Girls Gone Wildwood

I needed a short run because I had a guest in town. Ann wanted a bit longer. So I created this ~10 mile loop with a ~5 mile add-on. It's nice to have options!

Ann recently reminisced about our 21-miler to Salt & Straw  last year, and we decided to recreate it. We met up with Anna and Leslie for the first ~12 mile loop, then took off for the ice cream shop. I added a mile to the first part, and because Lower Macleay is currently closed, we ran down Aspen and some neighborhood stairs, through the neighborhood to Salt & Straw. It wasn't as hot as last weekend, but the cold treats were still deliciously welcome. Ladies on the trail

success! Last Thursday Susan sent me a text that Salt and Straw  had a new vegan flavor,  coconut mint chip whoopie pie . My first reaction was, "let's go". With the next obvious question being when? We both live close to different Salt and Straws, but I wanted to experience this new flavor together. The next time we were going to see each other was for our long run. Then like a light bulb going off over my head, I had the brilliant idea of running to Salt and Straw. The Salt and Straw in NW Portland is only a few miles away from Forest Park. And that is exactly what we did! selfie with Anna and Leslie, before we took off to Salt and Straw I met Susan at Salt and Straw Saturday morning, leaving my car there we drove her car to the trailhead at 53rd and Wildwood, where we met Anna and Leslie. We ran the first 10 miles of our 21 mile route with them. Then we ran 11 miles, mostly downhill to Salt and Straw. It started to rain a few mile...

This Thanksgiving we want to give thanks to all our friends and family who enable, tolerate, cheer on, our crazy running habit. We know you don't always understand why we would possibly want to run 50+ miles, but you are always there for us. From driving us to trailheads at 4am, to flying half way across the world to wait at the finish line for us, or simply being Mr. Mom every Saturday morning.  This Thanksgiving several of us met at NW 53rd and Wildwood for a Turkey Trail Trot. Susan was adventurous enough to even bring her running stroller along. Most of the group ran about 4 miles, Sally and I did a 10 mile loop. We both ran into several other people we knew along the route. We are very lucky to have such an amazing running community and trail system in Portland. Happy Thanksgiving! Our Turkey Trail Trot crew Route: 53rd and ww (9.20 - 14.5) - koenig: 5.3 koenig - maple : .27 maple - leif : .38 leif - dogwood: 3.3 dogwood - ww: .34 ww - 53rd: .71 tot...

Ann needed to run Sunday this week, so we decided to run 10 miles in order to pre-fatigue-- but not over-fatigue-- before our day-off run on Monday. Luckily, Anna posted on our running group that she was looking to run 10 miles on Sunday, so we joined forces.  Not pictured here are Sara and Dana, who also joined us but took a different route back. It was so good to run with these awesome women and trade some stories. Hopefully they won't hold this hilly route against me... A blurry photo of Susan, Anna, Ann & Sally, taken by a kind stranger Start at Springville trailhead. Springville to Trillium-- .13 mi Trillium to WW (18.57)-- .25 mi WW (18.57) to FL5 (16.69)-- 1.88 mi FL5 to Leif (6.58)-- .23 mi Leif (6.58) to Maple (le 6.44)-- .14 mi Maple to Saltzman-- 1.18 mi Saltman to Leif (6.20)-- .83 mi Leif (6.20) to Gas Line/FL7A  (8.03)-- 1.83 mi Gas Line to WW (19.96)-- .28 mi WW (19.96) to Springville (ww 22.49)-- 2.53 mi Springville to car-- .33mi ...