Everywhere I look these days it's evident that our salvation as a planetary community of people, animals, and plants mandates a return to that which is natural. Natural medicine – like that which is keeping Nicholai ticking; natural food – like we grow in our gardens or purchase from local farmers like Chrissie and Koorosh at Kookoolan; natural power – like Timmy and me getting our butts onto our bikes to ride to the store for groceries. Recent forays into Forest Park for runs feel like a metaphor for my soul's longing to return to the deep green heart of nature.
Izzy and I struck off up Leif Erickson Drive, with deep ravines and tall trees as our companions. We traveled up, up, up the long and winding road. Nothing here reminds me of the stark, wide open beauty of the hills and trails in Montana. Here, green is all around and with so much recent rain, water drips down stony hillsides, runs in rivulets along the road, collects in pools beside the trail.
Choosing a side trail, we climbed the hilly terrain away from the road, surrounded by ferns of every imagining. Tree trunks were covered in moss and the trail was thick and muddy. Sweat dripped from my brow into my eyes – I am out of running shape and the humidity must have been near a hundred percent. Since I decided two weeks ago that I am neither too old nor too broken to run any more, aside from needing to increase my endurance, I feel surprisingly fit and suffer no ill effects from pounding out a few miles – amazing the power of the mind.
As Izzy and I splashed through mud, we soaked up the spirit of nature holed up in the hills and ravines. Ah, this is the life, I thought as I mostly plodded and intermittently flew along, just me, Izzy, trees, and ground under my feet. Well, ground under my $150 running shoes. As nature calls me from every conceivable direction to come home, I wonder how the ground would feel under my actual feet. It's the siren song of the deep green glen, the deep green soul of earth; calling me ever deeper, ever greener. 
What's next, barefoot running?
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