running with the wind.

I am a runner; and every time I go on my twelve mile runs nature is alongside me. As long as I have been running, the world was with me when my breath fogged the morning air. When no one else would wake up early to strap on a pair of running shoes, I can depend on the azure blue sky and passing Eucalyptus trees to keep me company. Nature is my best friend, my motivation, and my peace. But it was not always that comfortable.

To be honest, I hated running. I hated the outdoors. The sun burns, the bugs, the allergies. Who in their right mind would forfeit parties and afterschool field trips to endure painful training on a heated track? To step onto a rubber desert on summer days when normal people were swimming? Who gets up hours before it’s time to go to school to battle chilly winds? To battle storms and rain, even? Well, not me. At least, I did not do any of those things before high school. I had actually been a slave to art – something entirely opposite of athletics. In middle school I spent all my time drawing and coloring while many others experienced the world outside my easel. My pale skin and frail frame were weak to sports, susceptible to stress, and detrimental.

So imagine my surprise when I stepped outside my comfort zone and scrawled my name on the cross-country sign-up sheet my freshmen year. High school was my reincarnation; it opened my eyes to new possibilities. It took me into the realm of running and the world of Mother Nature. High school was my second chance to discover a passion I loved. I will not lie; the first few months were gruesome. All I could think about was the pain and how badly I wished to quit. But no matter how harsh the workouts were or how desperately my lungs screamed for oxygen, I stayed. After weeks and weeks of ridiculous damage to my body, I still could not leave – track was my new home, and I had to keep on. And I cannot express how thankful I am that I did.

Cross-country changed my life. I always cherished art, but I was suffocating in its solitary confines. Running renewed my passion and freedom, as well as my love for nature. When I had gotten accustomed to exercising outdoors, there was almost a nostalgic contentment being one with the environment. Experiencing life outside reminded me of my sunny childhood, the one I had forgotten when my parents divorced and I traded in my mud pies for watercolors. Though art had been my lonely distraction from my dysfunctional family running in the outdoors slowly became my solace as well. Mother Nature was there to hold and caress me when my own mother could not.

To me, running and nature have saved me; they caught me when I fell deep into depression and could not get out on my own. They dissipated all my worries and stress, while giving me an escape from the problems I faced daily. And when nobody else can, this beautiful entity called nature sways and smiles to my singing as I jog through the woody trails. Nature has always been there for me just outside my door, but it will not stay that way for long. Environmental issues are becoming difficult problems for our industrialized world to handle and our globe is dying by our hands. This nature that has helped me cope and mature is deteriorating. I want to save it. I want to save what has helped me most throughout my life and given me a dream.

A dream to save the world.

A dream to continue running with the wind.