Trail running. I'm imagining a soft-focused sunset silhouette of a lithe athlete deftly bounding across the countryside. I am imagining fresh air and blue skies, little gravel paths with signs pointing the way, brown rabbits munching clover and noisy skylarks flitting excitedly about.
I am not imagining crawling under barbed wire fences and hormonal bulls snorting their terrifying rage at me. I am not imagining lopping through thorny knee-high grasses with fears of adders underfoot, nor getting hopelessly lost nor being scared senseless by an aggressive dog whose apologetic owner was 'practicing him being off the lead because he bites people'. I didn't imagine running across an active golf course and being told to 'look to the left' for incoming balls.
No. I wasn't imaging any of those things. Trail running? More like a trial in running!