Friday night I ended up at Andrew Skurka’s website looking at pictures from his trip along the Great Western Loop. I was really wanting to get out anyway, and after checking out a bunch of his photos from the trip, I decided that on Saturday I was going trail running. The training plan called for an easy 45-60′ run on a flat road or trails. Around here, a completely flat trail seems pretty hard to find. Looking through a few books, I decided on a trail near Mt. Hood, along the Salmon River…with thoughts of an alternative, depending on the weather.
From the description of the Salmon River trail it didn’t sound like there would be mountain views. So my alternative, if Mt. Hood wasn’t hidden by clouds, was to head up to Mirror Lake instead. How many more chances would I get to run trails on Mt. Hood, in clear weather, before winter? Saturday morning the weather was great – just a little high overcast that was sure to burn off. As I drove up towards Mt. Hood it was completely visible. Looks like I’d be running Mirror Lake then! I got up there and hit the trail right around 9:30.
Since this was supposed to be an easy run, and I needed to warm up, I figured I’d walk the first mile. Besides, it turned out that the trail was a lot steeper than I remember it! It climbs pretty steadily from Highway 26 to Mirror Lake itself. After the first mile I did start to run, although very slowly, as the trail was still climbing. I got to the lake, and to the junction to the trail to Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain, a short time later. I’ve been to the lake a few times, but never up to the mountain. I haven’t thought of doing it in a long time, and in all honesty, in my less-than-fit past, I always saw the trail on maps and thought it was too hard.
Starting out, the trail was actually easier than that to Mirror Lake. It was still climbing, but not nearly as steeply. There were a few technical sections I was forced to walk, and I stopped a few times for pictures, but eventually I made it to a clearing, found the trail that lead the rest of the way to the summit, and finished off the climb.
What a view! Why haven’t I ever come up here before? Besides Mt. Hood looming overhead, Mt. Jefferson was visible to the south, and I could see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier all to the north. After taking a few pictures and wandering around the summit a bit, I sat down for a few to take it all in.
This was exactly the reason I came out here today – a chance to get away for a bit and relax amidst some spectacular scenery. What it boils down to is, this is why I want to trail run. As much as possible I want to get out and see places I’ve never been to before, and hopefully today was the start of that.
After a short time I headed back down. The run down was a lot like the run up – in places too hard to actually run! I ran, easily, as much as I could. I got back down to the lake pretty quickly – it is only about 1.5 miles from the summit to the lake. On my way around the lake I again stopped to admire the view. What a great day to be here!
I then ran the rest of the way around the lake, dropped back to the car and Highway 26, and headed home.
Once at home I had to do a short strength training session prescribed by my coach, and then spent some time getting good and stretched out.
Today’s Numbers
“Running:” 6.16 miles, 1.49 hours, 14:29 minutes/mile average pace, 146 bpm average HR
Strength training/stretching: 0.99 hours
