Things do not change; we change. – Henry David Thoreau

Trails.  They have taunted me, lured me, hurt me, scared me, ignored me.  I have been afraid of them, and thus, avoided them whenever possible.  I like to be in control, and on trails, I never am.  I have lost skin and blood, my way, and almost my husband, on trails.  I swore I would never return.  The roads were where I belonged, and where I would stay.  Besides, the races I focused on, the races I was good at, were on roads. 

But then too many things happened at once.  I lost my spot on the National Team, I re-located to California, and I was burnt out.  I lost my desire to “train”, and since I had no goals, I instead had to “run”.  My pace didn’t matter anymore.  In fact, my distance didn’t matter anymore.  So, I tentatively started heading out onto the trails of Southern California.

And it was joyous.  And I started to have fun again, to remember why I started running really far in the first place, why I wanted to run and not stop until I couldn’t run any longer.  Up and down, around and over.  I ran slowly at first until I built up some confidence, and then started to run as hard as I could, something I hadn’t done in years because I was a firm believer in Long Slow Distance.  But who cared now?  I could run fast.  I could run slow.  I could run short.  And I could stop when I wanted.

So this weekend, I’m heading to Portland to run a 50 miler.  For fun.  Yum!

Happy Running!

Tagged as: Running, Trails, Training