Trail running is more.

     I had a really different experience today. I was running down through the rocks, navigating treacherous terrain yet I was at peace.

Trail running is more.

Being a trail runner is getting wet as you brush against rain soaked vegitation

It's stepping carefully while you climb a muddy slope

It's looking out over a valley and talking with your best buddy

It's trying to figure out just how much and what kind of food to take in

It's that hole you just put in your new shoe

It's the guy with the crazy laugh that you found in the middle of nowhere

It's getting to know your body

It's dancing through rocks with no pointe shoes

It's having the agility of a half-back and the stamina of two

It's pounding your feet with a sledge-hammer

It's experiencing the most majestic mountains but still appreciating a flower

It's exploring the limits of your mind and body

It's having your guts roll

It's breathing in and out

It's feeling fatigue try to crush your will

It's leaning in to a corner.....and coming out

...or I could just stay on the trail.

     Last week I pushed my mind farther than I had in a while. I ran up Grove Creek and kept going toward the Timpanooke Road. I knew that I was about half a mile from the road when my phone GPS let me know I had gone three miles. The last part of the trail up to the road was steep and rocky. I didn't do the best job of staying motivated. I made my way up and all of the sudden I was right by the road.

     I think sometimes we don't understand how close we are to things getting better. We know that the road is up there and even kind of where it is, but we don't understand how close it is. It could have been a mistake, but I think I even saw what I thought was a road, higher than where I actually hit it. Elder Holland said in General Conference of October 1999 “'Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.'"
     On the same trip, coming down, I had a scary moment on a single track trail on the side of a canyon. I came close enough to falling off that it made me think about what I would do if I fell. I thought about calling for help. I thought that people near me and what someone would do. Then I thought, "...or I could just stay on the trail." I think a lot of the time if we can avoid heartache we should. If we can avoid hurting ourselves we might as well.
     I think I was in church the other day when it came up that we do not fail unless we quit trying. It's probably attributed to someone, but it's a pretty well known idea. I've thought, if you don't get up because you are tired of falling down, then you're still on the ground. Though maybe not the most original thought. It's pretty good imagery.
     Live life and make the best of it. You might not understand how closer you are to things getting better. Stay on the trail, it's not worth falling off if you don't have to. Don't stay on the ground. My grandma  used to say, "You can't do nothin' when you're sittin' on your