Girls Gone Wildwood

running selfie with Cedar It is so easy to get caught up in how many miles you are running each week or your strava stats, especially when you are training for a race. I spent the better part of this year training for the Waldo 100k in August. I really loved pushing myself outside of my comfort zone training for Waldo and feeling myself get stronger. Susan and I were so happy that we completed a 100k, which we had not done in 4 years. After the race a took a full week off of running to let my body recover and I thought I would be so excited to get back on the trails without having the pressure to train for the race. But that actually wasn't the case, I didn't feel like something was missing, I just didn't feel excited about running. I was doing it because it was part of my daily routine and I am afraid not to do it because it so much of who I am. hanging out in the van ready for a run Honestly it wasn't until 2 weeks ago (it is now mid October) that I st...

Cedar and Mt Hood-- bff Back in July, we scheduled a Sunday run in Badger Creek Wilderness to pre-fatigue us for our long, day-off run the next Friday ( Timberline Trail around Mt Hood !). We started at Gumjuwac trailhead right on Highway 35, with a big climb up to the saddle and Lookout Mountain.  Even though it was a perfect hiking weekend in summer, we only saw a handful of people—most of them at the top of Lookout, since there’s a nearby trailhead you can drive to for a nice three mile loop. It really feels like wilderness on the far side of Mt Hood.

Bald Mountain: perhaps the best viewpoint of Mt Hood on the whole Timberline Trail We timed our July day-off adventure to be the longest training run, four weeks before for our biggest race of the year, Waldo 100k. For a 40+ mile run, it's hard to beat the Timberline Trail loop around Mt Hood. Our last time on this route was four years ago, in 2015. Since then the infamous Eliot washout-- which was technically closed-- has been rerouted further down the mountain, adding a bit of distance and safety. We were excited to see the changes.