Trail Running During the Coronavirus

With all of this crazy stuff going on (mixed with some shoulder problems preventing me from climbing even prior to the shutdowns) I have found myself back in the deep end of running.With running being my only opportunity to escape my house amid online school, social distancing, and everything being shut down, I have been running in amounts that I haven’t seen in years.

With all of this running and the role it has taken in these times, I really have been thinking a lot about what running does for my mind and how privileged I have been to have grown up running on teams and being surrounded by incredible athletes that continue to inspire me. My go to answer for why I love running when people ask has been some form of “trail-running is a form of meditation” for the past few years, although I think I had started to forget what I really meant by that.

Now, given the circumstances and the role running has refilled in my life has really made me remember what I mean in that statement. I think there is a very special place that your mind is forced into when out on a trail run where you cannot dwell on thoughts and overthink situations in the same way as you do in any other time of life.

I think of the easiest way of explaining this sort of meditation in the setting of a technical descent on a trail: with the speed at which you are moving down rocks at a steep decline, you cannot think about the actions you have to take and you simply have to rely on your reactions and trust in the experience you have on trails. With this way of running where you cannot overthink your movements you also cannot let any other thoughts enter your mind or you might lose your concentration and misstep. This situation forces your mind into a weird place of total concentration without thinking of anything, leaving it to only be able to be present in the exact moment you are living.

Given this very specific example of technical descents, I think this mindset can be found all throughout running: pushing an uphill, cruising flowing single track, etc. In addition to being put in this mindset, running trails in beautiful places feels like the best way to really experience the place. Some of my favorite memories are from visiting places for a race or just a vacation and ending up in a spot with an incredible view at a time of day with perfect lighting.

So this is what trail running really means to me and why I’ve been enjoying it so much with the given situation. It provides a perfect opportunity to breathe fresh air, clear my mind, and remind myself of just how incredible the world we live in is.