Birthday Adventures, Mountain Miles, and Saying Yes
August has always been a month I look forward to.
Maybe it’s because it’s my birthday month. Or maybe it’s because somewhere along the way, I stopped waiting for the perfect time and started saying yes to the things that make me happy.
This year, I celebrates with a little bit of everything I love.
Adventure. Travel. Running. Music. New experiences.
Washington State
Right after my birthday I headed to Washington State, where I get to explore a completely different kind of landscape.
Lake Chelan. Speelyi Beach Recreation Area, right on the water. An afternoon at the Cask Club, a distillery where members keep their own personal kegs. Coffee on the back porch, mountains stretched out in front of me.
Of course, I can’t visit somewhere this beautiful without finding a trail to explore. I got a trail run in, the landscape doing most of the work — I don’t have to try hard to feel small in the best way.
The miles aren’t just about fitness anymore. They have become a way to experience the world differently.
There’s a boat day too — feet stretched out, sun everywhere, absolutely nowhere I need to be.
Wine tasting rounds out the trip — Silvara Cellars, Icicle Ridge Winery, good pours and better company.
Running through the mountains is a reminder of how much has changed. A few years ago, running itself felt impossible. Now I get to combine something I love with seeing places I once only dreamed of visiting.
Minnesota
Later in the month, I head to Minnesota for something completely different — an Iron Maiden concert.
The drive there includes a night in Urbandale, Iowa, with a run past the Master Gardeners’ Demonstration Garden before hitting the road again.
Once in Minnesota, it turns into a brewery kind of trip — a flight at Urban Growler, a stop at Bang Brewing just for the sign, and eventually Surly Brewing before the show.
Mornings, I run along the Mississippi River — quiet, steady, a good way to start the day before all the noise of the evening.
Then the concert. Iron Maiden, live, and it is everything I hoped it would be.
One more river run the next morning before heading home — barges drifting by, the city waking up around me.
Because my best life was never supposed to be just one thing.
It isn’t only running.
It isn’t only travel.
It isn’t only checking things off a bucket list.
It’s all of it.
The quiet mornings. The big adventures. The things that scare me a little. The things that make me smile.
One More Trail — Springfield
A few days later, I was in Springfield for work, and I found a trail near Schaible Lake Park I didn’t know was there.
Along the sidewalk, they have painted a string of quotes, and I can’t help but stop and photograph a few:
“It’s never the question of the size of the mountain. The question is whether you will decide to be equal to the mountain.”
“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”
“Every person is gifted. Every person is average, and every person is challenged — just in different ways. So pay attention.”
And my favorite — the one with my feet in the shot, mid-run:
“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
I think about that one for the rest of the run.
One Last Game
I close out the month the way I like to close out most things — at a ballpark. I catch an Orioles game.
Orioles and Royals — my two teams, for reasons that go back further than this blog does. A good way to end a good month.
What This Month Taught Me
Some months are about proving something. This one is just about living.
A trail in the mountains. A boat on the water. A concert I’ll remember for years. A quote on a sidewalk in a city I wasn’t even planning to visit. A ballgame with my two teams.
None of it needed to be big to matter. It just needed me to say yes.
