Urban Trail Running

Posted in gear, general, trail, travel by Nate

One pair of shoes stretched over three days and 20 miles isn’t the best-case-scenario, but I prefer to pack light. 2 pairs of running shorts, three running shirts, three pairs of Injinjis, one Timex Iron Man wristwatch and my RoadID. Also my Brooks HVAC gloves and a North Face touque just incase it’s not as warm as I’m anticipating.

Oh – and there’s the suits and ties for work. Plus a Nikon D200 and an array of high end lenses, flashes, whatnots and whathaveyous. Plus a MacBook and a copy of Jim Harrison’s Sundog. In case you were wondering.

I used to want to live in NYC. Now I want to live as far away from it as possible – in the spiritual and metaphysical sense. But a quick work trip there will be a welcome change of scenery – even if I am stuck behind a camera during the day and a laptop all night. Seeing some old friends will be great, even if just for a meal. I’m also hoping to get in a few good laps around Central Park.

Running through the streets of a place like New York isn’t completely dissimilar from trail running. I guess you could say it’s “technical” in its own right: replace the roots, rocks, puddles and mud with people, traffic, street vendors, cars, cesspools and smog and there you have it. It requires an equal amount of attentiveness and as much stop-and-go. Minus the hills, of course.

At 1:21 am I have a solid 2 more hours of work to do before I can call it a day. I’m trying my damnedest to prevent work from preventing my training, but tonight I lapsed and skipped out on some cross/weights. First hole in the schedule and not a good feeling.

What could I do but devour half a Buddy’s pizza to drown my sorrows?