"I'm not lost for I know where I am. But where I am may be lost."
Winnie the Pooh
Sometimes when I run, it feels so good that I am almost lost in the euphoria. This was one of those moments. I was on a new half marathon trail race and was in a good stride cruising downhill through the forest. There is not a better feeling for me than running in nature carefree and loving Mother Nature. Nothing could break this euphoric feeling I was positive. Then I looked around and saw no trail markers and said to myself “where the f@#!& are the trail markers! Oh crap am I lost again?” I turned around and looked uphill and saw another runner coming down the hill. Thank God, I thought to myself. When she came up to me I said “Where is the trail?” She looked at me with a perplexed look on her face “I have no idea I was just following you!” I was a little miffed I mean we are lost and it is my fault but could you somehow make me not feel so stupid! I regained my composure and said “You made a big mistake.”
I looked around. We
could go back uphill but I was not really liking that option. I scanned the forest and luckily it was
mature forest with the trees spread apart and I spied another runner not far
from us. He was moving slowly but
steadily. He at least looked like he knew where he was going. When we met up with him he showed us the
trail blazes. It was slow going. The trail was not a well-worn path and all
three of us spent our time searching for the next trail blaze.
In that few minutes, when I realized that I had missed a
marker, thought another runner could help only to find we were lost together,
yet to recover with the aid of another runner I had experienced three of the
five essential keys of trail racing about staying on course. Two were broken and one was followed.
In my work, I have driven to every corner of my home state of New Jersey, and I pride myself on my great sense of direction. I do not having to rely on some GPS APP to get me to a destination. Yet on trail races I have not been as fortunate. I have made wrong turns, stopped and backtracked because I am sure I must have missed a turn, often I slow up, because I am nervous that I have not seen a race marker in a longtime and begin to question myself.
So, if you are a trail runner who has experienced a few
mishaps of losing your way than these essential keys will make your race more
pleasurable. If you are a road runner
thinking about doing a trail race you can use this as a guide so that you are
better prepared.
1)
Pay
Attention! - As runners we all love
being in the zone. The running feels
free and easy. It is almost mindless and meditative. That is fine on your regular training runs
but not in a trail race. That was my first mistake in my example. You must always be on the lookout for trail
markers or ribbons, whatever the race is using to guide the racers. Seems easy but as you run on uneasy terrain
you also have to look down or you might take a header. Like me if you might
miss a slight turn because the path seems to go straight. The forest is full of
false trails and unmarked trails. I always tell people who are road runners,
that are doing a trail race that you have to assume that your pace will be
slower because of the terrain. I always forget to tell them it will be slower because
sometimes you have to stop and ask for directions. Even the best runners make mistakes. Elite
ultra-trail runner Jim Walmsley famously got lost while leading the pack in the
Western States 100 because he flew by a turn because he was running so fast. (Not an excuse I can use.)
2)
Do Not
Follow Anyone Blindly – That was the woman’s mistake who followed me. We tend to assume that all the other runners
know where they are going. Sometimes you
like their pace and they are almost like your personal pacer. I was in a trail
race where the lead pack made a wrong turn not even half a mile into the race
but luckily someone just behind them kept on the right route but they were
rather embarrassed. I will also note that this is good advice for life in
general. Do not follow anyone blindly.
3)
Group
Think is Helpful – This is what happened when we came upon the third
runner. Even though he was on course it
was a difficult trail to follow and our pace was slow in large part because we
had to always pause, before we found the next trail marker. This has happened
to me in a race in Utah in which the terrain was comprised of slick rock and
was up and down so it was difficult finding the trail ribbons. There were four of us running and pausing and
it was much faster to have four pair of eyes searching for the next ribbon than
just one. See the next rule for another bonus to group think.
4)
Listen to
the Race Director – Before every race the race director will describe the
course and how it is marked. He or she will also describe maybe some tricky
parts of the course. Almost all, of which you will completely forget when you
start running. You will come upon a spot with two colored trails and you can’t
remember if he said stay on the red trail or leave the red trail by the lake?
This is where group think can be helpful because if there are four of you in
cluster there is better chance that one person remembers. In addition, if they
are an experienced race director they will say it in such a way, that it leaves
you with the distinct knowledge only a complete dolt would get lost. This of course will make you feel even worse
when you go off trail. You are not only lost but you are obviously a dolt.
5)
Everything
looks the Same and Different – It is amazing especially in shorter races
that the terrain you are running on all looks the same whether it is a dense
forest or desert floor you may run a few miles without any distinguishing
landmarks like a mountain view or a lake. So if you go off course you may not
know it right away. Many races use
ribbons (Pink is a favorite color) and I always get nervous when it seems like
a longtime since I saw ribbon. On that race in Utah as we were running through
the slick rock one of the runners said “Are
we going in circles? This looks familiar.” We were not going in circles but
they were right it all looked the same. I have seen people go off course on a
loop trail race and not on the first loop either. I stopped one racer on an
endurance race from going the wrong way and we had already been running this
short two and quarter mile loop for five hours!
It is also amazing how the same trail can
look completely different. Just try
reversing your normal trail run and see how different it is. In addition, if
you are doing a race and it includes running at night the same trail looks completely
different in the dark guided only by a headlamp. In fact, that is what inspired
this blog when I posted a short video about running overnight and looking for
markers a few fellow racers posted that they had gotten lost at night even
though they had run the loop many times before.
Hey, look despite all my wise advice, things happen. On one race I was on I caught up to the lead pack because someone had stolen all the trail ribbons for about two thirds of a mile including coming to a junction. Leaving us to guess which direction to go because none of us could remember what the race director had said about this junction. Unless you are doing the Barkley or some other crazy race you will survive getting lost. If you are like me with no hope of winning it is a nuisance but not the end of the world. Enjoy a great day running in Mother Nature with other trail runners. Things really don’t get much better than that. Even when I was lost with other runners we all enjoyed a good laugh and made fun of each other. It is always reassuring to know that you are not the only dolt in the race.
