“The next time you see that little gap in the trees, or the inkling of what might be a trail, I encourage you to safely investigate.”
Just about every high school team I have ever been associated with has had some version of the same thing: a stretch of trail off the beaten path, where runners can duck off the prescribed route and engage in that most subversive of behaviors: trail running. It’s always the same scenario – the coach, worried about turned ankles and lost runners, never prescribes this route, and indeed may be blissfully unaware of its existence. Yet for the runners, this stretch of single-track, hilly, meandering path, with its questionable footing and threat of poisonous plants has a magical effect. It breaks the monotony of another distance run, gives the runner something to look forward to during the run, and a sense of agency and control over their run.
With the changes in direction, incline and footing, this type of running may also play an important role in preserving the athleticism and overall physical well-being of the otherwise strictly linear distance runner. But more than any physical benefit, the mental benefit of escaping from the beaten path cannot be underestimated. The sense of freedom and escape that a run can provide is huge, especially for someone stuck in a classroom, an office, or in front of a screen all day.
Sometimes teams or groups are in the practice of naming their running routes. The name given to a run that utilized one of these weird little urban trails always made me laugh, and stuck with me: Narnia. As in, step through the wardrobe, and enter another world.
I love big parks and nature preserves, but it’s not always practical to get to them very often. These little offshoot trails, however, are all over the place. The next time you see that little gap in the trees, or the inkling of what might be a trail, I encourage you to safely investigate. Step off the beaten path, slow down, and you may just be surprised to find a whole different world right there along a stretch of road you have run a hundred times before.
Chris Lundstrom is the head coach of Minnesota Distance Elite – formerly Team USA Minnesota – which includes some of the top distance runners in the USA, including Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Lindwurm and Joel Reichow.
