Η φίλη του Trail Girl Κατερίνα Παναγή, από την Λευκωσία της Κύπρου μοιράζεται μαζί μας τις σκέψεις της! Κατερίνα σε ευχαριστούμε!
“Trail running taps into something that road running does not: a sense of adventure that comes from rambling through the woods, hopping from step to step around rocks, roots and ruts, surrounded by nature in all her glory. Some of us — maybe all of us, deep down — have an innate need for adventure. We crave it.
But the question is this: Do we all have an innate need for adventure? And if so, how can we maximize the benefits from mini-adventures such as short and safe trail runs?
“Even a short trail run can spark joy in our day-to-day aspect by allowing our minds to be activated on the task at hand, which requires much more focus than a road run,” says Dr. Hillary Cauthen, executive board member for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. “Because of the varying movements, and the excitement of what’s to come, trail running has a beautiful quality of activating creativity and imagination,” she adds. “Being in this wanderlust situation, and moving in a somewhat childlike way, allows freedom and creativity to come to you.”
Especially trail runs that are adventurous, where you think, ‘Maybe I’ll veer off on this trail, it looks fun,’. “Get lost in the woods for a moment and you come out feeling free.”
Those moments when running brings a sense of freedom, a feeling that you’re leaving behind the worries of the day, as if the stress has shaken loose from your shoulders and fallen to the trail beneath you.
It’s hard to know what brings those moments on:
- Sometimes it’s the company – running with a bunch of friends can bring joy and defeat loneliness
- Sometimes it’s the environment – there’s nothing like running on a beautiful trail, mesmerised by a glorious view, to make you feel giddy, and that the world ain’t such a bad place after all.
- And sometimes it’s just the glee of the movement itself – the runner’s high people talk about, feeling exhilarated and grateful.
Running isn’t everything, but it plays a part and helps build confidence. And it encourages you to go out and learn more and be more. Through our sport you can gain confidence, learn discipline and gain health, and there’s an amazing community.
Running cannot set you free, but it helps you find and feel the joy that freedom brings.
Running is the only place where I feel like I have freedom and autonomy in decision-making. I don’t need it to add up to something. I just need it. The choices are so refreshingly simple, the number of people affected by them can be counted on one finger.
I don’t want to be told what to do, and I don’t need a plan. I relish in the simple choice of which shoe to tie first. I get to ask myself, “What do I want?” and pick a path that fits my mood and the time I’ve got. As my soles find their rhythm on the cracked pavement, I let my eyes drift up from the bubbly blanket of volcanic basalt toward the orderly line of conifers thriving on its edge, and fill my lungs with their recycled air.
I can let myself be distracted by the lone ghost juniper and its trunk twisted up from its single taproot. I can pick up the pace on the climb to the viewpoint and stretch my calves on the railing that keeps me from falling into the sea of black knives below. I can wait there until my breath quiets enough to hear something else. The lava fields are a physical reminder that upheaval can change a landscape and become something different, but beautiful. If I let it, the space I see outside can find its way to the inside. I can let it.
Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T. S. Eliot.”
