Trail thoughts: Savoring the outdoors, running and connecting

I’ve recently started running trails here in Western Washington, and these are some of my thoughts…..

• My 8 year old son and I went to REI to buy some outdoor gear over the Memorial Day Weekend. It was packed. Then we got outdoors, and we were completely alone. What is everybody doing indoors buying outdoor gear, and then not going outdoors? I found that interesting.

• One of the places we went was Cougar Mountain. With the cougar attack there recently, it may explain why the park was empty. My son and I stopped to lay in a field, chew on some grass, and contemplate the warning signs that are around the park explaining what to do if you are attacked by a cougar or a bear. My son summed it up this way: ”Daddy if you see a cougar, they want to eat you, but if you see a bear, they just want to sit on you until you can’t breath.” It seems like the same outcome to me.

• I just read a study that Americans are lonelier than ever. As I looked to find a place to sit to have a cup of coffee on a bicycle break over the weekend with my friend Joe, I noticed the coffee shop I went into was completely jammed with people that had their laptops out, their headphones on, and they were all very urgently looking at their screens. When I first moved to Seattle 28 years ago, I use to sit in that same coffee shop and meet amazing people from all over the world and have some incredible conversations. No screens back then, only each other. I wonder what would happen if that coffee shop outlawed screens. Would those customers find what they were looking for at the table next to them?

• Speaking of sitting, why do we sit so much? We have been forced into such sedentary lives and new research says it shaves eight years off our life expectancy. I just finished reading a book called “Born to Run.” According to the research in the book, we were all wired to run, but we have allowed our culture to wire us to sit. While others sit, I’m going to run. I hope I don’t run into a city bus. That would defeat the purpose.

• Finally, a new buzz word in self help circles is “savor.” The dictionary says “savor” means to “enjoy something completely.” We often think about savoring a great steak, a conversation, or time spent with people that are part of our tribe. I hope you did some of that this weekend. I was ending my Memorial Day weekend on Monday night, heading westbound on the new 520 Bridge pedaling for home. The sun was beginning to set, the clouds were rolling in, and as I watched the traffic buzz by me, I saw people returning back to Seattle with kayaks, bicycles, and Yedi coolers strapped to their roofs. It looked like Seattleites had an amazing weekend. I know I did.

• And then I thought of the 19-year-old boy who didn’t come home from Omaha Beach, the crew that died in a Jolly Green Giant over the canopy of Vietnam, and the Marines that didn’t come home after the Battle of Fallujah. I wept, and I was grateful, and I savored, and I pulled my earbuds out, and I road in respectful silence all the way home.

I’ll see you on the trails.

And on the radio.

Savor everyday like it’s your last.

~ don