Today Sharon and I went on our last trail run before she moves to Olympia, WA in a few days. I haven't been running as long as I would like, so wanted to start off with a shorter run with the option to lengthen it. We parked at Wildwood mile 5 (near the Audubon Society) with the plan to head to mile 0 and back. I had an extra water bottle ready to go in the car so we could then head in the other direction if we decided to go longer.
The first part of the run was immediately uphill to Pittock Mansion. The good news was that we both ran this first part without stopping and felt pretty strong. The not so good news is that my hip almost immediately starting hurting and was painful for most of the run. I'm pretty sure it's bursitis, which I think is manageable, especially since the pain doesn't seem to spread and my IT and knees feel fine. Our overall pace was pretty slow. I know I've lost some endurance over the past 6 weeks. But we were enjoying ourselves and not really worrying about how fast we were going.
A funny, name-dropping aside: We talked a lot about Sharon's upcoming move and she asked me if I had seen her email with all her new contact information. I had, and then she commented that she had left a few messages with her friend Nikki, but she thought it odd she hadn't called back yet. I kind of laughed because she was referring to the Nikki who is one of the best American ultra runners today. They are longtime friends who grew up together in Vermont. Anyway, I don't follow every race, but as a reader of the ultra list, I knew that Nikki was in the process of smokin' the tour du mont blanc trail race. So that was probably why she hadn't returned Sharon's call.
Just before we got to our turnaround spot at the zoo, we got a good view of Council Crest, the highest point in Portland. I've always wanted to continue on the Marquam trail from Wildwood. Bret's post about running up from Terwilliger reminded me about that. I also realized that once we hit the car again, we'd probably stop. So I suggested we keep going and try to find our way to Council Crest. I was going to run out of water, but we could fill up at the zoo on our way back. This added about 2 more miles one way. It wasn't that difficult finding our way. The hardest part was after the freeway overpass. We couldn't find where the trail continued and almost turned back. But we finally found it a bit farther down the on ramp to the freeway. The words freeway and on ramp might not sound like they belong in a write-up about a trail run. But there were only a few sections of pavement. And like Wildwood, the Marquam trail is like a slice of heaven in the city. Until you get close to a road and can hear the traffic, you feel like you're out in county.
Up on Council Crest, we enjoyed the view for a few minutes. I also called Marc to tell him where I was. He likes to brag about running up to Council Crest from our house on the other side of the river. So I thought I should let him know that I can run there too. On the way back we stopped at the zoo so I could re-fill my bottle. And like princesses, we even got to use a regular restroom. That is high living for a trail run! I saw a photo booth and thought we should take a commemorative photo. But then Sharon remembered that she has a camera on her new iPhone. So she took a picture. I'll post it if she remembers to send it to me. hint hint
As I suspected we were ready to be done by the time we got back to the car. I even power walked up the hill to Pittock. At the top we had our traditional Riesen candy, enjoyed another view and rewarded ourselves with a final downhill to the car. Total run was about 14 miles.
This afternoon I've iced and taken some more Vit I. I try to take as little as possible, so hadn't taken any in the past few days. But concentrating on the anti-inflammatory treatments seems to be working. My schedule is such this week that I am going to have a difficult time fitting in any runs. So I plan to take it easy and see how it goes next weekend. My hip actually feels pretty good right now. I refuse to stress about Timberline 26.2 coming up on September 15th.
Finally, did I mention that I broke one of my toes? Yep, on Wednesday evening I stubbed my second smallest left toe really, really, really, really hard. And it hurt very, very, very, very badly! Thursday it still hurt and I'm pretty sure its fractured. Fortunately it doesn't hinder my walking or running. I felt it slightly on the downhills today, but overall its a non-issue. Just adds to my sense this past month that I'm totally falling apart (said in jest).
The first part of the run was immediately uphill to Pittock Mansion. The good news was that we both ran this first part without stopping and felt pretty strong. The not so good news is that my hip almost immediately starting hurting and was painful for most of the run. I'm pretty sure it's bursitis, which I think is manageable, especially since the pain doesn't seem to spread and my IT and knees feel fine. Our overall pace was pretty slow. I know I've lost some endurance over the past 6 weeks. But we were enjoying ourselves and not really worrying about how fast we were going.
A funny, name-dropping aside: We talked a lot about Sharon's upcoming move and she asked me if I had seen her email with all her new contact information. I had, and then she commented that she had left a few messages with her friend Nikki, but she thought it odd she hadn't called back yet. I kind of laughed because she was referring to the Nikki who is one of the best American ultra runners today. They are longtime friends who grew up together in Vermont. Anyway, I don't follow every race, but as a reader of the ultra list, I knew that Nikki was in the process of smokin' the tour du mont blanc trail race. So that was probably why she hadn't returned Sharon's call.
