There’s no reason to ever expect things to go as planned
Especially when that thing is a run that Sarah & I are doing on a new route.
We’d talked about doing a point-to-point run on Marquam Trail. This trail goes from the Zoo to Willamette Park (waterfront) and is 7 miles. I have previously run on all of Marquam Trail but the last .7 miles and a middle 1.5 mile stretch, but never all at once.
I parked my car near our end point, and after my PT appointment (where I graduated! With honors!), I took the streetcar to MAX and ended up at the Zoo. Sarah drove to the Zoo, and at 5:45 we got started.
I knew there would be a lot of steep inclines in this run, and I was prepared for it to be a long haul. I anticipated that it would take about 1.5 hours for the 7 miles, due to the elevation gains.
It was so pretty, and the fact that I’d run all of the tricky parts before came in handy. We did not get lost! Go us!
There was a .3 mile section of the trail that was closed about halfway into the run, but we blatantly flouted the caution tape & took the trail anyway! We are rebels! Rebels who will run the entirety of Marquam Trail, no matter what the man says!
The only place I was really worried about losing the trail was right at the last turn before the .7 mile descent to the waterfront. But we found it with no problem. And do you know what else we found? A giant detour sign.
The trail was closed. Normally this would not be a big deal, but the trail was also one of the few places that you can get across the freeway.
There was a detour. A TWO MILE DETOUR. So, we took it. Obviously.
It was a little sketchy. I was pretty glad I wasn’t alone for some of that open sewer side run.
We finally (FINALLY!) made it back to my car. Where I drank about 30 oz of water in 13 seconds (or thereabouts) before driving Sarah back to her car.
I got home about an hour after my planned arrival time.
I went online this morning, certain that I’d missed the trail closure notices when I was looking up the route on the Portland Parks & Rec site and the Friends of Marquam Nature Park site. But no – there was no notice whatsoever. Not even on the Portland Parks & Rec “Closed Trails” page.
I’m just glad I wasn’t doing this run alone! I did sent stern and mildly chastising letters to both PP&R and FMNP today, expressing my disappointment with the notification of the trail closure.
However, the experience was pretty awesome – we had a great time. 🙂
I also feel a little hardcore that I did a wicked hilly 9-mile trail run on a Thursday night. (That totally makes me hardcore, right?)
After I finished eating all the food in the house last night (mmmm….broccoli from the garden = yum), I slept so hard. It was beautiful.
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