Most of my runs are on trails through wilderness settings that on some days, the beauty stops me in my tracks. On these runs, there are views and nature that can’t be ignored or passed by in a blur. Then, there are days where I’m totally immersed in my run, where I am one with my body enjoying only the cadence of my footfalls and my breath. The natural world goes by in a blur and only the path that pulls me along is all I notice of my environs. On days like these I used to finish with a sense of guilt, not remembering anything about where I have run, that I have squandered the gift of nature for the gift of the purity of my run. I’ve come to realize that this world and this running life are so amazing that I just need to get over it and enjoy every stinking minute!

Run and enjoy,

Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who found myself curled up on the couch immersed in a good book, only to look up at the amazing view in front of me and had that same silly feeling or guilt that I was ignoring nature, when in fact, I was one with it all. Dig it.