#trail notes

Trail-Ledger, Log 4: Pondering on an autumn day.

Have you ever just had one of those days that everything is calm, the air is hugging you rather than slashing you, the smells have this uplifting power on you and your mind is so calm, all your thoughts dance together in symphony and allow you to see your life with a bit of clarity.

Well I was able to capture the day that experience ocurred to me.

By Krissy Moehl

On June 21st Vasque Ambassador Krissy Moehl joined a running bud, Jeremy Wolf, on his backyard adventure. The idea was born in a quick email exchange in January. The ideas really started to develop by April. Each runner left from their respective doors in Fairhaven at 3pm on the Solstice in search of the Mt. Baker Summit. In quick reflection on what made it awesome, Krissy shares 5 tips in this short blog post. For more information about the actual run look for her story capture on Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line or Jeremy Wolf’s story on Trail Running online.

Look around.

What inspires you? Hopefully you love where you live and you picked the area for how it makes you feel. Even if that isn’t the case, there is inspiration all around us. Dig into the area and explore what you love to look at. A lake? A hillside? A mountaintop? A route through town? And think, how can I get there? Once found, ask what can you do with that inspiration? Run around a lake? Up a mountain? To a destination?  For example, to make a long winter training run more enjoyable, I ran from my door to my parents’ all on trail this winter. It ended up being an awesome adventure that didn’t require a ton of planning.

Plan well.

Please note, I love spreadsheets, lists and maps. I visualize by expressing details in different colored cells and drawing lines on maps. I love calculating possible time splits and estimating mileages. I try to detail out specifics of what I prefer to wear, eat and use while running, but admit I provide extra options to accommodate the “what ifs.” Writing this out ahead of time in a digestible format makes the run much smoother. There’s the reality that the whole plan could change dramatically, but there’s a guideline and goal to at least start from and aim for.

Enlist a team.

As solo of a sport as running can be, I’ve found a way to create teamwork around it. Running with a partner and/or enlisting a crew adds energy to the whole experience. Who you enlist is super important because the positivity of their energy (or negativity) will factor in to your adventure. Finding people that understand the mission, are in tune with what you hope to put into and get out of it and are flexible to roll with time shifts, weather or other obstacles that could arise are precious assets to your experience.

Capture the moments.

Take photos. Create videos. Record voice notes. Share your experience through social media channels, if that’s something you’re in to. Mark this adventure in time so that you can look back, recall some of the stories and revel in the work and experiences. Doing these things along the way will help you create pause and in-the-moment reflection. There is a reason you decided to take a certain picture, mark the moment in your brain as well just before or after capturing the snap. Remember, the longer the adventure, the fuzzier memories will be (especially if you move through the night and miss precious sleep), so it’s best to have moments captured to help with your recall.

Celebrate.

However the adventure ends up, goal achieved or not quite, be sure to celebrate. Take your crew out for a meal, share stories, print photos, gather everyone involved together a couple of days later to laugh and remember. Celebration can be overlooked as an important step in anything we do (work or play). Taking time to celebrate and acknowledge accomplishment in whatever form rounds out the experience and makes it whole.

Trail Notes

This is a nice collection of stories capturing the lifestyles of passionate mountainbikers from the Southern Hemisphere Mecca of Rotorua New Zealand and the infamous trails of the Whakarewarewa forest. You can buy the full movie on iTunes, or order it here.