Trails & Tribulations

Mud Runs, Spartan Sprints, Warrior Dashes; It seems like half of the races I get e-mails about these days are on trails and involve obstacle courses and rivers of dirty water.  Evidently people pay good money to pretend for two hours that they are at selection week of Army Special Forces.  And they LOVE it! 

Personally though, I have never seen the appeal.  I don’t spend my good money for lululemon so that I can go swim in a pool of mud.  I also don’t feel like I need to tackle these obstacles with dirt below my fingernails in order to feel accomplished.  And lastly, I’ll say it: I don’t want to get hurt.

Today, however, I put aside my fear of broken bones and twisted ankles and did my first ever real trail run.  My guide was a guy friend of mine who just yesterday ran a sub-40 10K on some trails near Davidson, NC.  Running a sub-40 10K on a paved road is impressive, but running a sub-40 10K on narrow trails with twists and turns and constant accelerations is just beastly.  Needless to say, I asked him to take it easy today, and needless to say, he kicked my butt.

The excursion started out poorly when I got lost on the back roads of South Carolina, but I finally found my way to an old farm complete with cottages, a dairy barn, and fields of wide-open spaces.  After spending all week within a three-mile radius amongst the hustle and bustle of center-city Charlotte, it was nice to get away from the tall skyscrapers where I worked and the little bungalows with tiny yards that are tightly packed side-by-side in my urban neighborhood.  It was also refreshing to truly unplug – no computers, no cell phones, no wifi, & almost no other people.

Starting out on the trails, I could barely take my eyes off the ground a few feet ahead of me.  While my running partner was forging ahead easily leaping over roots and rocks, I lingered behind almost tiptoeing over the uneven ground.  “Are you looking around or do you have to watch where you are stepping the whole time?” I asked. 

“I’m pretty good at feeling the ground with my feet so I don’t have to watch out for any small obstacles.”  Literally two seconds after his reply, he hits a small stump and goes sailing through the air.  Later in our run, he was equally unlucky when he slipped on some rocks and soaked one foot in the stream.  For the next mile, every other foot strike, I could hear a squish sound, and I cringed at how annoying I knew it must be for him.

While my running partner had a few hiccups during our run, I certainly was in no better shape.  I did something I rarely do on runs…I sweated.  And profusely.  And my breathing became more labored.  In my head, I thought this was going to be an easy eight-miler, but it turned out to be the hardest run I’ve had in weeks.  I was as focused as I would be on a training run, mentally present for every step and constantly checking in with how my body was responding.  I used muscles that I hadn’t used in a while and in ways that have never been used before.  I jumped over rocks and trees.  I ran up hills.  I ran down hills.  I ran several times over swinging bridges that were bouncing up and down after my 150 lbs friend hopped over them.  I was afraid that I was either going to bounce right over the roped side or fall down from a loss of equilibrium.  Thankfully, I didn’t drink too much beer the night before or I can only imagine what could have come up!

After 8.5 miles (or more like 9.5 since our Garmin watches didn’t work well in the woods), I was tired, thirsty, itchy from the tall grass we ran through, and ready to get back to the city for a cool shower.  Even through the discomforts of the run though, I felt surprisingly satisfied, as if I had just discovered a whole new way to run and train.  No, you won’t find me in any mud runs any time soon, but I do hope to incorporate some trails in my running schedule.  While I absolutely believe that trails will give your body a good workout, I also think that perhaps the most important aspect of trail running is the requirement to be present in your run and thus, present in that particular moment of your life.  I am as guilty as anyone of constantly allowing myself to be distracted by e-mails, text messages, notifications, etc.  I may be always looking ahead or reflecting on the past or trying to escape from my cubicle or a crowded elevator.  But today, out on the trails with no real working technology, I was reminded how peaceful it is to live without distractions and just in the moment.

This Week’s Mileage: 44

This Week’s Beer Choice: A local favorite - Bird Song Higher Ground IPA  (Here’s a link to where you can try one of their beers: http://www.birdsongbrewing.com/beerfinder.html)