Lost Horizon

I always try to think of a catchy title for a post and I wanted to write about the trails that I had run on this past weekend.  I first thought of unchained melody and rationalized it while running. I thought of the Righteous Brothers song although I later learned that the original song was from some obscure prison movie.   The trails felt like a melody to me with perfect pitch and rhythm but unchained, meaning unrestrained.When I started writing I thought  that Lost Horizon might be a good title.  It was great being in the forest away for the world.  It was nice focusing on each step and seeing a lost horizon.  What I mean by this is that in a forest, there is no horizon, no point of reference except for the trail in front of you.  Yes, you can see the undulating hills, some steep, forming mini-canyons.  But, you are generally a lost soul among the trees.  The trail demands your attention but the peace and beauty captures your heart.  Ironically, when I looked up Lost Horizon (which I felt like I had heard of), it is a novel published by James Hilton in 1933.  Lost Horizon, the movie from 1937, was best known for the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional Utopian monastery high in the mountains of Tibet.  In the book, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity.  When I read this line, I thought that this is the essence of trail running.  OK, maybe  it is a leap to get from trail running to a Utopian Tibetan society but finding peace, love and sense of purpose can be found on the trail. I will pass on unheard-of physical longevity but certainly entertain unheard-of spiritual enlightenment.  I wrote a post a few years ago relating to this while running 50 miles on trail in Texas.  Read it here.

The first trail run was in Mt. Airy Forest in Cincinnati.  It is the home of the Stone Steps 50K, A difficult ultra with a few ascents up the Stone Steps pictured here.  Notice the guy at the top.



It is a beautiful forest with technical and hilly trails and opportunities for getting lost on the myriad of trails.  That's half the fun!  I suspect the 50K is marked better than the general park markings.

The other trail that I ran over the weekend is near where I live in Umstead Park in Raleigh.  I have run the challenging bridle trails many times and even attempted a 100 miler there (completed 50) but never ventured onto the single path trails.  I ran the Loblolly Trail on Monday.  It is not terribly technical (mostly roots and some rocks) and sometimes cushioned with pine needles from the forest but it does have its climbs and a couple of small stream crossings.  However, it doesn't take away from the serenity of the experience especially as it weaves its way to one of the lakes in Umstead.  I stopped, prayed, and continued my journey.

On March 16 I will venture running a trail marathon in Pocahontas State Forest in VA.  It's the 4-5 hours that I will spend running in the forest that I will cherish.  If I ran too fast (which is unlikely these days) I would miss the extended calmness and joy of the experience.  I hope to find the lost horizon.

American Land

It's good to be back on "American Land".  It was appropriate for Bruce's song to be the last song of my run today.  Being in the UK last week with two long days of travel and full-day meetings the rest of the days, it was a good time to give the body a rest.  Rest is training, of course, unless you are constantly at rest and then that would be couch training.  After weeks of running and tearing down your body, rest allows it to heal and build back up.  Of course, I would not advocate 5 days of no running, but certainly, 5 days of restful running or cross-training.  Sometimes, most times, my mind seems to need running more than my body.

I enjoy seeing new places, including places abroad but I especially like returning home to this great American Land.  Maybe this is true of everyone.  Home is always home for all of us.  Although I didn't run in the UK, I did buy two running magazines - Runner's World (UK version) and Trail Running (UK).This is the first that I have looked at these magazines and I really enjoyed it, especially "Rave Run" pictures in Runner's World and "Running Inspiration" in Trail Running.  The Rave Run picture was taken in Lauterbrutten Valley, Switzerland.  This is not the exact photo but gives you a good idea of what the rave is all about.

The valley was also JRR Toiken's inspiration for  Lord of the Rings.  The Jungfrau Marathon is the valley's marathon and looks spectacluar.







In Trail Running, the photos are in a section called "Running Inspiration".  The three photos in the Feb/March issue are from Loch Lomond, Conic Hill; Glyders, Snowdonia; and Transvulcania, La Palma Island in the Canaries.

Again, these are not the exact photos but gives you a good idea of the beauty.

 

 Loch Lomond, Conic Hill in Scotland

Glyders, Snowdonia in Wales

La Palma Island is an island of the Canaries and has one of the most difficult ultra-marathons (83K), called the Transvulcania, due to the terrain of this volcanic ocean island,

We have our beauty here in the U.S. as well but it was nice seeing the beauty that other runners expereince in other countries.

I found both magazines full of great articles and and good advertisements.  In some ways, I think they might out do their American counterparts but maybe that is from seeing them the first time.  This may be due to being European, meaning, in Europe, you don't fly/drive to other states like we do here in the U.S.  When you leave England, you may be in Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc. all different cultures.  In the U.S. we generally travel to another state but it is still America.  These magazines represent the diversity of Europe.  One thing is apparent, the running community is active around the world and as much as I love running in the U.S. and visiting states that I may not have visited otherwise, I hope to remain running long enough to visit other countries and experience other running cultures as well.  It's a big world, ya know, go live it!  But, it is always nice to come home