Trail work is sign we’re moving in right direction

This was printed in the Kalamazoo Gazette October 8, 2009. Reprinted with permission from the author.

By Chris Lampen-Crowell

co-founder, Gazelle Sports

As I drove to work each day this past summer, I watched a new trail being constructed along the road, through parks and on a stretch of the Kalamazoo River leading into downtown Kalamazoo.

I notice it every day, not because it is visible (I pass many visible things that I don’t notice) but because it creates a little happy smile on my face.

The trail is not complete, but I have used it to run, walk and cycle. Although I enjoy using it, my use is not the most significant aspect of why the trail development makes me happy.

The trail has many meanings to me. Personally, it provides me an opportunity to stay active. As a cross country coach, it means a safe route for my runners. And for some people, it allows a different mode of transportation to get to town.

However, for me, the most significant meaning is that our community is placing a real value on health through creating an infrastructure that supports and ecourages movement. It is an open invitation to be healthy as it connects to other trails through town and beyond, creating the opportunity to run, walk or cycle farther with little motorized traffic interrupting the flow.

Thank you to every person who is creating the funding, policies, direction and implementation of trails throughout our nation. And thank you to every worker who sweats to make them and maintain them.

Keep moving.