Hiking is probably the mainstay of any outdoor-loving nature aficionado and a great place to start for anyone keen to venture outside the compounds of urban life. Trail running offers a new take for the adventurer looking to step up the intensity level – think of it as a faster, lighter more agile take on hiking or at least that’s what I think
I decided a great place to start my trail running journey is the Wattamolla Trail – a 50min drive from Sydney via the A1 and is located in the Royal National Park. I note the ample parking, toilets and amenities make this a popular picnic spot for Sydney siders escaping for the weekend.
After some basic stretches I set out on the trail along with a multitude of families and hikers enjoying the national park. The track eases you in with a large metal boardwalk trail which winds through thickets of dwarf gums with the sounds of native birds playing white noise. Trail running along this section is effectively the same as conventional road/footpath running and perfectly suited to your standard run-of-the-mill runners.
About halfway through the trail, the boardwalks make way to the sandstone cliffs and coast views which offer some amazing scenery and rock formations carved by the ocean’s power and wind. This is where the trail gets more challenging and quickly reminds runners to pay attention with some of the rock pools being not so obvious and giving me a bit of a splash.
The next terrain change is sand at Little Marley Beach with its squeaky fresh sand – if you look out to sea here from September to around mid-November you might see a whale. The sand stage quickly passes for another sandstone stage before opening up to Marley beach with its picturesque beach with sand dunes. Running on sand is always a challenge but the beach is wide and offers hard sand close to breaking waves again sometimes with the expense of getting a bit wet.
The final stage of the first leg is the ascent up Marley head which combines boardwalks with sandstone runs and loose rock scurries to the top of the lookout. It’s here that I observed that trail running demands a lot more focus and agility from the runner to ensure each step is placed correctly to avoid injury or unstable terrain. An upgrade to quality shoes is definitely next on my list as my aged ASICS nimbus, while OK for this trail, will need to be quickly upgraded as I progress to more technical trails.
From the top of Marley head I could look back on the trail I have half-way conquered while looking forward to my new life as a trail runner, further deep thoughts were pondered while gazing at the turbulent and wild oceanscape – while the answer remained unclear, I knew at least I was on my way.
The return leg allowed me to enjoy the trail all over again but with the added benefit of being warmed up and experiencing a largely downward gradient.
My key takeouts for trail running are:
- A new take on old trails that you may have already explored as a hiker
- An added level of fitness which is becoming increasingly important in the post-corona virus sedentary lifestyle
- Time challenge/performance/goal factor to track and compare
Key Action points for next time:
- Trail running specific shoes
