A trail runner's inner animal

I like my trail as a single-track, winding through low pine trees. At night, following the light of my headlamp, and those of the fellow runners. I like a mountain path disappearing in the mist.

I like to run a muddy road among autumn fields, to struggle with the forces pulling me back. I like a trail covered in 20 cm of fresh snow. I like to fight my way through it, to earn my permission to pass through. Running in pouring rain, or under heavy snow feels brings a reward. I go back home as a triumphant warrior.

The sheer intensity of the stimuli is what calls me back. Cold, heat, difficult terrain, limited visibility - the trail becomes... touchable. I am an animal running in the wild, exposed to the elements of nature, yet being one of them itself.  This is what freedom feels like, the ultimate drug for a trail runner.

How can you tell you're addicted? It's when you go for a road run on a sunny day, swim a few lengths in the pool, take a refreshing bike ride. Right when you finish and look for that feeling... and it's not there.

Sometimes, that inner animal asks to be let off the leash.  I rarely refuse it.

To all trail runners who have beasts of their own!

... words of wisdom after 2 years of silence

This is a comeback to writing about running, about the sensations it brings along. A few years have passed, that took me to my limits, and beyond. I've met my limits when I DNF'd the second time in the same season of 2012, and when I finally hit the wall from overtraining. What was beyond, was the will to continue running ultras, with target distances under 100km until I feel 'ready' for the real stuff. The discovery of a whole new world of running in autonomy over longer distances in mountains unknown. The sharing of the trail with other runners. The gratifying feeling of having skipped a training session to spend time with a friend who happens to pass by my town. The adventure that seems more real than the everyday life. The feeling of belonging OUT THERE. Glad to be back!