Are You a Trail/True Runner?

Start from 0, do the arithmetic

1. Which would you prefer to run:
   1. The Boston Marathon in under 3 hours (-1)
   2. The Pike's Peak Marathon in under 5 hours (+1)
   3. The Hardrock Hundred, and you don't care about the time (+2)
   4. A 50k with no T-shirt - it's just a training run (+3)
   5. 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. How long it takes a pair of shoes to lose that "new" look:
   1. Two weeks (-1)
   2. Three days (0)
   3. One day (+1)
   4. When you take them out of the store for a test run (+2)
   5. You can't tell the color of your shoes after the test run (+3)

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

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

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

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

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

8. Your condition when you return from your regular run:
   1. Sweating (-1)
   2. Bleeding (+1)
   3. Your blood has thickened from extended exposure to altitude (+2)
   4. Blood? Like you have any left? (+3)

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

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

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

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

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

Score Yourself: