Yup, we ran the entire 10.5 miles of the Trout Run Trail in Decorah, IA. Decorah is in the northeast corner of Iowa, not far from Wisconsin and Minnesota. The trail circles the town and has several little connector trails heading off to Luther College, into downtown, or to sweet little parks.
We stayed on the main loop after accessing it from the Pulpit Rock campground where we had our RV parked. It was a beautiful morning, a beautiful day for a long run.
As we were running, I realized that Decorah is where some of the bald eagle real-time cameras are located in trees, where you can watch an eagle's nest on line 24/7. And not just eagles. Other raptors, too. Check out http://www.raptorresource.org/
I've watched eaglets being hatched with these live cams courtesy of the Raptor Research Project. The trail went by some eagle's nests, apparently. I looked up into the trees and didn't see the nests (eagle's nests are hard to miss - REALLY BIG) but they are probably tucked in the trees a bit further off the trail. Eagles aren't dumb. But I did see signs saying to leave the eagles alone. A bit later, when we ran by the Decorah Fish Hatchery (makes sense that the eagles would nest near that, doesn't it?) there was a story board describing the areas where the eagles nest. We didn't stop to examine it, though.
A dozen or so people were out bicycling Trout Run Trail while we were running, and one guy was walking and reading a book. Stop trying to multi-task, I wanted to tell him, though I knew that wouldn't go over very well, and am used to seeing lots of runners and cyclists (as well as hikers) with earphones listening to music or audio books. But someone actually carrying a book and reading while walking just isn't as common as it is comical. Just be in the moment and enjoy nature, I thought. Enjoy the feeling of exercising your body, feeling and being grateful that it works mostly pain free, or at least pain free enough. I think these things often after taking care of my older (one year older) sister for several months when she was dying of stage four lung cancer. But when she was still mobile and mostly pain free, my husband and I took her to lots of places where we could all commune with nature. She wasn't reading a book or listening to music through earphones as we pushed her in her wheel chair on trails through the woods, along rivers and lakes, through fields of prairie grasses. She was enjoying every bit of the NOW that she had left.
The story about my sister may be a bit heavy, though real, and true, and some people may prefer to pretend none of us will die any time soon. But for me, not a day goes by that I don't think about our mortality in this world. Not in a scared way, though. In a better-enjoy-it-now way.
But, I also, i thought as I ran by the guy with the book, that if you have to read while walking, you should read one of Eckhart Tolle's books, like The Power of Now. One of the quotes in there is, "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make NOW the primary focus of your life."
Actually, I confess that I haven't read that particular book, The Power of Now, though it was offered to me by a young woman whose mother had bought it for her but she hadn't yet read it and was going to loan it to me to read first. Ironic, I know, that she will hopefully read it (not now) but later.
BUT, I am reading Tolle's book, Oneness with All Life, Inspirational Selections from A New Earth, which was loaned to me by one of our sons. It includes some of the same thought process of The Power of Now. I am really enjoying it. I read it for a few minutes before and after I practice meditation. I re-read sections of it, letting it sink in, reading it when my mind is ready to absorb it.
Speaking of meditation. As with exercise, it is beneficial for mental and physical health. Many studies show that. You just don't hear that much about it because no one makes money off of something that promotes health but doesn't cost ANYTHING AT ALL to do. No equipment is needed to meditate. Not all that much time is required to meditate. Five to 15 minutes will do. No particular place is required to meditate, though a quiet, comfortable spot where you can sit is really helpful. And, meditation doesn't cost anything to learn. Like yoga, you can pay people to teach you, and you can practice it with others, but you also can learn it and do it on your own (though yoga positions, demonstrated first, then having your pose critiqued by someone else, is actually quite helpful whereas meditation is pretty much up to you. No one can see your thoughts (without biofeedback, that is). The hardest part about meditation is just trusting that you will get "better" at it as you go, whatever better means. Most people think that getting better at meditation just means that your mind doesn't wander quite as much as when you start. But being OK with not being perfect is part of the process of meditation.
Long distance running and hiking, are for me, another variation of meditation, a kind of hypnotic fix. I'd never want to ruin that with multi-tasking.
