You go up.
You go down.
You are muddy.
Really muddy.
Breathing is hard.
Climbing is always happening.
Down hills are scary.
Knees are on fire.
Views are epic.
Plates upon plates of humble pie do not taste good even thought its got that pie word in it. And your brain is always working.
Welcome to the wild world of trail running, or MY recent world of trail running. Sometimes, I get really confident and my bad ass strut muscles gets sore, and then I feel like I need to learn something new to show my ego who is running the show…spoiler alert..not my ego. (sorry dude, you are still super cool)
Let me back my muddy calves up a little to give a little story about my not so glory. I took on a challenge a few years ago that contains 3 words: Trail. Run. Marathon.
So my road running, or road strutting is now ready for a new challenge, trail running. When I went for the first time, in a very long time, I was not quite prepared for the new obstacles, fallen trees, everything is slippery. I really struggled with my first few runs, walking a lot, falling, and there may have been some tears. My extra patient, and rock star guide kept checking on me. “You ok?”
…and with my last dying breath, I blurted out I’M FINE! (I was dying )
But there is always that tenacious lesson of life, the more you do, the better you get, then you get cocky, then you climb more hills, then you almost die again whilst uttering out, I’m fine. And so on, and so on. 
Step 1. Use your whole leg, and your whole body. Use your whole head. Your can’t let your ham
Step 2. Quicken up your foot strike. You should be doing this in your normal running, but in trail running it could mean your foot finding a root, and your face finding the ground.
Step 3. Carry your means. A whole new world of equipment. Different shoes, back packs and new clothes, (cause your clothes get so dirty, and it’s just fun to buy special trail clothes)
Step 4. Walk when you need to walk. This becomes less of a choice when lungs just go into full capacity.
Step 5. Be safe. Let people know where you are, and grab a running buddy. It’s a little riskier then road running, with more chances of falling. But totally worth it.
Want to put some skin in the game? Check out our Trail Run 101 Class! Spot still open.
