December Running - better than November!

After some crazy weather and one of the rainiest Novembers on record for Portland – we had a beautiful day yesterday. What a difference December makes! (I never thought I would utter that sentence!) For the first time since September and our 21 miler – Janice and I ran Leif Erickson today. What a beautiful place and a great spot for running. Leif runs along the slopes of Forest Park and the West Hills of Portland. It’s a north south route with a gradual uphill as it runs along the eastern side of the hills. And the best part – no cars, no interruptions, just a long, long trail in the middle of this great park.

It’s a very popular place to run and bike and it’s wide enough to accommodate all without feeling crowded. On the run up to the Portland Marathon there were quite a few training groups getting their 18 and 20 milers in. It’s a perfect place for training since there are mile markers every ¼ mile. This is really nice until you are on the backside of a 20 miler and you start ticking off the ¼ miles….. 3 ½ miles to go…. 3 ¼ miles to go….and you are pretty sure you will not finish.

Last year when we started marathon training – our first run on Leif was one of the coldest days of the year. In the low 20’s when we started – every stream and waterfall was frozen over. What a sight - water suspended, frozen in time and space.

Throughout the year and in prep for the marathon we saw the seasons come and go. Winter, cold and leafless, Spring, with the fresh blooms and the varied bird calls, Summer – the shade a nice relief from the heat. But we had missed Fall. Today was our last shot and although there is just a trace of Fall left – it was really nice to be back there.

It did bring back some frightening memories of gutting out long runs. Today we just did 10 which was perfect. An Achilles tendon problem that had bothered me for a week or so was not so bad and the whole run felt good. Inspiring in fact after two weeks of struggling through runs. And after, we had a long talk with Mary about a Spring marathon. It’ll be nice to have something to shoot for again.