Things I have learned from running on the trail.

1. Silence is golden.

If you are introverted then running, or any other exercise that can be done in a solitary fashion, is the best way to start the day. I love nothing more than suiting up, plugging into a podcast or audiobook on my watch and disappearing to the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows where I am, it is quiet and deserted and the day has yet to begin so no cars or other fuss is around. Heaven. So good for the soul and brain.

2. Green is also golden.

Green is good for you. Not just food, but the spectacle. If you are outdoors in the greenery you are flourishing, and that is just a fact.

3. Sunrise is… er… golden.

Watching the sun come up. What absolute bliss, to be running through beauty, seeing beauty slowly appear and then watching it bathe the beauty in more beauty. Did I say beauty? I meant beauty.

Beauty.

4. Trails are better than roads.

If I must run on the road I do so on roads surrounded by green, but all things being equal I would rather be on the trail. Why? The soft grass underfoot, the animal sounds, the cool of the morning under a tree canopy, the moisture of life in the air, the smell of vegetation. I mean, can’t you just sense it all now?

5. Bathing in nature.

Gyms are stupid because human beings are meant to be outside. It is our birthright. Who the hell wants to spend time in a smelly, sweaty room full of sweaty, smelly people listening to dreadful music, trying to avoid eye contact with talking people who want to talk to you, all the while you are lifting things up and putting them down again. I mean, does that sound like appropriate behaviour for a real man? And then there are the posers who look at themselves all the time, the roarers who cannot exercise without panting and grunting and the talking people. Did I mention the talking people? These people want to talk to other people. I do not like the talking people.

Plus, why endure that when you can be outside, bathing in nature?