Generally, you will find me waxing poetic on trailrunning, its difficulty and its beauty. It is where I prefer to be: in the mountains, by myself, suffering up the climbs for the view and downhill on the other side. Scenery and topography are two important parts to enjoying the outdoor experience, but more often than not you'll find me on a back road, dodging school buses and befriending curious dogs. Although the deeper connection that nature brings to a run is diluted on the road, hitting the pavement is not to be ignored for its simplicity and allowances.
I do not know many people who began their running career climbing the sides of mountains and bombing down sun-soaked, rooted switchbacks. Treadmills and paved routes make up the majority of a beginning and experienced runner's repertoire. The road is a readily available, generally forgiving entity. It can provide anything you want: challenge, easy miles, a place to vent or some time to relax.
I have recently had the opportunity to meet a runner who used the road as a form of mental and emotional healing. A tragedy occurred and the road was where he went to make sense of it all, if indeed we can make sense of such occurrences this side of Heaven. His music and muscles moved him through towns and quiet country roads, expelling tension, anger and pain through every footfall. It seems to me, although I'm sure there are times of questioning, that he has at least caught a glimpse of what he was looking for when he first laced up.
This is not a rarity. Many runners I've spoken with about their draw to running site a personal or family event that sent them looking for a release. I believe it is not where you run, your gait style, the clothes on your body or any other outward force that contributes much to a run; it is the simple act of forward locomotion. It is releasing the constraints of not only your own inhibitions and insecurities, but also that of the society we live in. It's the rhythm of feet hitting the pavement, even breathing and personal, physical exertion. Making it farther today than you could last week, climbing that bastard of a hill without walking; little victories. A calm mind and tired muscles go hand in hand.
For this gentleman and countless others, the most basic survival instinct of our ancestors has become the most effective form of survival in our modern world.
So, are you having a bad day? Month? Year? Lace up and get out the door, there is peace out there on the road. You just have to go far enough and often enough to find it.
I do not know many people who began their running career climbing the sides of mountains and bombing down sun-soaked, rooted switchbacks. Treadmills and paved routes make up the majority of a beginning and experienced runner's repertoire. The road is a readily available, generally forgiving entity. It can provide anything you want: challenge, easy miles, a place to vent or some time to relax.
I have recently had the opportunity to meet a runner who used the road as a form of mental and emotional healing. A tragedy occurred and the road was where he went to make sense of it all, if indeed we can make sense of such occurrences this side of Heaven. His music and muscles moved him through towns and quiet country roads, expelling tension, anger and pain through every footfall. It seems to me, although I'm sure there are times of questioning, that he has at least caught a glimpse of what he was looking for when he first laced up.
This is not a rarity. Many runners I've spoken with about their draw to running site a personal or family event that sent them looking for a release. I believe it is not where you run, your gait style, the clothes on your body or any other outward force that contributes much to a run; it is the simple act of forward locomotion. It is releasing the constraints of not only your own inhibitions and insecurities, but also that of the society we live in. It's the rhythm of feet hitting the pavement, even breathing and personal, physical exertion. Making it farther today than you could last week, climbing that bastard of a hill without walking; little victories. A calm mind and tired muscles go hand in hand.
For this gentleman and countless others, the most basic survival instinct of our ancestors has become the most effective form of survival in our modern world.
So, are you having a bad day? Month? Year? Lace up and get out the door, there is peace out there on the road. You just have to go far enough and often enough to find it.
