I was descending fast on a relatively tame section of trail on Monday morning, and was picking up speed — all of a sudden the trail become very technical – rocks, roots and mud. Before I could even make a decision as to what to do – I was in it – and I just decided to let go. I’m normally very conservative trail running on technical descents, gingerly picking my way down.

This time I was carrying way too much speed and without a conscious decision, just turned off my analytical brain and just flowed. Super fast. I didn’t fall or slip, but wow. It was an amazing feeling. I realized that the more speed you’re carrying, the faster you pass the complex terrain – sounds intuitive, but it’s much harder to act on that when you’re in the mix. The faster you’re moving, the fewer footsteps you have to land.