Foothills Trail

Dodging rain events, I took a run along the Foothills Trail this morning, beginning in East Puyallup. The trail is an amenity few communities have. . The County, and more importantly, the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coaltion, were key partners to making the trail happen. Once abandoned rail right-of-way is now a twelve-foot wide path for non-motorized recreation. The RtoT Coalition is the sponsor of several runs during the year, especially the lengthy Rainier to Ruston Rail-Trail Relay and Ultra. I missed out last summer, but hope to take part this new year.

Not the funnest run is some spots, but I have been on it early in the day to see coyote and bald eagles. I actually had not run this section since Christmas-time 2005 when I had one of my major running epiphanies; I ran layered in tights, fleece pants, and sweatshirt for more than 3 hours in some ecstatic daze in some heavy rain, and then made a quasi-resolution to run my first marathon.

More south, the trail crosses more rural terrain and heads further away from the noise of the highways. There are some absolutely stunning places to rest along the trail, particularly beside the White River, about 2 miles south of Orting. One day, maybe soon, I hope to run the length of the span from Puyallup to Wilkeson. Though no good connections exist, some trail infrastructure exists in Buckley as well. All-in-all the they County trail website boasts of 15 miles of current paved sections, but I believe it has not been updated. Near the East Puyallup Trailhead, there is a rock with a "32 MP" marker on it. You can run up to the Gateway of Rainier if you wished it.

Loads of people are out there on the weekends. I met a good-natured guy today, named Bob, who walks five miles of the trail daily. Not many folks were out today due to the weather and flooding the night before. I spent about a half hour in the morning surveying property damage from the previous two nights+ of rain and flooding. Two 100-year flood events in a season! In Sumner, at least, the water rose several feet higher than it did in the floods of 2006. Garbage, general debris, and oil is seeping out of the ground in the riparian area-flood zone. USGS guys were on the Hwy 165 bridge headed to Orting taking measurements on the river as it zipped by underneath them. It is just a mess when the rains hit so hard after melting snow. More comments on it later.

Pt. Defiance Trail

Offering 20+ miles of trails, Pt. Defiance Park in Ruston is a unique treasure for trail running. Given the 30 degree weather at home, I drove down to get my first semi-long run since the end of October. The loop around the park is about 5 miles, so I ended up doubling back to make 8 miles. From some maps I have seen online it looks to be about 500 feet of elevation gain and loss over the whole loop. I am not super familiar with the trail markings, a series of white triangles, squares and circles, but there is really no way to get lost. The map is nice to look at before you go, but not essential. The shapes correspond (as I guessed) to outer and inner loops with some connections that go out like spokes of wheel as you look at it on the map. The trail system zigs and zags - it is funny to come to a junction and see someone else whiz by going at a perpendicular route. I saw no less than 5 groups of runners and a few people jogging solo during the afternoon.

What I think is the coolest part of the trail system is the great big douglas firs. About five people chained together could hug the biggest of them. There are some spectacular views of the Sound as well. It was pretty muddy in spots, and my legs were good and speckled by the time I returned to the car. Another nice perk of running out there is to drive along Ruston Way and grab some chowder on the water. Some of the best stuff I have ever had.

Hills and Rain

I almost lost a contact yesterday on my run down the Parkway. Running down the grade, facing west, the rain was coming at me horizontally. For moments at a time I closed my eyes to keep the lenses from washing away. For anybody who does not wear contact lenses, a little streak of panic rushes over you and your vision goes cloudy (like opening your eyes underwater) when fluid floats the contact off your eye momentarily.

The Parkway is good for hill work: ~.75 miles of big downhill, then a steady 1 mile+ climb up to the neighborhood via a wooded road. Aside from some traffic rushing by on the Parkway I did not see anyone else on the usually crowded pathway that neighbors walk before they head to Starbucks in the morning. The holiday and the rain must have kept them away. I really enjoy looking up on the hill and seeing the forest mixed with pacific madrone. Aesthetically, it is my favorite tree. The ponds, used to detain surface water coming off the neighborhood, is a great place to see birds in the cattails. In fact, there are cattails all over that hill; they seem out of place.

On the return, I contemplated doing my own stress test on the hill next week. I have never attempted to figure out my max heart rate. On a podcast earlier in the week, I heard about a 1/2 hour routine to assess heart rate zones. We will give it a shot soon - 20 minute warmup, 5 minute ladder, full-out on a hill, assess the pulse, and later, breakdown the zones. I know the local running store does it too - for a price. I will try my way first and see how close I come.

At work later, I wrote down my marathon schedule in a penciled grid-like calendar I created. 19 weeks! I have put it into an Excel spreadsheet before, but I do not think I am going to be to critical of my training for this upcoming race on May 3rd. Although my back feels better, I continue to work on it in yoga and crosstraining. I do, however, intend to keep a log as part of my running ritual.