Every day (or at least 6 of 7) we get out and spend at least an hour walking, jogging, running.
Some observations:
- First- I was in truly horrible shape when we started this. Sad!
- A couple months into this I am in much better shape- still a long way to go but it is nice to be able to tell that I am getting more fit. Yeah!
- I tend to be a goal driven, plan oriented person AND being goal driven and plan oriented is not supportive of fully experiencing the fullness of time.
- An hour spent outside, moving, and unavailable to the phone and the internet has a huge impact on my day. I had not realized that for several decades I have NEVER been out of touch and other than sleeping time have been constantly aware of those things.
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At the beginning of our walk Bella wants to pull on the leash and is clearly impatient that I don't go faster- if I pull her up short she will walk by my side without pulling but as soon as she senses enough slack in the leash she moves ahead to the end. She has learned that she can walk well out in front as long as the leash isn't taught- there should be just a bit of bounce. When she gets anxious and pulls all I have to do is speak her name and she will slow just long enough to regain the slack . . . occasionally she will look back at me and I am sure she is disapproving of my slow pace at the beginning.
She has learned which shorts and shoes I wear to take her out and if I am wearing them and pick up my MP3 player she knows and dashes to the door and sits . . . wiggling and squealing with excitement.
When we first started I laid out a route that was four miles out the door and back. Down the hill, around the block, past the nice homes that back up to the lake, up to Hurst Creek Rd., down to the main entrance to the City Park, down the drive and parking lot, then both the upper and lower trails along the lake, and back to the house. Simple! So off we went . . .
I checked the time as I left the house and off we went, Bella tugging on the leash and with out of shape me sweating and panting along behind her. 8am on a Thursday. Five after 8 as we reached the bottom of the first hill and passed the mailboxes I reached in my pocket for my cell phone I had deliberately left at home. I can't check email. No-one can call me. I won't even know . . . a few minutes later we came abreast the park - a quarter mile short of the entrance I had planned on and routed us to and remembered the short cut! I can leave the road right here, cut through a couple hundred yards of good trail, and save over a half mile! Then I realized that if I cut across on the lakeside trail I could save another half mile! Wow! Those two smart shortcuts would save me over a mile and as slowly as I was currently walking that would get me home 20 minutes early and . . . .
This has been a hard lesson to learn but I am making progress . .
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Yesterday, we were walking on another trail where we go quite a bit. We are both in a bit better shape now and just as importantly I am learning to enjoy the passing of time and observing the world I am passing through. From our place it is just about 1/2 mile to the trailhead where it crosses the creek near the house- from there are several miles of carefully groomed wide trails with only modest inclines going in several directions. Along those trails there are other more interesting trails that head up the sides of the canyon on each side of the creek- narrow, often steep, with rocks and roots and slippery parts that take you into areas far less traveled. We have covered all those trails in the park and have started exploring. The animal trails, the creekbeds, the little meadows and draws are wonderful.
I still struggle sometimes with the need to "get done and get on to what is next" but I am doing better. For the first weeks I often found myself headed home earlier than I had anticipated- either because I was getting faster (finally) or because I had taken a shortcut. I am finally reaching a point where new trails are simply new and are not shortcuts - lately it is becoming important to remind myself to head back and "do what must be done" rather than having to force myself to continue moving and experiencing the world.
It has always been a conundrum that I find my self drawn, almost to the point of being driven, to work at things I don't enjoy doing and to face problems that I don't enjoy solving, talking to people I don't enjoy talking to. There are things I enjoy- things I love- things that I look forward to- BUT that is not the places I find myself going- what's up with that?
Why do I find it easier to think about work, to worry about money, to dwell on financial and professional obligations, to focus on business goals than it is to think about the things I love, to make sure I am finding time and energy to enjoy my life, to dwell on growing in the areas I enjoy developing, and to wrap my mind and heart around enjoying my life?
I think that I will consider that question in those next few hours I spend in the woods with Bella.
Back to our walk~ As we trotted up the trail yesterday we saw several deer through the trees and Bella tugged at the leash and pointed out a faint trail that headed over the edge of the trail and down toward the creekbed at the bottom of the canyon. I had hooked Bella's leash to the end of a longer line that I tie around my waist as a belt and the end of it adds another 8 or 9 feet to the leash- it is much easier for us to not trip each other with 15 or 18 feet of leash between us. We headed off the groomed trail and over the edge and headed down the deer trail. Bella is patient with me as I can't move as quickly as she can but once we are well off the main trail I released her and let her run.
At the bottom of the draw is the creekbed- it's late summer so there's not lot of water and it only flows off and on but there are great pools; full of small fish and turtles and surrounded by tall reeds. We are very close to town- I know there are homes within a 1/4 mile or so but down here there is no evidence; the only sounds are Bella's splashing in the water, the sound of our feet across the earth, and the rustle of leaves in the breeze. Bella stays close- she has a great nose and will move downwind well out of sight but upwind she makes sure she can see or hear me. She will come if I call but I don't; she runs with her nose the ground and although she is nearly silent when you look at her you can almost see her laughing with joy as she just enjoys being. Stopping she will look across at me, through the grass and it almost feels as it she is asking me "do you see it? do you smell it? are you experiencing it? are you as happy as I am right here and right now?"
It's probably not more than a half mile up the draw to the cove where the lake is fed by this creek and we work our way up to the wide meadow that marks the place where the creek spills into Hurst Cove and fills the lake. Late summer the lake is pretty low and grass covers several acres with stands of reeds dotting the areas where small pools hold water. Bella runs and I walk and we splash and laugh and let the sun speak it's warmth to our skin.
We headed back after a bit- We climbed out of the draw, found the trail, and headed home. Bella walks near me on the trail until we get closer in and I put her back on the leash. She stays close and contentendly rubs against my leg as we make our way back up the trail, across the creek, out onto the street, up the hill and home.
I don't know how long we wandered there but I do know that only rarely have I managed to forget what comes next.
I think I like it.
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