Girls Gone Wildwood

My co-workers decided to create a challenge to see if they could collectively run more than me in a week. I  consistently run 50 miles a week, but I thought for the challenge I should add a few more miles. Since most of my co-workers are Canadian and the challenge is in kilometers, I decided 100km was a nice number and archivable in a week. Doing some math, I decide to make this work I should probably run 30 miles / ~50km for my long run on Saturday. I texted Susan and of course she was game.  I decided to create a new route for us instead of doing an end to end on Wildwood. This also helps me achieve my goal of create 1 new route each month this year, even if I am a few weeks behind in posting it. The route was also good training for the Gorge Waterfall 50km in April, since we were both gone several weekends in March.  I just knew I was going to beat my co-workers, but what I didn't know is they got a few extra people to join the cause right before the weekend. They...

 In 2011 we ran the Lithia Loop Marathon, our first trail race, and fell head over heels in love with trail running. We decided that since we were all trained up and our birthdays were both just a few weeks later, we would run the longest trail in Forest Park, Wildwood, from end-to-end to celebrate. An annual tradition was born, one that we both look forward to, no matter the weather. It has become a day to slow down, enjoy the journey, and spend time together reflecting on our closing year of adventures. At the Newberry end, our finish This year, Ann picked the Sunday at the end of the US Thanksgiving holiday. Well she might have a future career as a weather forecaster, because it was perfect: partly sunny, surprisingly warm, and starting with a gorgeous sunrise. Every year we do this, I feel awe at how fortunate I am. I have the health, fitness, and time to spend the day running. I have a best friend I look forward to spending time with, week after week, who shares so many of my ...

  In preparation for the Backcountry Rise 50 mile race, Susan and I decided to run a 30ish mile route as our last big run before the race. (editor note we later dropped to the 50k) We had originally thought we would run the last 30 miles of the Oregon PCT heading towards Washington (Lolo Pass to Cascade Locks) but we saw a posting on Oregon Hikers that said there was a lot of blowdown from winter storms that made large parts of the trail nearly impassable. After dealing with that on Hunchback Mountain we decided to come up with Plan B. Luckily Plan B was literally on the other side of the river. We decided to run the first 30ish miles of the PCT in Washington going north. Yassine and a few other folks had also done it recently and confirmed the trail was in great condition.  Running in a cloud and happy about it We decided to start at the Bonneville trailhead and run the PCT to Wind River, which meant we needed both our cars for shuttling. The great thing about thi...

The end of our 30.25 mile run, the start of Wildwood This was mine and Susan's 8th year running Wildwood end to end to celebrate our birthdays, but this year we included Cedar . The full Wildwood trail is ~30.25 miles which officially makes Cedar an ultra runner. Most humans don't run 30 miles, let alone dogs. Cedar is a German Shorthaired Pointer, a breed that was developed in the 19th century in Germany for hunting and also known for being able to run long distances. But just because a breed is known for running doesn't mean every dog is capable of it.  nom nom 21 miles done time for a treat One could say that Cedar has been in training for this since I adopted him in March, he has gone on almost every long run with me and Susan since then. We ramped him up slowly and despite his protest kept his runs short durning the heat in the summer. He has his own running pack for carrying water and treats; Ruffwear's Single Track, which he loves. His longest ru...

random box in the park Mine and Susan's birthdays fall at the end of November and for the last ~6 years we have run Wildwood end to end to celebrate. We try and alternate which end we start from. This year the weather looked like crap and we decided that we would just run from the end of Wildwood (Newberry) to my house (Birch trailhead) and do the full end to end the  following  weekend.  The Newberry trailhead After about 10 miles / 2 hours of running and no rain, we started to question our decision not to do the full end to end. I told Susan that if the weather was still decent when we got to Birch we should call John and see if we would be willing to pick us up at the zoo and do the full 30 miles on Wildwood. We both thought this was a great idea, we always have our best ideas mid-run. The weather did hold out and John agreed to pick us up. Luckily we both had packed enough food and water that running an extra 7.5 miles was no big deal. I was a ...

