Single Track Mind

This kid is still in somewhere inside me

What is not to love about bounding over rocks and roots, darting between trees and ducking under limbs, jumping over streams?  I drive slow.  I don't like jumping off or climbing up high things, but when it comes to running a single track trail, it takes a lot to make me hold back.  I've fallen.  I've sprained ankles.  But, I still love it.  As a kid growing up in West Virginian, I spent tons of time playing in the woods.  I tore through the the paths, trails, and brush with a wild abandon.  We all did.  We were kids and hadn't experienced enough life to realize that we could get seriously injured, and the potential life altering consequences that might result from some our our more daring stupid adventures.  But now, I know better.  Yet, running single tracks unleashes the kid in me every single time.

After I got back from my visit to my hometown, I knew that it would not be long before I hit Umstead's single track trails.  I haven't run on them for awhile.  Mainly because I have had multiple races scheduled every month since last August, and knowing that I am not likely to hold back during my trail runs, I decided I would better off avoiding trails and the potential for a unnecessary injury.  But with only one race on my schedule until the fall, those single tracks are calling me.  I hit the trails both Saturday and  Sunday and found an uncharted level of joy.  Hands down, I get the most pleasure from running trails and would do it much more often if I knew of some trails that had just a bit fewer rocks and roots than those offered by my beloved Umstead.