How you can enjoy nature close to home

We all love an adventure. On distant vacations, we often indulge in local food and wine.

A few days later, we finally decide to lace up our running shoes and explore the area. Beautiful nature, flowing rivers, and impressive mountains often leave us in awe. The challenging run uphill doesn’t seem as bad as the hill back home.

Now we’re all locked in at home; we can’t enjoy this level of freedom. But we do have our neighbourhood, local forest and parks as well as occasional hills.

I’ve been able to experience entirely different running locations because we weren't allowed to go out a lot.

You can also seize this opportunity to discover local trails and paths you haven’t experienced yet.

There’s no place like home

I’m blessed to live near a forest, an excellent opportunity to get out into nature quickly. But a few weeks into lockdown, even our forest got boring. So it was time to explore.

In our state, we are allowed to drive wherever we like. This allowed me to stay within 10–20 km radius and go to new locations for my run.

I’ve since been in deep forests, beautiful hills and open fields. Running in a different location gives me a huge energy boost. I feel challenged, when I run on paths, I haven’t been on before.

So are you keen for the challenge to explore your local area?

Planning is half the fun

Next time you head out for your long run, check Google maps for a local park or forest nearby. Komoot will help you find the small tracks and paths no other map will offer you.

Take your time finding a route. It’s worth also measuring out the distance. If you have a running app as I do, you’ll want to try and stick to the range your app suggests for your training.

Ready, set, go!

When it’s time for that run, enjoy every minute of it. Some Apps have inbuilt audio cues. So if you pay a monthly fee for Komoot, you’ll get apt instructions on every turn.

For those keen to live up to the challenge, try memorising the route. Why not exercise your brain as well as your body?

Benefits

Our body loves routine. However, we need to stick to our weekly running schedule. But these exercises can get tedious.

Switch up your routine with a remarkable run somewhere different. What are the benefits?

1. You will train your brain and your body simultaneously
2. You will love every minute on a different track
3. Time will fly by

Nothing is holding you back!

Enjoy your run.