Sometimes when you have done something a thousand times over, you forget the beauty or effort or the simplicity in an activity like running. This summer I volunteered to help with the local Fleet Feet's Mud Runner program. Despite being laid up with broken ribs and damage from 2 mountain bike accidents, I went out every week and every other weekend to help out. This amounted to some easy running and directing runners around the trails of Schenck and Umstead parks. Despite the extreme heat it turned out to be a joy to watch people improve week after week and run farther than they thought they could. The staffer from the store Adam and I decided to mark some trails for the last few runs. We sent them every which a way at Umstead. Through creeks, over logs, down deer trails and through rainstorms. Their faces said it all at the end of the runs, either a tolerance of the run, a hate of it or the best result, a love of trail running.
My friend and Mud Runner Jessi has gotten stronger with each run and helped me appreciate the little bit of running I can still do. She is learning to play in running,watch the trails slip by underfoot rather than a black steam of asphalt. Another soul understanding the strength and confidence and beauty that come from this simple activity. Maybe sharing with others is what my lifetime of running has really been about. New trails await me...
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