How does trail running measure up against road running?

“Damn, that’s it, it’s finally happened” the moment I had most feared had finally happened and it was all my own fault, well mainly my own fault. My shoe had come off in the mud. Now when I say that this was mainly my own fault it was also to a large extent, the mud’s fault and the was deep. I was on the outer stretches of Kenwood, part of the heath, in a spot that even on Britain’s most beautiful moments still has a slightly boggy aspect. An admittedly beautiful wooded stretch that seems to accumulate water quicker than a crop top at Spring Break. I had also decided to start experimenting with trail running during a particularly inclement May and had compounded this foolishness with a refusal to change my footwear. So I turned around, sort of hopping to retrieve my slightly battered and very muddy old Asics training shoe as it slowly sank into a muddy puddle.

Up until this point trail running had been going quite well. For someone who often experiences a deep sense of dread when faced with a long continuous stretch of road, straight suburban streets seeming to stretch out like easy rider highways, then trail running offered a varietal feast. Twists and turns and undergrowth stretched out like trip wire meant the kind of mental stimulation that can be difficult to find on a long open stretch. Equally there can be a sense of finding something hidden and exciting, hopefully not a dead body, but the little clearing in the forest you’d never come across or a hidden field beyond the trees. Trail running can be essentially off roading, free of the strictures of man made routes there is nowhere you can’t go. Having said that, you might lose a shoe.

Road running is a different kettle of fish and one’s enjoyment might come down to how long one’s concentration span happens to be. On the other hand the kind of zen mastery of the road is inevitably superior when you don’t have to avoid rocks and brambles and tree roots. You don’t have to playt out childhood trauma whilst running long distances but if you want to then the calm consistency of road running is superior. The other thing to consider is that not all roads are created equal, sometime trying to avoid prams, traffic and rogue cyclists is more stressful than the odd tree stump. Equally being one of one thousand people on a park run is not always the solitude you might be looking for.

There’s nothing to say that trail or road is inherently better, they are both one hundred percent worth a try. Trail running may require a little more prep and having kit that doesn’t come off is a major advantage. Road running has the advantage that you can just leave the house and start running and there’s less chance of getting lost in an actual forest. Either way, give yourself time to find your rhythm and give it a few goes before deciding how you feel about it, just make sure you don’t lose too many shoes.