Backyard Exploring – But Why?

James and I are just about to wing our way to Great Barrier Island for a weekend of exploration, but before I head off I quickly wanted to tell you about what happened yesterday.

I found out that one of our customers lives on the Island so, when he popped into the office I mentioned that I was heading over for the weekend and we started chatting (and how is this for random, he lives on the same street where we will be staying – small world right?)

After the usual small talk – when, where, how .. our conversation went like this;

Him – What are you going over for?
Me – To run the
Him – (Interrupting) To what?
Me – We are going to run from Windy Canyon to the Kaitoke Hot Srings
Him – (Looks incredulous) .. Why?
Me – Is it no good?
Him – I mean why run .. ?
Me – Ahhhh cause (thinking) .. ahh (still thinking) .. cause that’s what we do?

To be fair this isn’t the first time someone has questioned why I’m going away “on holiday” to run especially when it dawns on them that I’m not heading off to do an organised event (such as a race), instead I’m going  to run – just for the fun of it.

Although, I can “kind of” see the confusion.   After all, the way people look at me when they find I’m going trail running (for fun) is the same look I give to people who are going fishing. 😉

Afterwards (when I had more time to contemplate the meaning of life) I concluded that apart from the fact that at this point in time, running is my main form of exercise and well you know, exercising is important – I run because ..

It’s quicker – I can see more in less time.
There are trails that I would NEVER attempt if I was tramping/hiking, because quite frankly it would take too long (and James would have an absolute hissy fit) however those trails become very accessible if you run them.

You can skip the boring shit.
Lets be honest, there are sections of any trail that are well, quite frankly – boring.  When you are trail running, you can just “skip through” those sections to get to the more instagram worthy parts of the trail.

You can smell the roses.
When you run, you can spend more time in areas of interest (or veer off trail and explore a little further afield) not only because you’ve skipped through the boring shite, but because you can always make up the time elsewhere – this would be much harder to do when walking.

See I’m not as crazy as some people think.

I’m outta here, see you on the other side – if you need me, I’ll be somewhere along that yellow line  ..

Till next time