Mind Body & Soul Activities
Antoine's 1st Trail Running Experience
On this day, Lean Lifestyle is taking you on a trip. Should you accept to come with us, you will open up yourself to a new dimension of fun and discovery: trail running.
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Trail running is simple. It’s running on trails in the middle of nature! The values promoted by it are the respect of nature, mutual aid and freedom. In short, everywhere your two legs can take you, you can run. Anywhere you can run (aside from roads or tracks), you can do trail running. It is all about reaching a destination, using your own two legs to get there.
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Antoine discovered trail running in Guadeloupe enrolling in his first trail race: a 12km length race with an elevation gain of 550m. On the day of the race, 150 participants were ready to give their all in this race running through tropical forest and small streams. The race started with a loud bang in the middle of a meadow. The first liners start sprinting like hell dogs were chasing them.
For Antoine, this race was a nightmare. Under-trained and under-prepared, Antoine ran too fast at the beginning, exhausting himself, completely unaware that the first part of the race was the easiest. He also discovered two aspects of trail running: trails are muddy and sloppy. The combination of both makes you slip, fall, exhaust & scare yourself! The result was a 2h45 race (in comparison with 1h30 for 20km on road) with numerous times on the edge of abandoning. Athletically, it was a failure.
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It was also a starting point. Other than highlighting a poor preparation, this race was a life-changing experience by pushing Antoine to his limits. A lot of new feelings were experienced. Running through the forest in between trees trunks is an exhilarating sensation that many more times motivated Antoine to run even one more trail. Now in love with trail running, Antoine will share with you his experiences of training, races and other aspects surrounding trail running so that maybe it gives you the will one day to wear the shoes and go run in the wild!