Girls Gone Wildwood

Trail sign at our start Susan was spending time at the coast with her family, so #trailrunning and I decided to meet her 1/2 between Portland and the coast in the Tillamook forest area. We took advantage of having 2 cars and being able to shuttle, we ran the of the majority ( 22 miles)  of the   Wilson River trail , starting at Elk Creek and ending at Keening Creek.   Tillamook Forest vista The weather was perfect, Susan was in capris and a short sleeved shirt, I over dressed in long pants and a long sleeved shirt. The trail was completely runnable, I would describe it as rolling hills, though Susan and #trailrunning might disagree with me about the hill at the very end that seemed like it would never end. There were a few times when the trail hit a forest road and the other side of the trail wasn't obvious but it didn't take us very long to find it. If I would of done a better job of reading the trail description on Oregon Hikers  ...

Our silly post run selfie #trailrunning Last year when we were in New Zealand for the Tarawera Ultra Marathon , Susan and I kept tagging various instagram post with #trailrunning. Our other friends who were with us made fun of us by posting random pictures with #trailrunning. So it became an inside joke the rest of the trip, and really didn't stop after trip.  A few months later our friend, Amber who was on the trip with us started dating an ultra marathoner / trail runner. When she told me about him I kept referring to him as #trailrunning. At some point I did meet David and did call him by his real name, but I do have him labeled in my phone contacts as #trailrunning.  We have asked him to run with us a few times, but we run a lot earlier than he does, so he has declined. But Susan can be persistent and asked David again on Friday and he agreed to meet us at 7:30 for a run. He only wanted to go around 20 miles and we were shooting for 23-24. We met at 5...

Recently we had the unexpected pleasure of running 20 miles together, without a plan. We know the trails well enough, so Ann made wraps for both of us to eat during our break and we set out with only a vague idea of a route. New signs Old signs We lucked out with a beautiful, sunny (!) day. It was on the chilly side, but it was thrilling to be out in the woods with nothing but time on our hands. We've seen a few of these stick affirmations recently We usually plan our routes in detail, so this was a refreshing change. And we ended the day by drinking beer in Ann's hot tub and eating dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Who could ask for more? Tiny pink fungus (trying my new iPhone lenses) Route: Wildwood, Leif, and Maple... who knows?!

"I am lazy and reused a route," stated Ann in her email. She went on to explain that when we originally ran this , it was the day after we had trained with our coach, so we might as well do it again. Fresh, new shoes just waiting for some mud What terrible logic! My legs started out shot, and the climb up to Pittock felt tough. The weather was nice and we had a gorgeous view (made particularly sweet by the break). Then another gratuitous downhill and back up, whereupon Sally broke off. Closed Maple Trail stream crossing last week Closed Maple Trail stream crossing this week Ann and I continued, and took our break after the long slog up Saltzman. Thankfully, the rest of the run was nice and flat.  Next time she mentions the word "lazy," I will be wary! Route: holamn - ww .76 ww - pittock - 2.06 pittock - wild cherry - 4.01 wild cherry - leif - .56 leif - dogwood - .59 dogwood - ww - .34 ww - alder - .93 alder - leif - .84  leif...

Mud, lots of it Ann got back from a work trip to China on Saturday morning, so we ran on Sunday. Bob joined us with a 9 mile loop, after which we continued for another 14 miles. I tried out my new Hoka Stinsons for the first time, christening them in some good mud. They were great-- a very similar feel to my usual Brooks Pure Grit and not too squishy as I had feared. Ann and Bob, glowing It wasn't too rainy while we were running, but everything was sodden from hard rain the night before, and some of the creeks were higher than we could remember seeing them. It's always fascinating to see the trails we know so change with the seasons and weather. Group selfie before Bob splits off This was a nice loop-- nothing too mean after missing Ann for a long week! High water on the closed part of Maple Trail And here's how we crossed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=f6eJKAGCFdQ Start at Springville Bob ~9 mile loop: Springville to Trillium-- .13 mi T...

I was lucky enough to visit Shanghai and Ningbo, China on a work trip. Unfortunately the air quality was pretty bad the whole time I was there and I was too chicken to run outside, so I ended up on the hotel's treadmill every day. Park in Shanghai I cannot even remember the last time I ran on a treadmill, I can't say it was an enjoyable experience but even 5 miles on a treadmill was a test in mental toughness. The first few days I started the treadmill with the goal of 30 minutes, I figured if I could run at least 30 minutes each day I would satisfy my daily need for some sort of exercise. After 30 minutes and realizing I had only ran 6km, I knew if I ran ~8km I would get at least 5 miles in. The second day on the treadmill, there were more people from work who were in Shanghai for the same meetings as me on the treadmills. I could only tell because they were covered head to toe in swooshes. I found myself upping the speed on my treadmill and running faster and h...

On Wednesday (December 10) I got a text from Caleb: "What runs do you have coming up in the next several days? Thinking of doing all of wildwood this weekend." Ann and I had just run all of Wildwood ( and then some ) two weeks previous for our birthdays, but how could I resist? One of the powerlines down on Newberry Rd We planned to run from the north, Newberry end, with Ann & I ending up Birch (Wildwood mile marker 7 1/2) for a nice 23 miler. I picked up Caleb and his friend Billy at the log-lined parking lot next to the zoo, at the south end of Wildwood. We drove to Ann's house, where her husband drove and dropped us off at Newberry. The other side of the downed powerline-- notice the rope tying it to the tree at top right There had been strong winds the past few days, and we were awestruck by the damage there on Newberry-- huge downed tree limbs and power lines. It was time to start the journey. Caleb hadn't run the distance in a long time, and...