Love Off-the-Grid Trail Running?

The sunlight is barely making it over the Tramuntana mountains in northern Mallorca. It’s still before 06:00 am but the small, characterful towns are slowly waking up as I run through the cobbled streets. I can hear the occasional dog bark and the shutters opening as delivery drivers drop off stacks of the day’s newspapers.

I am enjoying the cool, mountain air but know that before too long the temperature will rise and make it harder work to run. In the meantime, I’ll let my body flow over the trails as I weave my way through the citrus and olive groves that pepper the valley bottom on this very special island.

My plan for this morning is to pick up the ancient pilgrim’s path which rises through a spectacular dry canyon, topping out several kilometres higher on a majestic plateau which I imagine travels to somewhere magical.

The cobbled trails I am running on drift alongside crumbling shepherd huts, whilst donkeys with jangling bells briefly look at me before they carry on eating dry grass. As I disappear, I can hear the dull ‘clunk, clunk’ of their donkey bells for some time. At this stage the trail begins to rise more steeply, making it harder to run as I enter the canyon.

I have to remind myself that it is perfectly fine to stop and walk, who cares about how long this trail takes me? Sweat starts to run down my face so I wipe it from my brow and take a slow draw from my water bottle. As I turn around, I am shocked to see the spectacular view that runs for miles towards the sea, it’s a view I have had my back on only until now. I stand there for a moment watching the blue of the ocean sparkling with the light of the sun and the morning thermals whoosh past me on their up the mountain. Adventure at its simplest, I think to myself that this is living.

The sheer simplicity of trail running has made it my absolute passion. I’ve almost completely abandoned the idea of hitting hard-fought miles on tarmac, forgetting the split times and obsession over my pace to hit a time that no-one cares about, but me.

The rewards of running on trails are too many to list, but perhaps which strikes me more than anything is the exploration element that goes hand in hand with it. You discover places you didn’t realise existed, it changes perspective on what you thought you knew about a place and the pressure of time is lifted from your shoulders.

I no longer feel guilty about stopping my run abruptly, whether that be to pick blackberries from a bush or to drink from a mountain stream. Enjoying the view and feeling the experience is all that matters now.