Don't be a gerbil, run/walk in the Open Spaces

I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth to visit my best friend and we took a side trip to Fort Worth-she lives north of Dallas- to see "A Few Good Men", starring Jensen Ackles at the Casa Manana theater in Forth Worth. Our hotel de crap, as my friend calls it, sits on a main drag parallel to an entrance to the Trinity River Trails

The night before, we drove along this trail, the lights of a restaurant beckoning us to swim across the river. After 20 minutes of weaving we realized that Denny's would have to do for our fancy sit down dinner and that the trail, winding through a park, was a good place make out or be murdered.


This morning I took a run/walk through part of this 35 mile collection of paved and natural paths connecting many of Fort Worth's parks. The city's park acreage is second only to Chicago, according the North Texas Outside Guide.

Urban Planners across the country provide city residents with plenty of green spaces in which to frolic, so why are the New York Sports Club's I pass daily always so full. Why climb stairs to the ether when you could scale real ones a see pretty things. Have digital readouts replaced one's mental cheerleader. Is exercise so painful that we'd rather drown our ears with loud music or watch TV so we don't have to invest in it. Has moving the body become one's daily dose of Castor oil.

Fresh Air

I belonged to a gym once and used it for one month while my work schedule prohibited my Central Park hill workout. It's something I have to do during the day. The treadmill and stair climber bored me to point that I switched machines-and channels-every 10 minutes. The membership lasted two months. I, a self-appointed granola eating-tree hugger prefer to sweat outside.

I returned from my workout to the hotel room grinning with flushed cheeks and sweaty hair. "A good workout is like five Prozacs," I tell my friend.

At the Cafe Express ,a local fast, but fresh, food restaurant, we enjoyed salads and the company of a native Fort Worth bartender who had never been to the the Trinity Trails. He said he liked running on a treadmill so he could know exactly how far he'd traveled. I never asked if he was in training for anything, as that would be a good reason for needing to know your distance and speed. But why must we quantify everything. We count our years on earth, our money in the bank, and our jeans in the closet. Do we need to count our miles ran. Unless your a 5K wannabe, exercise should be about how it makes you feel, not how fast you can feel it.

On a side note I highly recommend the Cafe Express, they have locations in Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. I hope one day we will have a fast and fresh food restaurant next to every Burger King, MacDonald's,Wendy's, and Taco Bell. Maybe then people could make better choices when they have to eat and run.

No comments: