Recently, the popularity of trail races in Russia has been increasing. The length of the races, the complexity and quality of the organization are different. But what all these races have in common is the fact that running on a trail is more difficult than running on a highway. Therefore, along with fans of trails, there appear those who do not at all understand the essence of running on difficult natural landscapes, when there is an opportunity to run in comfortable conditions on the highway.
On the example of one of the most difficult trails in Russia Elton ultra trail Let's try to figure out what exactly attracts people from our and not only the country in order to run in the difficult conditions of the Elton semi-desert.
Overcoming yourself
Any novice runner sooner or later has a question: "Either continue to run quietly, without straining for 5-10 km, or try to run the first half marathon, then a marathon."
If the desire to increase the distance wins, and then the time to overcome it, then you should know that you are addicted. It will be difficult to stop.
After running a half marathon, you will want to complete the first marathon. And then you have the difficulty of choosing again. Or keep running on the highway and improve your marathon and other shorter distance runs. Or start experimenting and run your first trail run or your first ultra marathon. Or both together - ultratrail. That is, a race for a distance longer than 42 km on rough terrain. However, you can also continue to progress in the marathon. But you still have to choose an accent.
So why do this? To overcome yourself. First, your achievement will be the first half marathon completed without stopping. But everyone wants to progress. And you will continue to build goals for yourself. And trail running, and especially ultra-trail, is one of the most difficult steps to overcome yourself. Basically, these races improve your feelings about yourself. "I did it!" - the first thought that comes to you after a difficult trail.
In this regard, the Elton ultra trail is one of those races during which you understand the true essence of the expression "overcome yourself". This will become your first priority. But at the finish line you will raise yourself in your own eyes. Therefore, the main thing for which people run trail and ultra-trail races is to overcome themselves.
The pleasure of the process
You can enjoy playing chess, digging in the garden beds, watching TV series. And you can enjoy training and competition in nature. If a person who has never been involved in jogging, and indeed sports in general, is told that people can enjoy the fact that they can run 38 km or 100 miles in a hot semi-desert, while most of them know for sure that they cannot they do not count the prizes, he either will not believe, or he will consider them, I apologize for the rude definition, idiots.
And only a jogger can understand what it means to enjoy running.
Yes, of course, there are also trail opponents among runners. And they themselves say, why torture yourself like that, running on uneven surfaces in the heat, if you can do the same thing, only on asphalt. The bottom line is that every jogging fan chooses how to get pleasure from running - in a road marathon or in a semi-desert with a heat around 45 degrees. And when a road marathon fan says trail running is bullshit. And the sprinter claims that running 10 km on the highway must be crazy. Then in the end it looks like an argument between two masochists, from which it is better to get high. But whoever wins this argument, they both remain masochists. They just do it differently.
Communication with like-minded people
Once you've chosen trail running as one of the staples of your running hobby, you will surely have a bunch of friends with the same preferences.
You seem to find yourself in a special circle of like-minded people, where meetings of club members are regularly organized in different parts of the country and the world. And you almost always see the same faces.
And along with getting into this "circle of interests" you immediately have common themes with all members of the circle. Which backpack to choose for running, in which sneakers is it better to run across the steppe, in which store who bought the gels and which company, why should you drink regularly or, conversely, you shouldn't do it at a distance. There will be a lot of topics.
Especially popular topics in such circles - who ran where and how hard it was for him there. These conversations from the outside will resemble the conversation of avid fishermen, when one will tell the other how he recently went to the lake, and a huge fish fell from him. So the runners will talk about how they went to some starts and ran there, but they were ready to train hard (underline the necessary) and therefore could not show a good result.
And most importantly, when before the start you are asked how well you are ready, you always have to answer that you didn’t train well, that your hip aches for 2 weeks, and generally run without straining and there is nothing to count on. Otherwise, God forbid, you will frighten off luck if you say that you are ready to run as a pioneer. Therefore, everyone follows this tradition.
And you find yourself in this society.
Running tourism
Running tourism for the runner is an integral part of the competition. Road racers travel to different cities trying to take part in the largest races and collect medals from there. But trail runners are deprived of the opportunity to contemplate the skyscrapers of Moscow or the beauty of Kazan. Their lot is God-forsaken places somewhere away from civilization. The less there was the influence of people on nature, the cooler.
And the road breeder will brag about how he ran in a crowd of 40,000 in London, and the treilrunner will talk about how he ran around the largest salt lake in Europe, the nearest village to which has 2.5 thousand inhabitants.
Both will enjoy it. Both there and there cross-country tourism. But some people like to see the city more, while others like nature. In general, you can go to London and Elton. One does not interfere with the other, if there is a desire to get there and there.
These are the main reasons people participate in trail races. Everyone may have many more personal reasons. They are determined by a person only for himself. This applies to amateurs. Professionals have different motivations and reasons.
