{"id":801,"date":"2016-09-15T02:20:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T02:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=801"},"modified":"2016-09-15T02:20:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T02:20:37","slug":"the-song-of-the-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=801","title":{"rendered":"The Song of the Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow, my second post in just a couple weeks!\u00a0 I know what you\u2019re thinking\u2026um, Lindsey, shouldn\u2019t you be studying?\u00a0 The answer to that would be a resounding Yes.\u00a0 But I\u2019m starting to think that writing, for me, is even better therapy than running.\u00a0 Or maybe it\u2019s writing about running.\u00a0 Yeah, it\u2019s probably the combination.<\/p>\n

But after this morning\u2019s run, I couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity to reflect on what that 30+ minutes was for my well-being.<\/p>\n

Wednesday mornings are my favorite.\u00a0 Typically I get Ally out the door to catch her bus around 6:45 before the boys are awake, so I have a few minutes to sit with her while she eats breakfast.\u00a0 Usually the front door closing is the cue for Silas to stir.\u00a0 And then a few minutes later I have to go nudge Ethan to get moving.\u00a0 Today was no different.<\/p>\n

By 8 am the boys were dropped at school and I was on my way to what I call, \u201cMy Secret Place,\u201d to go for a run. It\u2019s not really a huge secret, it just sometimes feels like one because I never see anyone else there.\u00a0 Which I love.\u00a0 And today I needed that. My life has been filled with so much excess noise and voices that I needed to seek refuge in solitude.<\/p>\n

I pulled into a parking spot and was surprised to see a couple other cars there, but I knew their drivers were probably off on hikes, or bikes, and I would still likely be the only runner on the road.\u00a0 I was, at least, the only human runner on the road.\u00a0 I started my watch, just because I had to be diligent in observing the time.\u00a0 School doesn\u2019t start until 10 on Wednesdays, but I still try to be in my seat before Mr. Mahoney gets to the classroom, which is usually about 10:04.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I started my watch and put in yurbuds in my ear, but I didn\u2019t turn on my ipod just yet.\u00a0 Over my head I heard a loud \u201cCaw, Caw\u201d from a big black crow, and I turned my face up to the blue sky.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t see the bird, but I heeded his warning that instead of filling my ears with the sounds of Kesha and Jayzee and the other trash that seems to motivate me, I needed to hear the song of the woods.<\/p>\n

I started out and it wasn\u2019t long before the sounds around me rewarded me with their symphony.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a little brook that runs along the road, and almost immediately I was happy to hear its joyful babbling.\u00a0 It struck me that so often, when we hear water, it is rushing, fast and furious, much like me in most aspects of my life lately.\u00a0 But the brook was soft and peaceful.\u00a0 At times the movement was so subtle, it was almost still, and I relished the reminder that sometimes is ok to be silent.<\/p>\n

Just up ahead, about 25 yards ahead of me, I caught sight of a deer slowly crossing the road, into the woods on the other side.\u00a0 A few seconds later, another one.\u00a0 And a few seconds later, a young fawn, who stopped and stared down the canopy covered lane at me, before continuing on into the woods behind it\u2019s guardians.\u00a0 I smiled at how peaceful they were out for a morning stroll.<\/p>\n

There was a chorus of critters all about me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even pretend to know which birds I heard.\u00a0 I recognized the rhythmic tapping of the woodpecker, but the ones I didn\u2019t know, I enjoyed, nonetheless. There was one that sounded like it was whistling, one that had a high pitched squeak of squeezy toy and one that sounded like it was beaconing me, \u201cHey, you.\u00a0 Hey, you. Hey, you\u2026\u201d as if I could just float up to join him in the branches above.\u00a0 The orchestra was rounded out by the clickity-clack of cicadas, I think.\u00a0 Are they even around right now?\u00a0 And definitely lots of chirping from grasshoppers and their friends.<\/p>\n

There was an occasional shuffle of leaves off to the side, squirrels scooting around in their hurried but indecisive patterns.\u00a0 And then there was a chipmunk.\u00a0 He stopped on the road right in front of me.\u00a0 I stopped.\u00a0 We regarded each other and then just as quickly he was gone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing how when you are really focused on hearing each and every sound around you, you can even hear the soft drifting of a leaf as it falls like a snowflake to the ground and softly plunks down on the pavement.\u00a0 It became a game I played with myself, watching the leaves fall and seeing how far away I could hear them land.<\/p>\n

I think if I would have had time, I might have made up for some of my missing marathon training mileage today.\u00a0 However, Pharmacology was calling, so I answered.\u00a0 After a quick shower at home, tossing my backpack in the car and a refill of my coffee for the drive to school, I walked in just after Mahoney had taken attendance.\u00a0 He said hello and nothing more.\u00a0 I\u2019m usually prompt, so I think he let my minor tardiness slide.\u00a0 I was out of breath from hustling in from the parking lot, but I was still pretty proud of the fact that on my way in the building another student acknowledged my Ironman backpack saying how much she liked it.\u00a0 My response was, \u201cThank you.\u00a0 I earned this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, school didn\u2019t go quite as well as I hoped today.\u00a0 Pharm is typically the one class, I am confident I can do well in, but today I think my anxiety of third semester got the best of me and I completely bombed my test this afternoon.\u00a0 Somehow, I am going to need to figure out a way of reminding myself of my song of the woods while I sit in the computer lab where the silence is deafening and pummels me with doubt lately.<\/p>\n

It’s not a secret that this semester has been a rollercoaster of emotions so far, and I\u2019m confident that will probably continue until I make it to the next round and I can proudly say, \u201cI earned this.\u201d\u00a0 But in the meantime, however brief the moments may be, I will often return to \u201cMy Secret Place\u201d, my happy place, and allow the woods to sing to me a song that reminds me that I can and I will and this too shall pass.<\/p>\n

Perhaps next time I should just make a recording to listen to while I study.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A peak inside My Secret Place. It’s not really such a secret, some of you probably recognize it. I’ll even tell you where it is, as long as you all promise not to show up all at once…<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow, my second post in just a couple weeks!\u00a0 I know what you\u2019re thinking\u2026um, Lindsey, shouldn\u2019t you be studying?\u00a0 The answer to that would be a resounding Yes.\u00a0 But I\u2019m starting to think that writing, for me, is even better therapy than running.\u00a0 Or maybe it\u2019s writing about running.\u00a0 Yeah, it\u2019s probably the combination. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-lessonsfromrunning","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-cV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}