Put an objective to an activity and the activity becomes a mission, starts standing for something that’s much bigger, if sustained well, even transforms to some sort of a revolution.
That’s what running is, one starts with a simple notion of engagement and fitness, an activity to look forward to at end of ‘A’ day in life among otherwise not so enterprising ‘N’ days but then slowly it morphs into a purpose far bigger than a physical motion – inner peace, social equality and justice, for love, for war, for peace.
City Marathons are a great way for mega cities to come together, people from all age and geographies come together to carve success stories not just personal but also for communities. Thousands of men and women hit the tar and run aggregate million KMs on watch through the bustling streets and landmark buildings which on a usual day can be quite unforgiving for a pedestrian. The fanfare, confettis, and red carpet from the corporate sponsors does convert it into a media magnet. But then that’s the usual stuff, one sees it happening almost every other day and quite frankly despite all the charm and glamour of it; it’s the tar, and the city, and the buildings – what else! One runs for a change, for dynamicity, for vibrancy that just gets a little diluted.
This is where trail runs come in, perfectly enconced in the bosom of a suburban or rural settings, these are not perfect tarred streets to show one’s timing off but to lose oneself in wilds for sometime, be one with nature, smell the soil and the sun baked dung, the mischievous chipmunk which almost went over your feet, a bunch of starry eyed locals who watch in wonder the one special day when even their village has a ‘bipodal traffic snarl’.
Trail runs have a unique way to soothe one’s soul. A run where there is no energy sap, mother nature feeds back. There is so much dynamicity around, that one eventually loses track of time and distance and for better, for trail runs shouldn’t be run for those parameters. Trail runs are for visual cleansing, a huge relief from the non ending geometrical buildings and never ending street traffic.
There is a unique freshness in the air that feeds the lungs, each step is more invigorating than the last one, lungs seem to expand and offer boundless energy to express, to run, and to cheer the comrades. It’s like running on a ‘reserviced air filter’ – declogged and cleansed.
The inclines, declines, and the bankings of the trail are still so natural, they can be unbalancing but then that’s the real joy of the Wilds, Run in the wild, with the wild, like that kid who would not let go that moment of his in dust and toys for anything else in the Universe.
Mother Nature is supreme, and she as her unique way of humbling her subjects to submission. There is no point in fighting that incline, there is no winning there, the idea is to respect it and gain on it step by step, for no one has and no one will ever gain over nature. So esoteric but so true.
One doesn’t come across a lot of trail runs simply because the routes are tough to curate, attract little corporate sponsorship and above all don’t attract participants in droves. It’s coveted by a very few. But I guess that doesn’t need to change because that’s the soul of it. There is no bigger joy than running to the ‘Kuhu of Koyal’ in isolation for a change.
What works for us as a country is the unique landform that we have – you could create an engaging trail almost anywhere right in the foothills of Uttarakhand to mystique plantations down Tamilnadu. What we really need is a few more ‘runpreneurs’, to discover and curate.
Leave a Reply