Trail Running vs Road Running

Have you ever gone running? You probably went on the roads. That's what people usually do. It's easy to track your miles even if you don't have a GPS. All you need is Google Maps. Running on roads also allows you to run on the pavement or dirt. The only problem with that is: pavement is easier and pavement is worse for your knees and shins. The dirt is soft, so it's easy on your shins and knees, but is harder to run on. Usually people are tempted to run on the pavement because they don't feel the knee or shin pain yet, and they can run so much faster and farther that way. If you run with great form, then running on pavement is no problem. If you don't have great form, be carful. If you start to develop shin or knee pain, rest a few days or a week, then start up again, but on the dirt.

Now, what if you ran on trails? Trails are fun. It's like Parkour in a way; you have dodge roots, rock, and other various objects... not to mention jumping over large muddy puddle areas! This may not promote perfect form, but will likely strengthen your ankles and knees, unless you aren't careful and twist one. The nice thing about trail runs is that the dirt is harder than the dirt on the side of the road, yet much softer than the pavement, thus making it a faster run, without tolling your shins or or knees as much. As for me, I can see myself losing track of speed and how far I'm going because I'm just paying attention to keeping my feet going without hitting any stumps or rocks. This could be great if you are like me and get bored after 2 or 3 miles of running. It requires a little more athleticism than road running. You have to be aware of your soundings, and be capable of dodging things, all while keeping a good pace. I usually find myself running 1.5 to 2 times faster on trails, after all, longer strides means less rocks to dodge per mile! And it's just plain out fun.

Ok, so you can guess that I prefer trail running. It isn't really better though. You have a higher risk of twisting your ankle (and no cars drive by that could help you), it's harder to track milage, may make you run faster than you planned on thus not allowing you to complete a long run, your shoes could get muddier, and if you run slower there are more bugs to bite you. The view is much better though. My adrenaline goes up while I'm running in the woods... guess that's the boy is me loving to dodge things while I'm running!

So over all I'd say the pros and cons of each are:
Road;
Pros: easy to track milage, can run faster, safer to think about life stuff and it's safer to do interval training.
Cons: pavement can cause overuse or bad form injuries faster, boring, and has more sun exposure which can cause dehydration and sun burn.
Trail;
Pros: it's more fun, works on athleticism, could turn into a better workout with unintentional speed increases, better view, and promotes bringing the hips higher (dodging rocks).
Cons: more likely to twist ankle, if injured, cars can't help you, more bugs, doesn't promote perfect form, can cut milage short because of unintentional speed increases, you can't track milage as well and interval training isn't as safe.