Thoughts on the Run

2:07:09 – 10.84 miles (1,806 ft climb)

Recently (yesterday) my schedule opened up for the next few months. My first thought was which trail I could go run! There’s something therapeutic about going out into nature where nobody can tell you what to do. It’s just you and whatever animal decides to show itself. I knew that it would be a bit chilly and plenty of snow/mud to trudge through, but I was quite excited about it.

Everyone I talked to about my day job situation had the same reaction.
“You’re taking this awfully well.”
“Well, I can control how I react to anything at least.”

There’s no use in spending too much time dwelling on what has been done or trying to change it if not possible. I immediately went to focus on what I can do. That means looking for a new day job or deciding if I want to expand my consulting business. Plus, I was just saying how I needed more time to finish writing my book. Maybe I brought this on myself? Woohoo!

Pulling into the trail head of Hall Ranch trail in Lyons, Colorado, I was all alone. Not another car anywhere to be seen. Perfect.

I started up the trail, over the rocks, sliding across ice, dodging mud, and doing what I could to take in the views. As I rounded the corner up another climb, I came face-to-face with a deer taller then me. Both of us probably looked quite surprised. I reached for my camera as she trotted across the trail. After some polite conversation of asking which way, she nodded up the mountain. I took a few steps only to be stopped by her baby deer hopping in front of me. I turned to the big deer, put my hands in the air, and said “we’re all good!”

Off I went moving forward. I kept thinking about not going back to full time work. More thinking about my own business and finding clients. Being urged by others to finish my book and go around speaking about redefining everything to make changes. This made a mile go by quickly as I became more and more excited about the possibilities!

I made a fun tweet about my situation that went like this:
Got laid off today so will be soon more running & looking for a new company to contribute to

It wasn’t long after that I received 19 replies from the Twitter Universe. Words of encouragement and asking for more info so they could see what’s open at their company. Wow! Completely unexpected! I posted that tweet thinking a few runners would echo my excitement of being able to increase my weekly mileage. Sometimes we just have to put things out there and see what happens.

As I continued my run over the mountain and circled the building (Hall Ranch), I had a feeling like I was being watched. Looking up ahead of me, I spotted 4 deer cautiously observing me. It appeared they were trying to decide whether it was worth the effort to move or wait it out. Two bailed and the other two just watched. Again, I snapped a couple of photos, let them know I enjoyed their land, and was off on my run.

The run was awesome! I felt connected to the land, had to keep light on my feet, and moving forward. So many parallels to life out there this morning! Even better was that my time was 1-2 minutes per mile faster then previous times on the same trail. Positive thinking and focusing on what you can control makes a big difference in your health, mind, and future.