Grace Goodley- Student Response/Reflection to Trail Running

 I, like many people who found themselves getting cabin fever promptly two weeks into lockdown last march, picked up a wide array of new hobbies in the year 2020. One of these hobbies just so happened to be running, which if you had told my high school self who dreaded everything about winter track and only signed up for the varsity jacket would result in disbelief. Now for me running became a pulse check with myself every day, a time in which I could be with myself and pinpoint any feelings of anxiety that were arising during the pandemic. My runs started through my neighborhood and quickly I became bored with the streets I grew up on, no matter how many times I changed which direction I started in, or what side street I went down, it all felt the same. My self-check-in time soon turned into me being hyper-aware, whether that be of the cars passing or lawnmowers in the distance. When I moved back down to Newport News during the summer, I had decided I was going to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit and try trail running. Now growing up with a mother who was an avid runner for most of her early life, she had always boasted about how making the switch from track to cross country changed her life. I never really understood that until I made the switch myself. Suddenly the runs that felt increasingly more busy began to slow time down, just for a little bit. I had never really been on the Noland much prior to my senior year, so for me, this was a time for exploration, and not just with myself but the world around me. It was around the same time that I started practicing, quit heavily, daily meditation and mindfulness which just aided in my exploration of the Noland. There is almost this feeling of being unbound that I experience when I run on the trail. I'm flowing and moving at my own pace, free to make detours so that I can explore and interact with the nature around me. When I am having a check-in moment with myself and may feel anxiety start to rise I'm able to stop and sit by the water, taking a moment to breathe and remind myself that I'm present and grounded in the space and world around me. The connection I have formed between myself and nature in this space has created an escape for me, in a time where we find ourselves over-programmed and overwhelmed. For it is in nature that we can take a step back to appreciate life in its most natural and diverse form.