Just before we got to our turnaround spot at the zoo, we got a good view of Council Crest, the highest point in Portland. I've always wanted to continue on the Marquam trail from Wildwood. Bret's post about running up from Terwilliger reminded me about that. I also realized that once we hit the car again, we'd probably stop. So I suggested we keep going and try to find our way to Council Crest. I was going to run out of water, but we could fill up at the zoo on our way back. This added about 2 more miles one way. It wasn't that difficult finding our way. The hardest part was after the freeway overpass. We couldn't find where the trail continued and almost turned back. But we finally found it a bit farther down the on ramp to the freeway. The words freeway and on ramp might not sound like they belong in a write-up about a trail run. But there were only a few sections of pavement. And like Wildwood, the Marquam trail is like a slice of heaven in the city. Until you get close to a road and can hear the traffic, you feel like you're out in county.
Up on Council Crest, we enjoyed the view for a few minutes. I also called Marc to tell him where I was. He likes to brag about running up to Council Crest from our house on the other side of the river. So I thought I should let him know that I can run there too. On the way back we stopped at the zoo so I could re-fill my bottle. And like princesses, we even got to use a regular restroom. That is high living for a trail run! I saw a photo booth and thought we should take a commemorative photo. But then Sharon remembered that she has a camera on her new iPhone. So she took a picture. I'll post it if she remembers to send it to me. hint hint
As I suspected we were ready to be done by the time we got back to the car. I even power walked up the hill to Pittock. At the top we had our traditional Riesen candy, enjoyed another view and rewarded ourselves with a final downhill to the car. Total run was about 14 miles.
This afternoon I've iced and taken some more Vit I. I try to take as little as possible, so hadn't taken any in the past few days. But concentrating on the anti-inflammatory treatments seems to be working. My schedule is such this week that I am going to have a difficult time fitting in any runs. So I plan to take it easy and see how it goes next weekend. My hip actually feels pretty good right now. I refuse to stress about Timberline 26.2 coming up on September 15th.
Finally, did I mention that I broke one of my toes? Yep, on Wednesday evening I stubbed my second smallest left toe really, really, really, really hard. And it hurt very, very, very, very badly! Thursday it still hurt and I'm pretty sure its fractured. Fortunately it doesn't hinder my walking or running. I felt it slightly on the downhills today, but overall its a non-issue. Just adds to my sense this past month that I'm totally falling apart (said in jest).
15 comments:
First the hips now the toe. Sheesh what's going on?! Anyway I'm glad that you are back up and running despite the hips and the toe. Pain is there but not getting much worse? I hope the extra rest will do it.
I've been following the progress on the list too, Nikki rocked the course. Just amazing. I wish Cascade Crest had a webcast, eager to know where Olga and Rob is on the course. They should be over the worst parts now.
What a cool way to bid farewell to a good friend. One who can pal around with top ultra runners...wow!!! Good friendships are so key and I know you'll miss each other a lot.
Vitamin I does a good job with inflammation and that's what bursitis is. So, you need not apologize.
And take care of that toe...ouch!!!
Wow, look at your friend buddy-buddy with Nikki! :)
I dropped.
Broekn toe - tape it iwth the next toe together and walk like that for a week. Really. Trust me on that one:)
Sounds like another classic trail run; it's a nice trick on the mind to make a shorter run into a longer run! I'm was happy to read things were going a bit better this week but then you hurt your toe...Hang in there!
I'm impressed that you can keep moving with a broken toe. I broke the third toe 10 years or so ago and couldn't drive for a couple of weeks, running would have been out of the question. Take care of it. Oh, and thanks for the hint on Vitamin I, I will have to try that.
ack, a broken toe! And still running 14 miles. You're awesome :) Sounds like a great run (glad you had such a good last one with your friend). Using real restrooms during a run is definitely living the high life!
Ouch!!! Hip now toes? I would be so cranky if I was you. With the hip you might try physical Therapy, I really thought mine was bursitis too but it was IT band even though it hurt right on the hip joint. I got it during the Portland Marathon trying to go faster than I should have and then doing another marathon two weeks later and that really fired it up. I couldn't run for two weeks, but I still did a flat 50K two weeks after that, but I ran slow and walked allot. Stay on the flats for a bit and even power walk. The hills just killed me.
Funny story about women and restrooms. As a volunteer at Waldo this woman showed Gail how to relieve her self on the trail by just sliding her running shorts over to one side. I had to turn away as she was demonstrating right there!
Glad U had a good run and was able to fight through the hip pain & OUCH on ur toe, crazy how they can hurt so much when u bang them...
and YES Nikki kicked some major ass this past weekend and will have plenty to talk about with Sharon when she gets back to the states :-)
Sarah,
Glad you got out there and ran far! I know you'll miss Sharon, hopefully you'll find someone new to run with soon.
Ouch! That's one way to forget about the pain in the hip..kidding. But really, sorry to hear that. I'm impressed you still ran that many miles with an injured toe, you're tough.
Ohmygosh...I've stubbed my toes so many times! I love your intro picture (top of your blog) by the way...hope all the aches and pains go away soon :) Joan
Don't fall apart too much on us, Sarah.
It's nice that you got a run on Wildwood with Sharon before she headed north. I love Wildwood. Take care of yourself and keep all the pieces together.
see you soon. i will see you on wildwood many days i am sure.
tom
Sounds like a nice run with your friend.
You broke your toe and you don't think it's going to affect your training? Wow. That's grit, girl.
Post a Comment