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Showing posts from 2020

Second Annual Santa Hat Run

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Finished-- still dry and warm This year we (Ann) wised up and decided to do our lit-up, costumed, Santa-hat-shaped holiday run on Friday morning, one week before Christmas. That way we weren't tired from previous Forest Park miles like last year , and we didn't have weekend afternoon crowds to contend with. 

Type 2 fun in the Gorge

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REI defines  type 2 fun as miserable while it’s happening, but fun in retrospect. It usually begins with the best intentions, and then things get carried away. While type 1 fun is enjoyable while it is happening. To be fair I think our run in the Gorge was probably type 1.5 fun. But most people would categorize a run in the cold with pouring rain and snow on muddy trails with down trees as type 2 fun. Neither one of us had been hiking or running in the Gorge since the start of Covid. For several months all the trails were closed and once they opened they were super crowded, so we avoided the area. But now that it's snowing we are limited on where we can run. I figured with the crappy weather there would be less people in the Gorge, so we decided to start our day off run at Angel's Rest.  The weather wasn't awful when we started, so we made sure to get picture of the Gorge when we reached the top on Angel's Rest. But shortly after we crested the rain started. We really d

A little taste of Goat Rocks

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Girls Gone Goat Rocks! For years, we've had Goat Rocks listed in our page of trail to-do's . Our plans finally aligned such that we made a detour on the drive home from our two separate weekends in the greater Seattle area to run a shorter, 12 mile loop in Goat Rocks Wilderness. Running through the lupine We parked at the Berry Patch trailhead and made our way on Goat Ridge Trail (95) up, up, up, through the dry forest. Sadly, the huckleberries weren't ripe yet, but we were soon distracted with views of Rainier through the trees. Rainier on the left and glad we don't have to climb that steep hill to the right Then we emerged from the trees into a wide open alpine valley, ringed by peaks and ridges, cascading with a rainbow of wildflowers. It was absolutely stunning. And I understood why we drove an extra three hours out of our way to run here. Mt St Helens in the distance We wound our way up and up, passing plenty of backpackers for a Monday. Everyone seemed thrilled to

Diamond Peak Circumnavigation

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Yay, Diamond Peak Susan and I had originally planned on running Mt. Rainier's Northern Loop trail but according to recent trail reports there were still several miles of snow to cross. Which normally wouldn't scare me away but considering the distance ~37 miles and the new to us trails, I thought we should wait a few weeks before attempting it. But since we already had the day off of work I came up with several plan b options for us. One of them was a popular loop from Odell Lake to the east side of Diamond Peak . But after looking at my Diamond Peak map I noticed you could stitch several trails together and actually circumnavigate Diamond Peak Crescent Lake Knowing how much we love circumnavigations, I knew we had a plan b winner. I started Googling "Circumnavigating Diamond Peak" and I couldn't much. Then I started looking for information on Diamond Peak Trail #3699, which is the trail that runs along the west side of the mountain. But I could find very little

St Helens Ape Canyon- Windy Ridge- Smith Creek- Lava Canyon loop

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Lupines-eye-view of Mt St Helens Mt St Helens is beautiful, distinctive, and convenient from Portland. But its circumnavigating trail, Loowit, is... well, too much. Despite being shorter, the one time we did it, it took about the same time to run as Timberline around Mt Hood. The rocky lava fields to start, the lack of water, the relentless exposure, and the numerous washouts at the end of our clockwise route made me not want to do it again anytime soon. 

Same trails, new route

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Susan and I have been running 25+ miles each Saturday since covid-19 and have been recycling through a lot of the same routes. I feel like we have gotten a bit lazy about creating new routes, so I decided to create a new route for this weekend. Some of my favorite routes are made up of a lot of small segments, it give more variety than 10+ miles on Wildwood. This route had enough ups and downs, but not too much. It was a perfect 24 mile route for a Sunday morning.  fl 1- ww .25 ww- maple 1.56 maple - leif 3.55 leif - hardesty 2.58 hardesty - fl7 .55 fl 7 (gasline) - ww .85 ww - saltzman 3.95 saltzman - leif .50 leif - cleator .73 cleator - ww .24 ww - koeing 1.24 koeing - maple .27 maple - ww 1.2 ww - nature 1.42 nature - fl1 .65 fl1 - leif .53 leif - alder 1.54 alder - ww .84 ww- morak .126 morak - fl1 .10 fl1 - car .08 total 23.99

