On another note, I want to mention this run I did the other day, The Pittock Quad. I heard another runner mention this run a few weeks back & had to try it. There is this old big house in Forest Park called the Pittock Mansion. It's in the forest (obviously) up on a tall hill, with great views of the city, the rivers, and the mountains. It's generally considered a good hill workout to run up to it. It can be reached by roads or by the Wildwood Trail from NW Portland or from the zoo. Or from both directions, repeatedly, to make FOUR trips up and back down in a 10 mile run. The Pittock Quad. I passed so many out-of-breath hikers on my many ascents. It's a hard climb! By the 4th ascent I was pretty tired and getting cold and ended up hiking parts of it. But I'm impressed I did it and I had a great time (well, in retrospect...)! It feels really good to do something hard.
My last thought, related to both things, is about my kid. The end of the Quad run is on Lower Macleay Trail to the park it's named for. The first time I ever ran down that section of trail was at the end of my first trail race/first ultra marathon. At that pointed I hated running & was pretty sure I never would run another step. Because I was taking so long, my family had walked a ways up from the finish line to find me. When they saw me, my kid just grabbed my hand and fell in step with my (pained, gimpy, trudging) running stride. He told me we were almost there, keep going, see if you can beat that lady up there, watch out for that big rock, and everything else I needed to hear until we crossed the finish line. What 5 year old knows to say these things?? It was the best, proudest mile I've ever run. Anyway, it was a little thing that was actually a big thing and I got to re-live it at the end of the Quad and it made me very happy.
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