Natural movement 101

Yesterday I visited Kiwanis Park for an interval run. Since I hadn't run there before, I didn't know there weren't any trails. There was, however, a large open grassy field. I set about running through the field, ran all the way around, turned around and ran back in the direction I had come. I was getting kind of bored though, which reminded me of this statement from the Men's Health article about MovNat:

"'You never see your dog running nonstop around and around in a circle for an hour,' he points out. 'If he did, you'd think there was something wrong with him. Instead, he'll chase something, roll around, sprint, rest, mix things up. Animal play has a purpose and it's not hard to surmise that human play should as well.' 'Most people see exercise as punishment for being fat,' adds Saxby."

As I came up again to the edge of the park along the main road, I saw again all these large rocks, kinda like this and started climbing up on them.



Okay, just kidding, this was actually an attempt to climb a huge rock on a trail near Monument, Colorado when hiking with Beth a while back, but I did not succeed in getting to the top of this one!

The rocks were actually more like this.



Well, okay, they were about the size of the big ones in this picture, about 20 yards or so apart. Just take the mountains, trees, and water out of the picture and you'll have a fairly accurate perception of what it really looked like:)

So there I was jumping up on rocks, scurrying under the trees that left about a four foot ceiling above them, and bounding off. I kept running between these big rocks over and over back and forth across the edge of this park. It was glorious!! And so much fun!! I didn't do the run to the full length I had intended. I was supposed to be doing five minute long intervals, but two or three minutes of this was enough to leave you panting on the sideline.

I couldn't help but look at the cars driving along the side of the road and think they were wondering what the heck I was doing. Truly, they probably didn't even notice, but if they did, maybe they thought it looked like fun, too!

So this was my first official do-it-yourself MovNat course. The basic concept behind the MovNat philosophy is that our movement should involve: the combined training of walking, running, jumping, balancing, moving on all fours, climbing, lifting, carrying, throwing, catching, swimming and defending.

Running, check. Jumping, check. I'm excited to see what I can try next. I'm thinking some of the trees by those rocks looked good for climbing. The only downside I could see is that if you fell, the landing surface would be that big rock...

All of this fun outside stuff makes me so excited that I'm going to Colorado in two weeks! I will be driving out with a friend (likewise, she's going to visit a friend of hers) to visit Beth for a week of fun in the mountains.



I can't wait to see you, Beth, and all the beauty of Colorado! I miss you both tremendously!



This picture is also from that hike near Monument/Palmer Lake. I can't remember which lake this is though.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Nelson Mandela