A Beginner’s Guide to Trail Running

running

With the winters snow melt and the weather starting to warm up it’s definitely time to get the ole’ trail running shoes out. To be honest with you I don’t particularly love running, in fact I kind of dislike running. I started wrestling at the age of 4 and didn’t stop until 21 years later after a 4 year college career. If you’ve ever wrestled before then you get where I’m coming from when I talk of this love/hate relationship with running.

So after my wrestling career was over I swore to myself I’d never run again. With beat up joints from the sport and the ground & pound you get on the pavement or dirt roads, the two just didn’t mix with me anymore. Then I moved to Alaska for a few summers and my love for the outdoors and the trails began to grow, I suddenly found myself obsessed with hiking peaks and trails extremely fast. Then I just began running on these trails and found this new long lost love for running that I didn’t know I had, but was somewhere inside of me just waiting to be found. I’ve been trail running ever since and still to this day I don’t particularly love “just” running, I actually don’t even do it unless it requires running on a trail. It just feels so much better on my body, I never get bored as you constantly have to focus and calculate each step you take over the many obstacles the trail has to offer or else you’ll land flat on your face. I end up getting an intense workout in, all while running through the beautiful forest and mountains like a wild man, in a place where I always want to be. It’s the perfect combination of feeling free, staying in shape and being in the outdoors.

If you’re getting bored with running on the same old pavement and dirt roads then I’d suggest picking up on trail running. You’ll make an amazing connection with the land as your focus is more directed at the earth below you, and if your body is beat up a little bit like mine then plain simply put, it just might be better for you. Here’s a great article to get you started on your trail running venture.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Trail Running

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