WOMEN TRAIL RUNNERS

We have a real admiration for women trail runners, they are like beautiful swans in the water. They look fragile from the outside but inside you can sense they are really fearless and fighters. They have no fear not even the dark forests, the high mountain to climb, the cliffs, the raging river, and all the elements that can be found in the forest. They run with grace and calm that is electrifying even to men of steel and rocks. 

In two straight years of covering years back the Nature's Trail Discovery Run Trilogy Championship series by Pimco Sporting Events, I have seen many women trail runners who crossed over from the glamor of road running to the extreme sport of trail running. Sometimes you will know they are new in trail running because they come to the race event still wearing their favorite road running get-ups as if they will simply run the road. Yes even in trail running they look glamorous, stylish, and trendy. They are awesome in their individual style and look of a runner. I take photos and anxiously await their return in the finish line from long-distance trail routes that cover dozens of kilometers for every category and like the organizer I pray for their safety. Sometimes I wonder where they are getting the guts to dare the natural obstacles they faced in the mountains yet lo and behold when they get to the finish they will almost instantaneously display the satisfaction they get in finishing the distances. Sometimes like men they pump fists in the air and jump in the moment of triumph. Nothing I think gives satisfaction to the women runner than finishing what she started. Anything short of it is a disappointment to the runner thus pushing oneself to the limit is a heroic act of conquest - beating one's own limitations. Its not about winning it's about finishing.

By its simplicity, trail running races provide the stage for the drama that unfolds in every race. When I watched and take photos at the sideline, I feel like watching a teledrama in television complete with the set and beautiful actors and actresses. But it is real, it is raw, it is extreme as it can get, it is Trail Running and I love every minute and hour that passed until the last man or woman comes to the finish line. From the early hour in the morning at past 12:00 in the morning they start to come and converge until the starting line is filled up with excited runners and in each race, more women are joining, their numbers grow in every season of NTDR races and I guessed then that they will grow more in the years ahead. And they did even when Pimco decided to take a leave in organizing races, some of the runners who regularly joined Pimco Trail Run continued on organizing races for the growing community of trail runners. For others, they continued to flock to the Sierra Madre Mountains discovering nature's best as day hikers, trekkers, and mountaineering.

Many runners who were introduced to trail running by Pimco said the trail run organized by the said sports event organizer, has more intensity and more drama, and they really enjoyed them. For Pimco Sports Events, Trail running is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle, an entertainment for the runner and the family that most often join them and cheer for them. I have watched and seen it many times and I'm sure there will be lots of it in the most awaited return of Pimco in the trail running races. 

UPCOMING RACE: WOODLAND INT'L TRAIL RUN FUN RACE