I love Spring Water Trail.
Its one of the things that I will miss about Portland when we move next year.
The SP Trail is an amazing 40 mile loop, with over 21 miles of paved trail taking you all the way
from Gresham right up to Waterfront and beyond in downtown Portland.
Today SP was not my friend.
Here's my story.
Convince Husband and son to join me, and stroll the Gresham Saturday market while I run in the surprisingly sunny weather, a little too sunny-but beautiful none the less.
Drop off water 7 miles up the trail.
Goal run: 14 miles.
(I really wish I was one of those people who cld run with adorable mini water
bottles strapped to my waist-maybe someday.
I think the friction wld drive me insane, running w.
a garmin was bad enough to get used to).
Drive back to the Main Street Park, start a mini panic attack realizing
a. its allready 12:30 and I barely ate any breakfastb. Its much hotter than I anticipated, and no sun block was wornc. 14 is far
I know that fear is such a run killer- so I try to block out negativity and dwell on happy thoughts.
(like my new awesome club mix downloaded on my ipod waiting for me to jam out)
Start running. Feeling Good. Mile 4. Trail Closed. For paving. WTFreak? Follow detour through cute neighborhoods, up to busy Powell Blvd. I hate running w. exhaust.
Run in the bike lane until mile 6.75. Follow the detour signs back to Trail.
Big Problem. The Garmin reads 7.5 and I am a 1/2 mile away from my water stash.
Not ideal.
Option: 1. go w. out water for 15 miles. Umm i think not
Option 2: Continue on another 1/2 mile, then loop back turning my grand total into....
16 miles not 14.
Crap.
Option 2 was the only option.
Find Stash.
Water + Snack Bar=Awesome. Loop back.
At the Detour sign I see a nice man coming from behind the orange cones on his bike.
I think hmm...now there is a rule breaker, if he did it-then I can to darn it.
ME: "Hey is that trail runnable?"
Bike MAN: "Umm yeah, except for a tiny portion, its fine."
ME: Great, and I to dip under the orange caution tape and warning signs and take off.
Two miles click away, I pass other rule breakers and feel happy for my choice.
Not for long.
Around mile 12 I come to a break in the trail w. a through street.
My first hint sld have been the city wrk truck I saw parked there, and the fact that even the other rule breakers were veering off of the trail at this point.
I didn't get the hint.
On I went for at least a mile.
Then the trail got narrow.
No shoulder just thick prickly blackberry bushes lining semi fresh pavement.
And that's when I SAW IT.
A mini paving truck taking up the whole trail in front of me, w. a worker man looking at me like "Who is this idiot on the trail?"
I did the only logical thing I could think of, started clawing my way up the blackberry bushes.
A few bloody scratches later I made it to a ridge.
Hiking along, not running, annoyed, feeling stupid-
I scaled the ridge for .5 miles until finding a trail back down to SP. The pavement wasn't nearly as fresh at this point, but my shoes stuck a tiny bit.
I hit mile 14, still 2 miles from my car, and luckily found a public water fountain on the trail.
Blessing from above, I cld not have made it w. out it.
I was super happy at this point to have left the wet pavement
+blackberry bush climbing behind.
+blackberry bush climbing behind.
Mile 15.5, I can't believe I am running 26.2 in a month!
Made it back a little beat up and weary from my travels-
hips feeling over used and feet a little beat. BUT considering all of the obstacles I endured. PRETTY DARN GOOD.
16 miles, check and check. Done and Done. Ice bath, sort of.
Agreeing next time to listen to warning signs, most likely. :)
Unless another rule breaker leads me astray.
Happy Trails.
PS. I still love you Spring Water.
