Spring in My Step

Photography and Words by Sarah Attar

Green is sprouting all around.  The sun beats down stronger but is still softened by residual winter coolness in the air. Grass stands proud and bright after a few months under snow.

The higher elevation hangs on to winter, but the air has a different brightness to it. Mounds of snow exist in patchy clumps, where shadows linger longer.

It’s a revival of sorts, in pace with
my steps and breath…. Transition and discovery are constant.

Birds, so many birds singing their songs, even through the transitional and spontaneous snowstorms that come with spring in the Eastern Sierra of California.

It’s a revival of sorts, in pace with my steps and breath. The amazement never ceases. Transition and discovery are constant.

Just a few months ago I was running through snowstorms, never without a pair of gloves, and testing out the usual trails to see if I could really run in the shin deep snow.

Now these same trails are refreshed and sprouting, wildflowers already peeking through, grasses and high desert weeds lining the dirt with new vibrancy, and the glorious scent of pine after a spring rain is enough to knock me off my feet.

There’s something magical about this sort of discovery, experiencing the transitions through a rhythmic mode of foot travel. The senses are heightened in a more primal mode, innate from survivalist instincts that fed our ancestor’s running.

There’s something magical about this sort of discovery, experiencing the transitions through a rhythm of foot travel.

I am alert and observant, moving with the trail, and everything comes alive. Every run is a new interaction with the land and every run becomes part of that land and the history it holds.

Footsteps are laid down amongst thousands that have come before and thousands to come. There’s a unity in this repetition, yet at the same time a peculiarity to each step, unique in its own time, place, and season.

This distinctness is ever so present during the shifting of seasons.

I can feel a heightened awareness and adaptation to the different air fueling my every movement, the different scents emerging, and the vibrant greens that color the landscape.

Sarah Attar is a professional Runner and Artist who lives and trains in Mammoth and San Diego, California. Follow her photography on Instagram and Twitter and learn more on her Website.

Do you feel an extra spring in your step with the changing seasons?