Trail Running Chronicles: My Flickering Affair

Dec 3

By Marnie Kunz,
NASM-certified trainer and USATF- RRCA-certified running coach

I’ve always loved trail running. From the time I was a kid, I would spend long summer days running through the woods on imaginary missions with my best friend, or hiking with my dogs or older sisters. Fast forward through high school and college cross country races in the wooded trails around the Midwest, and a move to NYC that put trails on hold for a while.

In New York, I fell in love with street art and focused on my Art Runs and a busy work life that often included extra jobs and more gym time than outdoor hours during long winters. I ran the NYC Marathon and the Brooklyn Half Marathon and enjoyed racing in Central Park and around Brooklyn. But my love for trails remained a flickering light in the background of a busy fitness life.

I had a joyful return to the trails when I experienced the rush of adrenaline running through the mud and up hills and through creeks, in the mountains of upstate New York at the North Face Endurance Challenge — Bear Mountain. I felt like a kid again, sloshing through water and running among the trees. I enjoyed the race so much I did it a few years, whenever I could find a team to run with and a way out of the city.

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I didn’t make trail running a priority though, not the way my regular street running was. It was a more casual, take it as it comes relationship with trail running. Until I started to miss it.

After a lifetime of road races peppered with some obstacle races, I was ready for a different kind of running challenge, with nature and mud, and softer footing and less obsessing over times and numbers. Last year, I trained for my first trail marathon — the Death Valley Trail Marathon.

For trail marathon training, I went to New Jersey with my friend, ultra runner extraordinaire Mariel (#UberMariel). We ran through hilly and rocky trails and slogged our way through. Well, more like I slogged and she gracefully soared, the seasoned pro. Trail runs with Mariel on weekends gave me new life and refreshing getaways from the concrete jungle.

I flew to Vegas for my trail race, only to find out the race was canceled due to unexpected heavy snowfall in the valley, creating unsafe conditions.

Luckily I was still able to savor a slice of trail running as my friend Jose and I made it to Red Rock Canyon outside of Vegas for some trail running adventures.

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Running in the canyon was an otherworldly experience. The stark, desolate, dry landscape was such a contrast to the luscious greenery I’d grown up around, and a big contrast to the thriving life pulsing around me on my runs in NYC. Jose and I felt an eery stillness as we ascended rocky terrain in a barren desert. There were no sounds, no signs of life. Even the plants were reduced to very sporadic cacti hidden between rocks. I felt free running in Red Rock Canyon, and time was suspended. Finally, no phone distractions or people to dodge, no traffic or yelling.

And the views were surreal, as if we’d Uber’ed our way to Mars from the Vegas Strip. True to its name, Red Rock was indeed rose-tinged, with orange and red hues blending in with earthy yellows. We finished the run happy and out of breath, gasping in the high, dry air. We would have to do more trail runs, Jose and I agreed.

But once again, trail races were put on hold as I got busy with life back in NYC, Art Runs, and my main flame of street running.

And then 2020 hit. As with everything it touches, coronavirus disrupted my on-again, off-again relationship with trail running.

With coronavirus raging and some unexpected location changes due to covid-19, I found myself with access to a car and trails again. After reading Rich Roll’s book, “Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself,” I was inspired to hit the trails with renewed energy and dedication.

Nature has brought me solace in 2020, a very trying year of loss and chaos. With my dog Kiyoshi, newly recovered from cancer, by my side, I have set out on new trail running adventures. I don’t have my great human friends by my side this time, as I train solo. And I am a bit slower, as I am coming back from an injury and Kita is coming back from cancer. We are taking it one mile at a time and enjoying the scenery.

As I looked down over a sea of wooded hills on a recent trail run, Kiyoshi smiling by my side, I wondered if this fling could be turning into a more permanent thing.

Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified trainer and USATF-certified and RRCA-certified running coach and the creator of Runstreet Art Runs, which bring together communities through running and street art. She is a Brooklyn resident, running coach, and writer. She enjoys traveling, art, and staying active.

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