Trail Running

Yesterday I hooked up with fellow Northwest BF runner Josh Humbert and friend Dan to run a short section of trails in the Forest Park area in Portland, Oregon.  I have run very few trails in the 7 years of my BF running experience. I felt like a total newby!  Josh was gracious enough to slow way down to accommodate my clumsy efforts. He and Dan floated over the rough stuff with exquisite grace while I seemed to test every sharp rock there!

It was quite cool out, sub 50F (sub 10C) and rainy. The service road from the parking area to the trail head was quite rough and rocky (by my standards). It was maybe 1/4 mile long. The trail itself was a mix of very slimy mud with a few patches of rock & gravel. The constant drizzle of rain only made it more slick as we went along.
We seemed to be more equal on the slimy sections - it was all we could do to keep from slipping right off the trail. There was one section where I became genuinely concerned for my safety. We were going downhill, and gravity was pulling me along faster than I wanted to go. Every time I tried to slow down, my feet started skating across the slick mud. When I stopped slowing down, my speed increased too much, and I knew it would be that much harder to slow down later. I wondered if I was just being a wimp about it when I heard Dan behind me let out a whoop as he also slipped. Josh tried to comfort me by exclaiming several times that this was the most slippery he had ever seen. I wondered what it would be like on a dry, sunny day.

When we got back to the service road and its relative roughness, Dan and Josh glided on ahead of me. I felt like the turtle of the group.

When I was done I found that my left foot had a puncture wound, and it was probably filled with mud. It felt like there might be something solid stuck in there, too. Last night I soaked my foot in calcium hypochlorite powder (pool shock). This converts to "hypochlorus acid" when dissolved in water, and is one of the most effective antibacterial agents (and anti fungal) out there. It has the added benefit that it does not harm healthy tissues at all and it is painless (unlike hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, or tincture of iodine.) Last night I sprinkled some calcium hypochlorite powder on a bandaid and slept with it applied directly to the puncture. Voila! No more swelling or pain by morning. I HIGHLY recommend this as a cleansing/healing method. (If you want to try something really "out there" - I know some people who put small amounts of this powder inside of gel capsules and ingest it for health. Search "MMS2" for more info.)

What I learned from yesterday's run:
>  rough surfaces encourage better form, 
>  Josh and Dan are leaps and bounds ahead of me in trail running,
> slimy muddy trails are fun in their own way, very challenging, and something I will not actively search for in the future, and
> trail running has its own unique sense of accomplishment.

Saturday I went out and ran a 10K that was actually a walking event. It was fun, lots of people, lots of stares and friendly comments. I still get a kick out of those people who stare but don't want to be caught staring - and those who have a look of total disgust on their faces (they are just feet, people, pretty common things!)

See you out there!

Ryan

Good Run Yesterday! 


I looked up a possible running route by looking at some bicycle trail maps online and then went out to see if they were runnable. I've wanted to find a decent route from Vancouver across the river into Portland. The routes I have tried in the past were not all that great. This one looked promising so I decided to give it a go.

It was mostly very barefoot friendly, except for a couple of sections. I was glad for our heavy rainfall this past week because it seemed to have helped wash a lot of the ice sanding grit off, giving me some smooth pavement where it usually would be very sharp and difficult.

One section of sidewalk was covered by a large puddle about 2 inches deep and twenty feet wide. It was under the freeway where beggars congregate. One of them saw me splashing through the water and said "THAT's what I like to see!"  Huh??

At one point a police car came by, and the officer slowed down to look at me. Probably wondering if I was a danger to myself or to society. I smiled at him and he drove on.

Once I had traversed the out-going part of my planned route, I was needing to find a bathroom. Knowing I would more likely find one if I kept on running, I kept on running. Several places said they did not have facilities open to the public, so I kept on running. Finally I found a place that would let me in, much to my relief, and I was ready to turn around for my return trip.

I took a few different turns on the way back, one of which crossed over an industrial road that had the worst wear on it from all the big rigs driving on it. I just sucked in it and ran smoothly over one of the worst surfaces I've ever encountered. Luckily it was only across about four lanes of road, so it was quite short.

The run back seemed much easier than the run out for some reason, until the last mile or so. I think my mindset has something to do with how well I ran. As long as I felt I had a long ways yet to go, I just settled in and ran easily. When the end of my run got near, I  anticipated being finished a little too early, and so my body said "Done!"

My total distance, according to www.runningmap.com, was 12.25 miles. It was mostly over very wet surfaces, including some water puddles and one section of soft slick mud. I was lucky it had stopped raining for most of the run.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this run! 

Ryan 

12 Mile Run - Vancouver to North Portland 

BTW: Happy New Year

Saying happy new year is kind of trite. What else are you going to say? Crappy new year? 

It fits in the same category as people telling me "Hey - you don't have any shoes on!" (like I don't know?) ((I thought something seemed different ... holy crap! where'd my shoes go?))

So, at the risk of sounding trite and obvious, happy new year to anyone reading this lonely post. I hope my saying it makes your day, or year!


Ryan

Another Minimalist Shoe Idea

I heard about some kind of shoe/slipper made by a company called Zemgear. http://www.zemgear.com/

They are less expensive than Vibrams, more expensive than water shoes. They come with different colored stripes, and they have a high ankle model. I got a low ankle pair and tried them out. Fantastic for cold weather running! I chose black on black. My wife calls them my duck feet for some reason.

Easy to put on, easy to take off, fit is superb, feel is great, extremely light weight, nicely warm, and I can easily stuff them into a fanny pack without feeling like I'm lugging a bowling ball around. I really like how they hug the arches of my feet. Their design is so simple, I believe I could replace the sole myself if it wears out. In fact, by turning them inside out, it would be easy to duplicate the size and shape of each component part and just make me some new ones out of any material I choose. I think I would like fleece; or maybe felted wool. 

My only problem with them is they soak up moisture like a towel. Not good for wet weather running. This means not good for about 80% of my runs up here in the northwest! But considering I only got them for running during the most extreme frigid weather, they should work out just fine. We only get a few days of truly frosty, sub-freezing weather here. I can run in everything else without any foot coverings. I'm not sure how they would do on icy surfaces yet.


Happy running to you - in any temperature! 


Ryan