Jackie Bond- The Noland Trail

Our class took a trip to the Noland Trail and we explored the various aspects of the beautiful trail. We were told to go off on our own and listen to the trail and how it communicated with us. For me, this was a tricky thing to do for several reasons. For starters, I never really have ever taken the time to truly connect with nature. So this was a new concept for me. Secondly, I have had to run the Noland Trail numerous times as a fitness test with the CNU women's soccer team. The Noland trail, to me and  my team mates, has begun to be associated with groans and fear. So it was very hard for me to leave these preconceived notions behind and experience the trail in a whole new way. I learned that it is possible to connect with the trail even after all my bad experiences on it, I can still connect with the trail and experience its beauty. The one thing I noticed most was how many beautiful flowers and plants are on the trail that I never noticed before because I was too focused on running and I ran right by them.