Susan planned out our long runs leading up to the Chuckanut 50k  and for some reason she put a 30 mile run on the calendar 12 days before the race. I would never do anything like that before a race. 

We started just before dawn and got to watch the sun rise Sometimes you listen to the advice your coach gives you, sometimes you don't. This weekend was one of the times I didn't. Not that I think I know more than Ann Trason, but the weather was perfect and my husband and Susan's husband and son were all out of town, so we didn't have to be home by a certain time, which made it really hard not to run far. Ann Trason suggested that I run ~12 miles, since we are running Peterson Ridge 40 miler next weekend, but instead we ran 30 miles. Luckily I am feeling great the day after the run, now I just need to make sure I take it easy this week, so I don't over do.  Throwing away trash that was left on the trail  Portland from the Pittock Mansion  I did feel really guilty when Ann sent me an email asking me how far I ran and I had to admit I ran ~30 miles. I am the worst client ever (not really, but I feel like it). We modified this route a litt...

According to our Miwok training plan Susan and I needed 35 miles for the weekend. Susan had early afternoon commitments, so we decided on 30 miles on Saturday starting earlier than normal. I figured I could add on miles on Sunday. I picked a route that wasn't too hilly so we could run quicker and Susan could get home. As a result we didn't take any pictures, but I did want to document our route. But here is a link to my Strava results.  Route:  birch - ww : .22 ww - maple : 5.25 maple - leif : 3.55 (9.02 total) leif - waterline (mm 10.2) : 3.8 waterline - ww : .35 ww - birch : 16.5 birch - 53rd .22 total : 29.89

It's basically impossible to do a long-enough training run for a 100k race, so one strategy is to really pile on the workouts in order to fatigue your body and simulate additional milage. So that's what we did this week. On Thursday and Friday, we made sure to go hard to pre-fatigue for our long run on Saturday. Here's our "mental toughness" training in four parts. Trillium-spoting-- the first of the year Part 1 - Group Power Thursday morning: an hour-long weightlifting class Part 2 - Animal Athletics night run Thursday night: from Lower Macleay to the Pittock Mansion. 5 miles and 1,000 ft of climbing. In the dark. Part 3 - 50 Shades of Willie Training Friday afternoon: 4 hill repeats on Dogwood Trail, with insane tasks in between-- like holding planks while facing each other and alternating touching each other's hands, then turning around holding planks and alternative tapping each other's feet. Part 4 - 30 mile run Saturday: birch - w...

In order to train for our big 85k race in New Zealand, we ran 8 miles on Friday to pre-fatigue, and then 30 miles on Saturday. We decided to re-use a route (that was already stolen) with lots of elevation change, so we did the  Trail Factor course . It rained hard from start to finish. So hard that the only sound was the splashing of our shoes in the puddles and impromptu streams. So hard that there were lots of downed trees and mini mud slides. So hard that it was difficult to run on the sloshy, slippery trail. Deck the halls with boughs...  We weren't sure if it was the rain or the run from the previous day, but we were both tired and slowed way down. So slow that after about 5 hours into it, we decided to avoid the run up Firelane 5 and back down Saltzman, to leave out some climb. A little while past that, we realized that we had miscalculated and knocked off too much mileage.  So we added another little up-and-down. I had to walk most of the uphill, while eati...

Two years ago we did our first longer-than-a-marathon run, celebrating our birthdays which are only six days apart and right around the long Thanksgiving holiday. Wildwood's end, our start, at Newberry Rd That painful experience was the start of something. A hobby, a pastime, a sport... taken further. Over the course of the next year or so, we joked about running Wildwood the other way-- that is, from the far end at mile marker 30 1/4 to the near end at the zoo. Decorated trees The reason that's a big deal is that the highest hill is around mile marker 4, at Pittock Mansion, meaning that 24 miles in you're treated to a serious, switch-backing climb. Well, the jokes turned into not-really-joking, but last year we ran the North Face Endurance 50k in San Francisco  and I was away over Christmas, so the timing didn't work out. Decoration detail But this year it did. And now we have hydration packs to carry 70 oz of water, so we didn't have to stash re...