Forest Park 50K - Portland, OR

Sometimes the best laid plans just don't happen. Yesterday I was planning to run the 50K Forest Park Trail Run in lovely Forest Park in Portland, OR. It was a nice idea. I suppose that "was" is the operative word here. You see, my Saturday night got away from me for a good reason. I had planned to register on race day but never even made it to the starting line. Instead, I ended-up closing the bars in the wee hours of Sunday morning with my child-hood friend Vawn McCollum. We drank an untold number of martinis at Bartini followed by a bunch of beers at the old McMenamin's standby, The Blue Moon Tavern in NW Portland. We had a great time. Vawn's husband Lou was kind enough to volunteer to watch their two little ones while we reminisced until 3 am. Needless to say, my body and brain weren't ready for an 8:30 am Sunday morning race. Heck, none of me was up for getting up. I guess that no commitment + lots of alcohol = no motivation to run, or something like that.

If you've never been to Forest Park then you really need to experience it the next time you're in Portland. It's a densely forested park comprised of 5,000 acres with 70 miles of mixed-use trails and all of it located in the northwest corner of the city. As a comparison, Central Park in New York City is only 843 acres and has a measly 7-mile loop trail that runs along the perimeter. That's wimpy! Being a native Oregonian and growing up in Portland I have fond memories of Mt. Biking and cross-country running in the park in the late 80's and early 90's before Nike sponsored a bunch of permanent trail signs under their "Just Do It" campaign. Back then, it was a crap shoot where you were going to end-up given all the twisty single-track trails that criss-cross the park. It was like being in a large living maze with no map. Pretty cool place for a teenager to spend some time wandering about!

So, back to my trail running plight. I had missed the race and I hadn't run at all on Saturday or Sunday. As my pentinence (and to clear my foggy noggin) I decided to do a little run by myself on Monday evening before driving back home to the Seattle area. The weather was a balmy 68F with low humidity and a light wind. No rain had fallen for a while so the trail was perfect. I tossed on my running gear and took off from the Thurman St gate. I ran up the Wildwood trail and then back down Leif Erikson for a total distance of about 10.5 miles. I wanted to go for at least 2 hours but about an hour into the run it was starting to get dark so I decided to turn back. It was as I had remembered it though - lush, quiet, fun, and ultimately majestic. A complete oasis within the confines of the city. Basically, a trail runner's delight. Give it shot next time you're in Portland. You won't be disappointed.