“I keep running and when I get to a place I can’t run anymore, I turn around and run home.”
I read this quote in a running magazine a while back and thought it was really neat. The quote comes from a trail runner explaining how, and probably more importantly, why he ran down a steep rock cliff that all the other runners stopped and walked down. This quote symbolizes why I love to go serious and extreme Trail Running. It’s a freelance, exhilarating activity where you get whatever you put into it. If you want to walk down the cliff, you can, but if you want to challenge yourself and heighten your senses, then you run down it. It’s up to you. Challenge yourself.
Another important challenge behind this quote is not the decision the Trail Runner made to run down the cliff, but the decision to just simply run until he can’t run anymore. How many of us have run until complete exhaustion where our bodies could not physically run anymore? I want to challenge myself to do that more often (probably not on a remote trail though). I truly don’t know what I could be capable of achieving in running until I run to complete exhaustion.
Bottom line, I’m sure the quoted trail runner didn’t stand at the top of the cliff and think, “Should I run down this?” He just did it. Hansel from the movie “Zoolander” said it best, “I just grip it and rip it, that’s just how I live my life bro.” Grip it and Rip it on your next trail run.