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Courtesy of Adrian Umpierrez/@umpz. MH Illustration.

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.

I SIGNED UP for a desert trail race in Arizona last year, my first ever. Right as my training cycle started, I moved from Salt Lake City to Brooklyn, trading easy access to Utah's parks and mountains for the paved city streets of New York. My new home was about as far from the cactus-lined single-track of the Javelina 31K I was preparing to run at as I could imagine.

I'm not the kind of person with a wall full of medals from road races (I've never run one), but I do love the outdoors.…