trail in front of us and then continued along
in the direction we were headed.
It watched intently as we ran past and then it was gone.
About a mile down the trail, we heard some
crashing in the brush and looked over in time to see a whitetail deer take off,
taking two other deer with it as it ran.
Their tails were straight up at attention as they ran. A beautiful sight, for sure. We watched them as they disappeared
between the trees and over the mountainside and then continued on our run. One of the greatest rewards I receive
from running some of the local trails is a sense of being more connected with
nature. It is rejuvenating. I almost feel like a kid again with all
the wonderment that comes at that age when witnessing things in nature. It was a great run, indeed.
