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Welcome to the Wild World of Trail Running! We're diving deep on the races, training tips, and gear you need to know to get outside off paved roads to run a whole new way. Click here for more stories about the trail explosion.

ANTOINE HAUGABOOK, 46 , has been immersed in the road running community for more than a decade. A Nashville-based account manager in information technology, Haugabook has served as the co-captain of the city's local chapter of Black Men Run since its inception in 2013 and has also formed relationships with other clubs throughout the region. But when Haugabook and his wife, Yolanda "Yo" Lopez Haugabook, ventured off the roads they were familiar with and into the local trail running scene, they felt like they didn't belong.

"We immediately noticed we were the only people of color and didn't feel like we really related to anyone else out on the trails," Lopez Haugabook, 41, says.…