Nordic Trail Running in the City

Recently I’ve been thinking about trying a trail run this summer.  The only races I’ve done are road races on nice, flat concrete so the idea of running on uneven terrain and jumping over tree roots sounds fun.  Little did I realize that I’d get a trail run in today on the streets of suburbia.  As I started out on my 10 mile run today the streets were wet from a lightly falling snow and the curbs were piled high with snow from the several snowfalls we’ve had in the past week.  As long as I was running in the side streets things were fine. Then I crossed Woodward Avenue and headed up Main Street.  The sidewalks in front of most businesses was cleared but as I passed homes or less retail-focused buildings, I was running through ruts of ice and snow and hurdling snowbanks.  In many places there was only a trail of frozen impressions in the ice where someone had walked days before.  The footing was rugged and I felt like I was running a trail in the frozen forest or across a frozen tundra.  With the snow falling as I ran it hardly seemed like a run through the city.  But it made my usual 10 mile route seem like a whole new adventure.  Now that I’ve done one trail run I need to search for an organized one for this summer.