The picture above has similarities to the trail I ran this afternoon. It has been raining for a couple of days now and it was wet and muddy all the way. I will use this image to show you how to run this kind of trails and warn you for the things you might find in them.

The middle of the trail is like marrying someone you know. He or she are crystal clear. You can see from far away that it is slippery and you know you may fall at any time but… you know where the problem is and where the rocks are. It is like getting marry with an old friend and that´s why this is the bad marriage.

Both sides of the clear center you will find two leafy and padded narrow lanes. These are the places you will end up running if the center of the trail is slippery and doesn’t allow you to move forward. Behind those leafs is where you are going to find thorns, sharp rocks, broken glasses and pieces of rusty metals, all of them hidden. You may not find those dangerous things but you could. So, it´s like marrying someone you don’t know much. That makes these narrow lanes the wrong marriage.

Ok, the way to go successfully through these wet and muddy trails is pretty easy, you may run by the center of the trail until it allows you to; and you will walk the padded narrow lane with all the care of world.

See, I said it again, in trail running, especially if you are a barefoot runner like me, there is no need to run all the time; walking is an important part of the game, so enjoy it.