Yes, TRAIL RUNNING has been the missing leg of the three legged stool – OBSTACLES, SURVIVAL SKILLS and and now TRAIL RUNNING!

So what led me to discovering TRAIL RUNNING?

I have had for a long time the desire to through hike the 2200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I had decided to do it for my 80th birthday present to myself in 2026.

As a 30 years veteran of fitness training and ISSA trainer I joined two gyms in Franklin, North Carolina – one for upper body strength building and the other owned by a certified Crossfit instructor for cardio and lower body strength building.

I have been an intermittent fasting person for over two years and I found my weight being at tops 154.

I was told by my new friend Will Tolbert, an experienced Appalachian Trailer, who now is finishing up the Appalachian Trail with his wife Laura and their SEVEN children ranging in age from 7 to I believe 19, that I needed to be at least 175 pounds and then I would be carrying a backpack of at least 30 pounds. So that would be a total of a minimum of 205 pounds! I have NEVER even at my previous 6 feet in height weighed over 180!

Jamie, my wonderful Crossfit trainer with a MS in Physical Education and owner of Franklin’s My Fit Journey, told me that because of my intermittent fasting over these two years that my body has settled in for the current 148.6 and that realistically gaining up to 175 by March 2026 will be close to impossible.

That’s when THE HOLY SPIRIT showed me TRAIL RUNNING as a former triathlete and biathlete.

When you trail run the Appalachian Trail you carry only about a 10 pound backpack; however I must have a team that can work with me if I want to do the entire trail.

Maybe GOD just wants me to FOCUS on TRAIL RUNNING for now!

Stay tuned to my new journey of TRAIL RUNNING!

Hugh Simpson

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!