Here's some pix of our 10.5 mile run on our first morning in Decorah, IA.
We stayed on the main loop after accessing it from the Pulpit Rock campground where we had our RV parked. It was a beautiful morning, a beautiful day for a long run.
As we were running, I realized that Decorah is where some of the bald eagle real-time cameras are located in trees, where you can watch an eagle's nest on line 24/7. And not just eagles. Other raptors, too. Check out http://www.raptorresource.org/
I've watched eaglets being hatched with these live cams courtesy of the Raptor Research Project. The trail went by some eagle's nests, apparently. I looked up into the trees and didn't see the nests (eagle's nests are hard to miss - REALLY BIG) but they are probably tucked in the trees a bit further off the trail. Eagles aren't dumb. But I did see signs saying to leave the eagles alone. A bit later, when we ran by the Decorah Fish Hatchery (makes sense that the eagles would nest near that, doesn't it?) there was a story board describing the areas where the eagles nest. We didn't stop to examine it, though.
A dozen or so people were out bicycling Trout Run Trail while we were running, and one guy was walking and reading a book. Stop trying to multi-task, I wanted to tell him, though I knew that wouldn't go over very well, and am used to seeing lots of runners and cyclists (as well as hikers) with earphones listening to music or audio books. But someone actually carrying a book and reading while walking just isn't as common as it is comical. Just be in the moment and enjoy nature, I thought. Enjoy the feeling of exercising your body, feeling and being grateful that it works mostly pain free, or at least pain free enough. I think these things often after taking care of my older (one year older) sister for several months when she was dying of stage four lung cancer. But when she was still mobile and mostly pain free, my husband and I took her to lots of places where we could all commune with nature. She wasn't reading a book or listening to music through earphones as we pushed her in her wheel chair on trails through the woods, along rivers and lakes, through fields of prairie grasses. She was enjoying every bit of the NOW that she had left.
The story about my sister may be a bit heavy, though real, and true, and some people may prefer to pretend none of us will die any time soon. But for me, not a day goes by that I don't think about our mortality in this world. Not in a scared way, though. In a better-enjoy-it-now way.
But, I also, i thought as I ran by the guy with the book, that if you have to read while walking, you should read one of Eckhart Tolle's books, like The Power of Now. One of the quotes in there is, "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make NOW the primary focus of your life."
Actually, I confess that I haven't read that particular book, The Power of Now, though it was offered to me by a young woman whose mother had bought it for her but she hadn't yet read it and was going to loan it to me to read first. Ironic, I know, that she will hopefully read it (not now) but later.
BUT, I am reading Tolle's book, Oneness with All Life, Inspirational Selections from A New Earth, which was loaned to me by one of our sons. It includes some of the same thought process of The Power of Now. I am really enjoying it. I read it for a few minutes before and after I practice meditation. I re-read sections of it, letting it sink in, reading it when my mind is ready to absorb it.
Speaking of meditation. As with exercise, it is beneficial for mental and physical health. Many studies show that. You just don't hear that much about it because no one makes money off of something that promotes health but doesn't cost ANYTHING AT ALL to do. No equipment is needed to meditate. Not all that much time is required to meditate. Five to 15 minutes will do. No particular place is required to meditate, though a quiet, comfortable spot where you can sit is really helpful. And, meditation doesn't cost anything to learn. Like yoga, you can pay people to teach you, and you can practice it with others, but you also can learn it and do it on your own (though yoga positions, demonstrated first, then having your pose critiqued by someone else, is actually quite helpful whereas meditation is pretty much up to you. No one can see your thoughts (without biofeedback, that is). The hardest part about meditation is just trusting that you will get "better" at it as you go, whatever better means. Most people think that getting better at meditation just means that your mind doesn't wander quite as much as when you start. But being OK with not being perfect is part of the process of meditation.
Long distance running and hiking, are for me, another variation of meditation, a kind of hypnotic fix. I'd never want to ruin that with multi-tasking.
Here's some pix of our 10.5 mile run on our first morning in Decorah, IA.
