The NCR: A Simple Trail

Over the past two years, I've run hundreds of miles along a simple, crushed limestone trail that bisects Baltimore County on its north-south course between Baltimore's suburbs and York, Pennsylvania.  The NCR Trail, as it is colloquially known, is part of Maryland's Gunpowder Falls State Park.  For over a century, the Northern Central Railway carried freight between Baltimore and York, before the region's industrial decline. In the 1980s, after contentious debate between landowners and environmentalists, the State of Maryland acquired the trackbed and the land bordering it, transforming into a public land for the enjoyment and recreation of all.

Season after season, I return to the NCR most weeks to complete many of my longest runs and most challenging workouts. Despite traversing the same out-and-back course, I never get bored nor find it monotonous. Rather, its familiarity has become an asset, reducing the psychological stress of workouts that typically entail two hours of running. It is a variable in my training that is constant, stable, reliable. 

As an environmentalist and historian, I enjoy observing the seasonal changes along the route. At points, the trail cuts through bedrock, exposing rock walls dressed with verdant ferns and mosses. The trail also samples the county's patchwork landscapes of deciduous forest, wetland, farmland, town center, and homestead. Like an archaeological dig, as you progress north from the late twentieth-century housing development that surrounds mile marker 0 you encounter architectural bygones - buildings that were once banks, depots, stations, and stores that bustled along the railroad. And as fall thins the foliage, the young forest reveals much older fieldstone ruins and the shadows of lives long past. These artifacts prompt my mind to wander, as I imagine what life was like for those who lived here - Susquehannock hunters, slaves, wheat farmers, artisans and, later, immigrant laborers, clerks, grocers, and even woods babies*.  

But mostly, I return to the NCR because I've found no better place near Baltimore to prepare for long distance races.  Its crushed limestone surface is packed so firmly that it prepares my body for the pounding of a violent 13.1 miles and the duration of 26.2.  Yet, it is more forgiving than asphalt, thus reducing the risk of injury. From my considerable experience there, the mile markers are fairly accurate, making it the ideal location to include threshold intervals or tempo segments into a long run. The trail's minimal elevation change is also beneficial. While I believe that hilly long runs are an important component of any training plan, a relatively flat course is, in most cases, best for faster and longer workouts. Lastly, I cannot overstate the significance that its canopy played during my current cycle. The shade allowed me to complete longer and quicker runs than I would have been otherwise able to do during the Chesapeake summer. 

In the months ahead, I plan to eulogize many of the region's parks, for we Marylanders are fortunate for our state's commitment to creating and preserving public lands. I chose to begin with NCR because it has been kind to me. I've enjoyed significantly increased fitness and collected many personal records from training on this simple trail.