Reconnect to Mother Nature with Ron, Onlineshoes.com’s Suburb Escapee.

I’ve always loved the outdoors; growing up in Seattle it’s pretty hard not to love it. As a kid I was lucky enough to be surrounded by adults who planned outdoor events almost every weekend. I remember exploring many trails in the Cascade Mountains as a tag-along with a neighbor’s family, eating homemade GORP and drinking from every little creek we crossed (I know better now).

In high school a buddy and I would grab a backpack and our fishing rods and hike up to remote high mountain lakes to catch some of the most beautiful rainbow trout you’ve ever seen. We would find a lake on the ranger station maps they’d provide and find our way up, trail or not (I know better on that too).

Hiking was always about the destination, a cool lookout, a gin-clear lake still half iced over…

Fast forward to the 1990s

I began running at age 35. This life changing event came when my sister’s 5-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. We came together as a family, but I quickly came to the realization that at the end of the day we all went home to our uneventful lives as my sister and her family were dealing with this horrible disease 24 hours a day. It’s a pretty sobering reality. We all tried to do what we could (I still wish I had done more). About three months after her diagnosis, a good friend said she was doing a marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Team in Training; I was in. It was my way of saying I love you and I’m with you. I’m happy to report that my niece has been symptom free for over 10 years, maybe longer. I’m also happy to report that I finished my first marathon that year: The Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando.

Fast forward again…

I’m still running, but with much less frequency. I’m now 49 years old and the harsh reality of aging has smacked me over the head. My brain still thinks it’s 30 but the rest of me, not so much. I’m 30+ pounds overweight, my eyes get a little worse every year and my wife’s convinced my hearing is gone (it’s probably good I have that as an excuse). As my father died at the age 42 and his father in his 30s, I’ve got some pretty serious links to heart disease which I’m not nearly serious enough about managing. I’m staring 50 in the face and I’m looking at fishing from a boat instead of exploring some new lake. I’m telling myself it’s OK to finish in the bottom quarter of the local race. I’m starting to believe my own limitations. I’m on a path of the sedentary lifestyle…

It’s time to stop making excuses to myself and get back outside. Starting now.