Waypoint Narrative #6
Waypoint Narratives: Five questions, one objective - share stories of people who have experienced the impact of the outdoors.
Today, we are graced with the experiences of trail runner and all-around outdoor enthusiast Jen! Jen is a hardworking and extremely loving momma, passionate trail race director, master naturalist, and is probably one of the most devoted people I know when it comes to the care of our wild spaces. Her genuine curiosity and desire to learn is unmatched! I am thankful to call Jen a friend and I personally loved reading her responses, as I learned some new things about her! Enjoy Jen’s story:
Do you have a trail name, and how did you acquire it?
My trail name is Earthgirl, given to me by Deb “Meadowhead”. After spending some quality time on the trails together, she felt like she had to capture my tendency to gaze and wander and stop everyone in their tracks when I’d notice a toad or mushroom or a particularly amazing breeze coming our way. I’ve since met so many other trail folk who do the same thing…guess we’re all one big Earth family. 😊
What is the most prominent thing the trail/the outdoors has taught you about yourself?
My time wandering as well as sitting still outdoors has taught me humility. My little human body, my breath, my footsteps, they’re all just a small part of this whole amazing organism. It has taught me that in order to flow resonantly within the Organism, I need to learn the languages of everything around me. I can’t learn the languages unless I spend time calming and hushing my chattering brain, being still and just observing the intricacies, mysteries, and gifts of Nature that surround me.
My time racing and trail running outdoors has taught me that I have access to deep power, that my body is stronger than I think, and that I can move gracefully through pain and suffering when needed and come out of that a stronger woman.
My time walking trails in the Copper Canyon has taught me that to be on the trail is to be human, through all the span of time and through any culture. Trails signify purpose and opportunity, connection and vulnerability. Again, we are all connected. That makes me feel important and peaceful.
What are the key waypoints of your life that ultimately lead you to the trail in the first place?
As children of the 80’s, my siblings and I used to spend summers “trekking” in the woods of Estabrook Park along the Milwaukee River. The freedom we felt playing around in the woods and the river became part of the fabric of our core selves.
While I was in graduate school, my now-husband introduced me to trail running and it just felt like coming home, like I just belonged there, period.
Share about one of the most memorable problem-solving moments you’ve had on the trail.
When I was around 10 years old, my family and I rented a cabin in the great North Woods of Wisconsin. Part way along an afternoon stroll with my sister, then 13, we decided we wanted to cut into the woods instead of continuing along the road. Our plan to not get lost, by walking in a straight line perpendicular to the road we’d exited, failed miserably the moment we swung around to see where the fox went that had dashed across the forest floor in front of us. Once we realized we’d become misoriented, we sensed that we could be in great danger. We learned to keep calm and work together, to assess our situation and to look harder at the forest around us. Through careful decision making, we managed to eventually run into a logging road that then led back to pavement. Unbelievably, we made it back to the cabin before dinner. This experience left me with a deep respect for the woods, realizing that it could have swallowed us up if we had panicked, that if we had been taught how to read the woods, we could have EASILY made our way back. The forest does NOT have to be deep, dark, and mysterious. We’ve lost the connection and the knowledge our ancestors once took for granted.
Who and/or what inspires you to keep moving forward?
Oh, gosh. Everyone! Every person I meet has something they’ve had to push through, to grit their teeth and move on from. The physical challenges friends of mine have overcome help me to bear my own physical difficulties. Folks like Dr. David Horton have set the bar very high, having come from a very successful trail and road running career, to having to face a life where running is no longer an option, to have reinvented himself time and time again just to make sure he would always move forward.
I witnessed my sister’s soul-rocking battle with cancer, the sluggish, painful return to a life with meaning, the ferocity she summoned to go back to school and graduate valedictorian with a nursing degree, and to slay her job as an ER Nurse – she can do it, I can do it, you can do it. My sister and brother are deeply inspiring, faced with physical, emotional, and psychological challenges that have been a struggle their whole lives. But they ALWAYS work, always look for solutions, for new ways to come closer to a peaceful life filled with gratitude and love.
