What I learned at camp: Don’t be defined by the marks that life leaves on your soul. Work through them as your preparation for a better life ahead. -David Infante, Trail Running Camp Participant

Eric on the Obstacle Course 5k

It’s hard to sit here and not feel overwhelmed by all the good that went on at the Trail Running Camp this weekend.  So many people came and shared their talents and time with the participants at Camp Eagle.  We were about 50% veterans and 50% civilians together out there.

I told everyone at breakfast the first day of camp that Alison, Jason, Joe and I hoped to teach them the ins and outs of trail running while they were there.  Running has been good for all of our souls and we were looking forward to sharing our passion as well as its metaphors.  Standing on the fireplace hearth so everyone could see me, I was fairly overwhelmed with happiness knowing I was about to introduce these veterans and civilians to the trail running community.  I told them my standard Chris Russell story.  How he paced me at my first 100-mile race and how “there I was” in the middle of the night, reduced to walking slowly in the dark, becoming more and more hypothermic —  until Chris took the shirt off his back and gave it to me.  Chris spent the next hours walking around chilled and half-naked surprising aid station volunteers – while I made it to the finish line, warm in a shirt that reached my ankles.

I told the group that Chris’s actions were extraordinary, but they weren’t exceptional.

Every ultra runner who’d come to help with the camp could tell a similar story of compassion and good humor.  The trail running community itself is exceptional.  The volunteers spent the rest of the weekend proving my assertion and welcoming everyone in.

You can’t imagine how fine everyone was helping the participants and tailoring their instruction to meet the needs of the runners they were working with.  I will be writing thank you notes for the rest of the day.

A public thank you to Bob MacGilvray at Drymax socks for making a special pair of socks for everyone at the camp – runners and volunteers alike – and then donating them to us.  I made everyone put them on right away Bob so we wouldn’t have to deal with blisters.

Another public thank you to Don Freeman and Scott Warr at Trail Runner Nation for their support and generosity throughout.  It was a pleasure to tell everyone about the all the wonderful resources at Trail Runner Nation waiting for them.

Thank you to UltrAspire.  The handheld water bottles were wonderful and folks loved trying on the hydration packs.

Thank you to Roch Horton at Black Diamond.  We couldn’t have done that night run without the headlamps!  And to Tailwind Nurtrition for providing us with their sports drink.  We loved it!

Trail Running Camp: Running as Metaphor tomorrow.