I want to do more trail running.  Hiking too. While we live in the city, there are plenty of places around here to do both – so this is definitely feasible.

I got the trail running itch after that trail race a few weeks ago. But then my finger tip was hacked open blah blah blah and all sorts of routines were thrown off – exercise included. It only follows that any trail running plans were put on hold too.

Well on my way to a full finger recovery and a return to “normal” life, I’ve started thinking about hitting the trails again. I still find myself hesitating though and this weekend I tried to nail down why.

1. I worry about getting lost out there. My sweet little hike in the woods might suddenly take a Blair-Witch-meets-The-Village turn for the worse.

2. I feel dumb driving somewhere just to take a walk.

3. (the biggest reason of all really) I’m afraid of being chased by something scary-ish and monster-ish.

So I came up with some solutions:

1.  Check and double check the trail map before you go.  Maybe you could even print it out and (this is gonna sound crazy!) bring it along with you.

2.  If you drive to the gym to run on a treadmill, you can certainly drive to the monster’s lair to run for your life.

3.  Find someone to go with you – preferably someone who runs slower than you.  You don’t have to run faster than the monster, just faster than your companion.

Alrighty then.

Map?

Check.

Car?

Check.

Bait?

Let’s see…

Running friend? Hmmm.  Snapped something in his leg a couple weeks ago so don’t even bother asking. Too bad though, his limp would make him the perfect person to accompany me.

That friend that I married? He’s out too. Someone’s got to stay with these kids, and that would suck for them if we both got eaten.  If we go as a family (as we sometimes do), a hike that was intended to raise my heart rate would only serve to raise my blood pressure as we shuffle through the leaves with lots of standing around and dodging stick swords whilst doling out sunbutter and jelly sandwiches at regular intervals.  I do this exact thing once a week already, thanks. This time the goal is to get at least a little bit sweaty.

Girl friends? Too far away for such short notice.

Homeschool friends? Not available.

Cat friend? Meows too much.

Then something miraculous happened:  Nobody called and offered to go with me.

Awww, thanks Nobody!

So I picked Nobody up and set off to the park – in the car, map memorized.

Nobody said “Good job!”

Nobody agreed that my new walk/run/walk approach would be perfect and I set into a comfortable pace. Just a nice, easy morning jaunt through the woods with Nobody.

I even took a couple pictures of Nobody out in the woods too.

Do you see Nobody waving?

Hi Nobody!

Nobody agreed with me that this looked like it could be a monster nest.

Nobody warned me that the monster was probably coming back soon and I high tailed it out of there.  Nobody really knows what they’re talking about.

Nobody and I hiked/ran/hiked just under 3 miles in about 40 minutes.  I have to say that I had a pretty enjoyable time with Nobody.  Nobody pointed out the trail markers and I didn’t get lost.  Nobody protected me and I wasn’t chased by anything.  Nobody laughed at all my jokes.

So remember this; if you’ve got some crazy story in your mind that is holding you back from reaching your potential, Nobody can tell exactly you what need to do.  Sometimes you just have to do things with Nobody to figure that out.  Nobody can show you how strong and capable you really are.