How many deer did you scare?

A new metric to measure satisfaction in running

‘Being’ in the Woods

A funny thing happens the more times you lose yourself in the woods, you start to belong there.

I’ve thought a lot about this over the years as I’ve racked up forest miles, but always when I’m the one who’s doing the sneaking in between the trees.

Yesterday, the forest trails around Nike Island were saturated with deer, lots of mom’s with little ones, still spotted, and running on awkward little legs. You catch glimpses of them every once and a while through the leafy brush, but not yesterday.

It seemed like every 5 minutes on the trail I would turn a sharp corner and within 5 feet of me stood at least 1 adult deer and 1 little fawn. I’d immediately have to stop, one out of sheer respect for the animals, but second for my own safety. I’m not interested in getting hit by a panicked deer in a tight space.

These deer literally run the same paths, it’s their highway through the forest. Over the years I’ve followed fox, coyote, porcupine, turtles, deer, pheasant, grouse, rabbits, squirrels, mice, chipmunks, and sometimes even birds and frogs on the same trails I run.

Rather than getting frustrated at having to keep stopping (think about the anger a road runner feels having to stop at SO MANY RED LIGHTS) I switch the scene and use the fact I have to stop as a sign I’m performing at my highest possible level on the trails.

I turn it into a metric of meaning.

Choosing what means most

Here’s what I choose to focus on.

I’m inside the experience. I’m conforming to the nature of the activity.

Trail running requires an initial diffidence to the environment. The first time out on a trail you must hesitate, be timid, slow down, make sure you don’t get lost, figure out the terrain, and make sure not to be such a stranger when you leave.

Over time however, you begin to flow with the environment. You get to feel the trail. Familiarity breeds confidence and your timid steps become confident strides.

View of Nike Island from across the Lagoon

Your once lumbering feet and loud crashing through the trees and bushes, at first an unwelcome sound and sight in the forest, give way to a smoothness on the trails. You blend into the environment. You belong.

When I feel this way I’m immediately connected to all the ancient forest runners. The ones who tracked prey, silently, with painted lines on their body, to conform to the trees, who could get close enough to animals to pounce on them with bare hands, our forerunners.

And to me that’s the essence of what I want to connect with on the trails, a sense of timeless connection to the activity and environment. To test myself with ancient challenges of grace, swiftness, silence, cunning, and boldness. To see if I indeed could become a ‘hunter’ in a past life.

So when I keep surprising deer, and often time the same ones who’d seen me before, it’s a confirmation of my place in the woods. Belonging there. Inside of them. With them.

It’s the confidence of my steps to stay strong and silent, confident to pivot and dance between the branches that wrap the thin path that cuts the deep green of the forest. To sound like the wind rustling through the forest, instead of a lumbering hulk who’s coming to impose their will onto the environment.

Runs like these might not have the best ‘numbers’ or traditonal metrics that most runners look at to gauge their run. But I’m not like most runners.

I want to FEEL before knowing the stats. I want to create my own metric of meaning.

Something like swiftness and grace, try to measure that and you end up losing the whole point.

Going forward from your open heart

I share this story and perspective to help you find a similar sense of yourself through exercise. The ability to forge towards meaning in a ‘fits-one-only’ type of fashion.

The way you start is by opening up your heart to the experience of exercise as the primary focus of your attention when it comes to fitness.

Feel comes first. And that feel must be ‘good.’

Fun but challenging is the sweet spot. Something you love doing but also can see yourself improving in skill and talent. Wanting to be tested further is always a great internal sign that you’ve found a good activity (who likes tests, people who like the subject that’s who!).

When you are led by enjoyment, like I am in trail running, where most times I’m just looking for a release, escape, a challenge, and a chance to rise to the moment, the meaning of the activity becomes yours to manipulate towards your deepest values and virtues.

And here’s a funny thing that happens, you end up reinforcing those values by playing from your heart, realizing a better version of yourself.

So next time you go to the gym, slip on your running shoes, or whatever it is you are doing for moving, take your mind off the metrics and move them towards the feel of the activity.

Pretty soon you’ll begin to discover all of the ‘qualitative’ elements of your practice that offer richer textures to describe and paint your exercise with. Numbers will seem boring and uninspiring. You’ll be after something more essential, a feeling inside yourself coming out that is you at your BEST.

That’s what all those startled deer learned about me on the trails yesterday.

Now go out an learn something deep about yourself to, in the process, through the process, and by the process of exercising for your spiritual health first!

Happy Training Team!