Trail Running

When I don’t want to be racing the clock I’ve taken to running the trails in Jackson Park or in behind Fleming College.  Not the wide, flat gravel trails, but the twisty turny thin and muddy-ish dirt trails that go directly through the woods.

I went out and did this yesterday with only the idea that I was going to run for about 46 minutes.  That is as long as it took me to run 10K last summer on the roads.  I put my phone in my pocket so that the GPS and the map my run app could track me.  So I had the benefit of not racing the clock for a certain time and distance, but I was able to know that distance and time when the run was over anyways.

It turns out that I ran 7.88K and that took 46:25.  I look at those number and a couple of the other trail runs I have done so far this year and now I don’t find it so surprising that the Mudnewton last year took me over an hour to run 10K.  On the road that would be slow by my standards.  In the woods though, strides are shorter, and I am not travelling in a straight (or very close to straight) lines.  I am going up and down with the trail, constantly changing directions and going up and down sharp inclines and declines.

There is so much to like about trail running, like the freedom from having to beat my time and the views around me.  Oh and my new trail running shoes are really good, once I tied them up properly.  This element really is where running is enjoyable.