Are you a Trail Runner

A Quiz... Are You a Trail Runner?

By: Blake Wood, Mary Fuka, Skip Eastman, and Tracey Chmielewski
The following quiz "Are you a trail runner?" first appeared in the RRCA Footnotes, Fall 1995.

1 -Which would you prefer to run:

• The Boston Marathon in under 3 hours (-1)
• The Pike's Peak Marathon in under 5 hours (+1)
• The Hardrock Hundred, and you don't care about the time (+2)
• A 50k with no T-shirt - it's just a training run (+3)
• It doesn't have a name, you don't have a number, you hope you'll be back by next week, but you're not particular (+3)

2 -Your condition when you return from your regular run:

• Sweating (-1)
• Bleeding (+1)
• Your blood has thickened from extended exposure to altitude (+2)
• Blood? Like you have any left? (+3)
  

3 - Running attire:

• You don't need bleach to keep your socks and T-shirts white (-1)
• All your running socks are tobacco brown (+1)
• Your children empty your socks and pan for gold (+2)

4 - Conditions on the run:

• You've fallen and scraped your knee on the sidwalk (-1)
• You've gotten dirt in your mouth or up your nose (+1)
• You don't fall. If you did, you'd be dead (+2)
  

5 - Distance:

• Three miles a day is enough for anybody (-1)
• You've detoured in a race to top a peak or see what's over the next ridge (+1)
• You've detoured to see what's over the next mountain range (+2)
• You've crossed three or more county lines during one run (+3)
  

6 - Timing your runs:

• You time your workouts (-1)
• You record your times (-1)
• You don't. The extra weight of the calendar is a nuisance (+2)

7 - Running vs. work:

• You can get in your run at lunch (-1)
• You have missed a meeting at work because that loop was a little longer than you thought(+1)
• You have missed more than a day at work because that loop was a little longer than you thought (+2)
• You use your sick time for those mid-week mountain runs (+3)
• You use all your vacation time to travel to trail races (+4)
  

8 - Running through hazards:

• You stubbed your toe once on a curb (-1)
• You have had to pull cactus thorns from your shoe or a yucca spine from your shin (+1)
• You don't bother pulling thorns or spines out unless they've still got a cactus or bush attached (+2)
• You don't bother to detach the rattlesnake from your body unless it's impeding your progress (+3)
  

9 - Directions:

• You have all four of your routes memorized (-1)
• You carry a topo map (+2)
• Who needs a map - you're prepared to bivouac (+3)
• You can live for a week on the contents of your fanny pack (+4)
  

10 - Run duration:

• You rarely run more than 30 minutes (-1)
• You have gotten so lost that someone had to come looking for you (+1)
• No one really expects you back until next month (+2)
  

11 - Weather and your favorite run:

• When it's raining, you run on your treadmill (-1)
• There are times you can't do your favorite run because of mud or high water (+1)
• There are times you can't do your favorite run because of falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche
• danger, or flash flood warnings (+2)
• There are times you go on your favorite run despite falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche danger, or flash flood warnings (+3)
• There are times you go on your favorite run because of falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche danger, or flash flood warnings (+4)
  

12 - Peeing on the run:

• You look around for a gas station restroom (-1)
• You can pee anywhere you want on the run (+1)
• You can pee anywhere you want, and in fact must do so to mark and defend your territory
• from other trail animals (+2)
  

Score Yourself:
(<>) Sasquatch speaks of you with awe.