Anna Nordwald, naturalist at Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, started running in high school. Raised in Central Missouri, she often ran on her family’s farm or on the surrounding county roads, enjoying that the pastime allowed her to be outside. As a volleyball and softball player, she wanted to try something new, so she quit her other sports and joined the cross country team, where she fell in love with running.
When she went to college at MIZZOU in Columbia, Mo., to study agriculture education, she missed running in nature, so she began seeking out trails in and around Columbia where she could run. After graduating and teaching ecology as well as anatomy and physiology at a high school for two years, she and her husband moved to Southeast Missouri in 2023, where she began her work as a naturalist, a job she says has “always” been her goal.
As a naturalist, Nordwald gets to use her own interests to work toward the nature center’s goal of connecting people to nature. There, she saw a gap in age groups participating in Missouri Department of Conservation activities — many children and many older adults participate — and she wanted to create a group for people between those age groups to be able to get out in nature, too. So, she decided to start a trail running club.
“I put a lot of time into running whenever I was younger, and it helped to form who I was with work ethic and things like that and persevering and setting goals for yourself,” Nordwald says. “So [it was important to me to let that] impact what I do in the future.”
The group will start in January 2025 and meet in the afternoon or evening of the second Tuesday of every month. At each event, the group will meet at and run a different trail at a conservation area in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area, up to 30 minutes away.
Each run will be approximately three miles long, with a turnaround point for people who want a shorter route. Since her body is still recovering from recently giving birth, Nordwald says she may also choose to run the shorter routes.
Nordwald hopes the club, which is free to attend, equips people with the skills and motivation to practice trail running outside of the group meeting times, too.
“It’s focused on a new way to experience nature lots of people might not have done before,” Nordwald says. “This is a way where you can kind of combine exercising as well as enjoying nature. ‘Cause obviously, there’s a lot of benefits not only of seeing the different trails, but also some stress-reducing benefits.”
Besides being physically beneficial, Nordwald says trail running also benefits the mind: Because it is in nature and requires mental focus along the trail to ensure the runner navigates roots, rocks and hills, it also helps reduce stress. Nordwald cites a Harvard study that states being in nature for 20 to 30 minutes a day can reduce cortisol levels by a dramatic amount. In her own experience, Nordwald says the focus required for trail running is similar to meditation.
Nordwald hopes the club will become a community of trail runners who are friends; it is open to skilled runners and those new to the sport, although she says it will be helpful if people are in good physical shape before attending a trail run. She also hopes it will help others connect with nature like it has helped her.
Nordwald will select trails that provide a challenge, to help people engage their bodies as well as their minds.
“Whether they are new to running or whether they’re experienced, come out and try it,” Nordwald says. “If you’re experienced, it might be a new way to kind of switch up things that you’re used to, just to give you something new to learn and just to make it a little bit more fun, and then … if you’re new to running, it’s just a good way to motivate yourself to keep getting in shape and … try to find a community of runners to keep you going, too.”
Want to be part of the club?
The Runnin’ Wild Trail Running Club will meet the second Tuesday of each month, with their first trail running event in January 2025. Participants can meet at the Missouri Department of Conservation trail location or at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center to carpool. Runners should wear tennis shoes and bring water. To register and find out more about times, location and other questions, visit mdc.mo.gov/events, or email anna.nordwald@mdc.mo.gov.
