There's joy after a fall

There's a wonderful trend I have noticed among trail runners. The fall from success to failure always seems to bounce back into rediscovery of the core joy. What I mean is, when a trail runner doesn't hit what they are aiming for, it seems that nine times out of ten, the result is that the failure leads them to discover the real reason they run.

This year seems to have been a tough one for a lot of the international athletes in the trail world. News of injury, sickness, and even mountain rescues have been on the blogs of the top athletes. Each story of failure is followed up by a story of rediscovery. I think this pattern is inspiring and shed's some light on the heart of the trail.

A great pic from the Trans-alps run last week. This captures something of the heart of the trail for me, although I bet their legs might not agree with that, 3 or 4 days in!

Last weekend Kilian Journet was rescued from a mountain with his climbing group after their climb didn't go as planned, and his main comment was along the lines of 'well, sometimes the mountain reminds you that it is stronger.' Anna Frost from Salomon international is taking a break to remind herself of her desire for the trail. Anton Krupicka had a DNF in the UTMB a few weeks ago, and still comments that it was one of the best trail experiences he has had. Ryan Sandes spent a weekend in the mountains not running according to a program but just having fun trying to get the passion back. 

Every one of these athletes have done two important things in their failures (I use the word failure simply to express how they missed their original goal. The overall result, however, is far from failure and is quite the opposite): They have firstly acknowledged their disappointment in missing their goal. Secondly, they have taken a step back from the pressure of performance in order to find their heart once again on the trail.

The example they set can be used for the day to day runner as well. There are ups and downs in running. Sickness, injury, fatigue, lack of enjoyment. These things are going to happen, even in the course of training for a big race we will have such ups and downs. 

When we are down, it's time to remember why we run. 

It's time to forget our weekly mileage and our shortcomings. 

It's time to remember the joy of the trail, of being alone with our heartbeat and our steps on the dirt. 

Only then will we find our legs feeling lighter and our run feeling stronger.