Intro to TrailRunning 101

[Kimmyt]

Got to experience my first 'trail run' the other day.

Stuck in the Red Rock Canyon Park at 7 pm and the park closes at 8, and wanting to avoid a $250 fine for leaving late, we decided to, well, run. With full packs, weighing approximately 30lbs each. There were 6 of us. The hike in was 2 miles of faint trails through desert landscape and rough rock-strewn washes. The car was far off in the distance, and the hike in had taken us 1.5 hours, plus or minus 1/2 hour of getting lost and mistaking burro trails for the approach.

Pack on my shoulders and headlamp on my head, I ran.

And you know what? It was fun.

F.

U.

N.

Oh man, was it fun. Sun setting, just me and my trail running shoes (lovely shoes) and a heavy heavy pack, eyes on the ground in front of me, ricocheting off larger boulders and powering through sandy basins. Ignore the cactus that is attempting to latch onto your leg, just run run run and get out before that fine.

300 yards from the car and the moon is high and a look at my watch tells me it is 7:50 and I know we'll make it out without a fine, and all I can think is, but goddamn, even if we were fined, it would be worth it, running through the desert like we were being chased, just a pack of wild mountain goats (with heavy packs) and the sand and cacti looking on, and that big old smile on my face.

30 minutes it took us. 30 minutes to do a rough 2 mile hike, thats a 15-minute mile, and me at the end just smiling and feeling like I could have done twice that.

I guess I have progressed since I started running.....

[Wahine]

coooooooooooolllllllllllll.

[mountainchick]

Thats a great story! I know the feeling...except we were climbing in Red Rocks outside of Vegas, and started a route late. We ended up watching the sunset from the top over the strip which was amazing! Not so amazing was watching the ranger put a ticket on the car too...

I'm glad you got out AND experienced the fun of trail running! Do you hear XTerra calling in the near future???

[Kimmyt]

No Xterra, but the thought of a trail run (sans 30-lb pack) is a bit more tempting now, don't know if it could live up to that one though....

[limewave]

Sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing.

DH and I went backpacking on a 5 day hike a few years back. The last day we were supposed to catch a bus at 9 am (the ONLY bus) to take us back to the trail head and to our car. We overslept and woke up at 7:30 AM. We had to tear down camp and hike out 3.5 miles. Man, did we run! Well, I'm sure it was really slow jogging, but I was so sore from the previous days it sure felt like running. We made it to the parking lot by 8:55 Am--and wouldn't you know it, the bust was almost an hour late. We could have walked afterall . . .

[rocknrollgirl]

Ohhhh.....Kimmmy.........

ha ha ha....guess what... I will take you trail running too!!! Why stop at mt bike 101.....



I love trail running. Love it, love it, love it. And from everything I have read everyone should put it in their training plan to give your body a break.


You are really coming to the dark side.....