The privilege of running and other things

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"Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things'll get brighter Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things'll get brighter Someday we'll get it together and we'll get it undone Someday when the world is much brighter Someday we'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun Someday when the world is much lighter" I have listened to the song O-o-h Child a lot this weekend. It has been a very hard week for this country especially for people of color. I have been at a loss for words and searching for what I can do to make things better. I have donated money to Black Lives Matter, I have posted things on social media, I have talked to friends and family, but there has to be more I / we can do.   I know every morning, afternoon and evening that I go running without worry, that I am privileged. Only a few times in the 10 years I have been running in Forest Park have I felt unsafe.  I know living on a street with 4 trailheads into park with 80 miles o

Hamstring escape loops/ Perfect 23

After my sore hamstrings turned into a cramping pain that curtailed our run the previous weekend, I spent the whole week gingerly trying to run-- and failing. So I did yoga, and stretched, and tried to improve my home office setup for ergonomics.  When it came time for our long weekend run, I wanted the possibility of doing the whole thing, without being forced to limp 5 miles back to the car (again). So I made a route starting at  Springville , using the branches of Firelane 7 to loop around and never get too far away from our trailhead start. As a bonus, it added up to a perfect 23 miles-- Ann's lucky number! And it did turn out to be lucky. I felt good the whole time and was able to run all of it.  Start at Springville Spr to WW (22.45) (stay left)-- .33 WW (22.45) to FL 10 (ww 25.43)-- 2.98 (3.31) FL 10 to Leif/Canon-- 1.9 (5.21) Leif (11.17) to Springville (le 9.37)-- 1.8 (7.01) Springville (le 9.37) to WW (22.45)-- .38 (7.39) WW(22.45) to Hardesty (

Nasty in the Middle

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Cedar heading down one of the many firelanes On the weekends we have been trying to avoid the more crowed parts of the park so it's easier to practice social distancing. Well last weekend it was in the 80s and it didn't matter which end of the park we were in or which gnarly firelane we took, there were people everywhere. But all but 1 person were very nice and tried to maintain as much distance as possible.  Susan and I have been participating in Wyeast Wolfpack's Climb 4 Community , which is a virtual challenge that over the course of 2 weeks you try and run either the distance around or complete the elevation to the top of some of the PWN's most iconic mountains. I've been averaging 50-55 miles each week since Covid-19, so the distance wasn't a challenge as much as the elevation. I decided we should run the NW Nasty, but it's only ~11 miles, so I added ~9-8 miles on either side of it. So now you have Nasty in the Middle. Cedar enjoying a roll in the grass

Social Distancing while Running

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I have been asked multiple times if I am still (trail) running during Oregon's Shelter in Place orders. The short answer is: yes, I am. But the longer answer is: yes, I am but this is what I am doing to maintain social distance while running....  My approach to how I handle social distancing on the trails in Forest Park changes daily / weekly as we get new information and guidance from places like the CDC, WHO, etc.  I plan on runs taking longer, because I am slowing down and letting people pass. Unless you are on Leif Erikson or any of the Firelanes the trail is probably not 6 feet across, so it's impossible to maintain the recommend 6 feet.  So what am I doing? I try and run durning non-peak times or I try and run at the north end of the park, which tends to be less crowded. But neither of these guarantee I won't see another human on the trail. When people come towards me on the trail, I don't assume they are going to pull over for me. I move as far off the t

COVID-19 anxiety reduction marathon

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Tiny Wild ginger ( Asarum caudatum) A week into our "stay home" directive here in Oregon, with rumors swirling that we'd soon be more strictly confined to our homes, Ann & I decided we needed a LONG run. We started with this 27 mile route , but updated it to avoid the notorious Firelane 4 and ended up with a bit over 26 miles-- basically, a marathon.