At "home" in the trails.

I volunteered my time as a course marshall yesterday at the Seaton Trail race and it turned out to be one of the better days I've had in a LONG time.

For those who don't know, it is trails that I first fell in love with as a runner when I first started running 1.5 years ago. My first running race was a 25K trail race called "Run for the Toad" and I followed this up with another 25K trail race two weeks later called "Vuluture Bait." After these two trail races I realized that I had indeed found my passion and that was trail running.

I found that trail running was an amazing "zen like" experience where you are surrounded by nature. This type of running forced me to not worrying so much about time and allowed me to relax as the terrain ranged from rugged rocks, mud and hills not to mention low branches and the occasional water crossing just for fun.

Beyond even the course itself, I also noticed that the people running these trail races seemed to be at peace with their running and were quick to offer a positive word of encouragement and overall just seemed to have fun out on the course. This is something that, to be honest, is missing at most of the road races that I've done. I'm sure that this has plenty to do with the fact that road races, are more about speed and wanting to finish the race as fast as possible.
I have to admit that I've been caught up in this as well as I try to qualify for Boston.

Yesterday, while volunteering, I was able to talk to so many experienced runners who were training for some upcoming Ultra Marathons (100 mile races). Just listening to them talk about their training energized me and they offered so many words of encouragement for what I'm trying to do. I've been "adopted" by many of them and I know that they could tell how much I love trail running and that I would be back running on them after my marathon in May.

Throughout the day, as I saw runner after runner pass my station one thought kept going through my mind and that was that I wish I could have been out there. Each and ever runner who came by took the time to say thanks for being there and all left the station with a very happy look on their face. I can't wait to join them on the trails in a few weeks.