Community Trail Runs

By: Coach Maggie

When people think about trail running, a lot of people think it can be too hard or for only “serious athletes.” What I loved about our June Trail Series was that it showed how a trail run can look many different ways, and that’s the beauty of running. 

It can look like a mother and son coming out for a jog at Clark Reservation, or it can look like a distance pace team coming together to try for a new goal. It can look like a group of friends leading the way on trails they’ve run dozens of times or two friends closely following the map because they’ve never explored that park. We had No Boundaries athletes joining seasoned ultrarunners, and we had newcomers to Fleet Feet seeing what a running community is all about.

What I came to appreciate most of all was just that–the community aspect. We had 75+ runners from all over CNY come together to explore the beautiful trails of the area. I watched as people embraced the challenges of their first trail run, climbing over boulders at Clarks Reservation or enjoying the rolling trails at Great Bear. I was so happy to hear people chatting with the friends they brought along about doing more trail running in the future! 

I want to say a big thank you to the runners who came to our runs last month–without you, there is no community. It was fun to gather together and share stories and laughs on the trails. Hopefully, I will see you all out on the gorgeous trails sometime soon!

If fresh air, soft ground, and shaded trails with great community sound good to you, there’s still time to join us for our Trail Half Marathon program that starts Thursday, July 7th!