Out in the woods: Camping, Running or Catching Girls?
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Yes, it’s fall! Colors changing, apple picking, kids and me back in school…these are the good times. Can you smell the forest? I can. Pulling on my favorite hoodie and heading outside to “rake” the leaves is always a blast for me even as an adult. I get lost in them.
The changing of the season brings a change for our family as well- we simply switch from driving all over Southern California to camping so that I can run, hubby can bike, and kids get dirty. Kids and tents go together like bees on honey, right? How many of you played in tents as a kid in your own backyard? Ever do school campouts? Kids love to be outdoors! They have (within reason) unlimited opportunities to make new friends (my oldest was very excited to exchange phone numbers with the girls camping next door to us! He’s five), make boats with wood bark, ride off-road safely, run around, find pine cones, etc… Best thing we ever did was buy a tent. We get them out of the house, out of the heat and into the wilderness. Ok, I admit, it’s not all sweet smelling roses… we are still out in the woods. Compromises have to be made as to how clean the dishes are, how well we sleep, lack of temperature choices when washing hands, but that has just been an added bonus for us. We are taking it as an opportunity to teach our children how to adapt.
They look pretty happy to me?!
Adapting when camping includes a big FAT trail run for me and a big FAT trail race for hubby. (I’m quite sure that I will cross over to trail riding as well, but, I’ll save that story for another day.)
If I come home with legs the color of my shorts, then it was a good run. Getting lost or seeing a mountain lion are always concerns, but I try not to put any energy in it. Trail running offers what road running never can: What’s around the next corner? How high is that hill? Is there another one above that? Which way do I go? Questions like these keep me in the present. When my sole focus is on putting one foot in front of the other, all other concerns, whines and the negative mental energy just evaporate. It’s almost a time for prayer in a sense… just a time to give thanks for the chances I have to be outside, focus on only what’s right in front of me and nothing else.
Life is good. We will be outside this fall, where will you be with your kids?