jogger envy in the Danish woods

Today was a neighborly day in the beauty woods, so while poor Sandy was sleeping off the flu, I decided to take a really long walk to the grocery, over the highway and through the woods. Quite a few others there, young joggers, old and (really) young walkers.

I found myself with jogger envy. My back informed me several years that jogging was now out, but I miss it. The sheer exuberance of running on a nice day outside is hard to describe, not just the runner's high exuberance you get after a good workout, but something more about being out in nature, I think. (I always disliked running on tracks, but I loved doing it out in the woods. Maybe jogging was to me like hunting is to the people who always manage to miss the deer, more about being in the woods than the ostensible purpose of it all.)

Anyway, it certainly was a spectacular day to be out. Just a few fluffy white clouds out over the sea and autumn colors even brighter than when I wrote about them a few weeks ago.

It made me nostalgic for living in Michigan. There were two places I loved to run there. One was the Baker Woodland, a large (80 plus acre) forest that belonged to the Forestry Department at Michigan State. It was a short walk from my building. I ran there in the summer and sometimes skied cross country there when there was enough snow. Another was a river and woods trail area close to our house that I think all of our family bonded with. Both were great for autumn leaves and that brisk sensation of exercise in the cold, which one seldom gets in Texas.


On the other hand, the Barton Creek natural area by our house in Texas is quite a bit wilder than these genteel Danish woods. It will be fun to get back, particularly since I miss walking with the added exuberance of our dogs, who are doing their walking back in Texas with my daughter Julia and her dogs.