Hitting the Roads

There are many reasons I love running. For trail running, at least, it is relatively obvious: I love getting out into the woods, or mountains, or plains, and covering ground. It is immensely freeing to be out there with nothing but your feet and maybe a water bottle and some gels to get you from point A to point B, or from valley C to summit D. The technicality of running on oft-times uneven, difficult, and even dangerous trails only adds to the appeal.

I love trail running enough that I sometimes forget the advantages of road running. These came storming, literally, back to me on Wednesday night. The weather had gone, in under 24 hours, from sunny and 80 to rainy and 40. Nonetheless, the run at the Boulder Running Company commenced as ever.

Reason number one for running on roads: it’s easier to do in bad weather and at night. Had I planned a trail run that day, I would have run earlier, and would have missed the best part of the storm. Indeed, running in bad weather is often when I have the most fun. Something about the pure audaciousness of flinging yourself into the wind as fast as you can, and damn the stinging ice and snow that may be flying at your face.

And talking, yelling, and laughing while you’re doing so.

Reason number two I love road running: the company. It’s not that you can’t run on trails with company. In my experience, though, road running is more conducive to conversation, since you can run in a pack instead of single file.

This particular night, I took off, and soon found myself running in surprising company. I started off with a guy who has a 2:12 marathon PR, and came in fourth in the trials 4 years ago. We in turn latched on to several more people who had various course records and the half-marathon and marathon distance. And for good measure, we picked up a guy who won the Western States 100, 7 times in a row.

I made some comment to the effect that I was under qualified to be running in such company, which they laughed off. And sure enough, we were soon all laughing, joking, and yelling our way down the bike path.

And speeding up.

Reason number three I love road running: speed. You can run fast down the trail, and up the trail, and across the trail. But on a trail you always have to be aware of where you place your feet, moderating your stride so you don’t twist an ankle or trip over a rock. On the roads, you can lose yourself in the speed.

So while I love trail running, and will always choose trails over roads when picking a run, I am glad I have the BRC run every week to remind me of the values of tearing up the roads once a week.