Having just run the Mount Madonna Challenge last weekend I got to thinking about trail running and why runners like it even though it is harder and sometimes more injury prone than other kinds of running. In spite of the drawbacks trail running is very popular and becoming more so every year.
Of course runners run on all sorts of surfaces. They run on the track, on the street, on sidewalks, on the shoulders of country roads just to name a few.
Adam Chase an article in the September issue of Running Times asks the question, What is a Trail? Like beauty we all know a trail when we see one but it’s hard to define. The American Trail Running Association (ATRA) defines a trail as having three of the four following characteristics: 1) Unpaved; 2) Natural obstacles; 3) Significant elevation gain/loss and; 4) scenic.
The MMC passes on all four (especially #3!) so no problem. But what about running along the Levee in Gilroy or the Coyote Creek bike path in Morgan Hill? Or for that matter what about Central Park in NYC or thousands of similar venues around the world?
Coyote Creek for example fails all four tests: Unpaved? No; Natural Obstacles? None; Elevation gain/loss? Almost flat; Scenic? Hardly. Yet it is certainly not what you would call a street or road. So there seem to be a plethora of venues that are neither trails by ATRA’s definition nor road or street running.
So as a public service I propose a new term namely ‘Non Trail Off Road’ or NTOR venues. I would guess that more people run NTOR each day than run on trails, but less than run on the street mainly because there are more NTOR venues and they are easier to access than the typical trail. Of course NTOR is an awkward term but I can’t think of anything better. Oh well…
Just Run!
Chuck
