Purge & Splurge

I have had a fairly disappointing running year. In January I pinched my sciatic nerve, which put me out for a week. I had a long recovery in April after running the Sri Chinmoy 6 Day Self-Transcendence Race. In October I injured my left Tibia, and I aggravated that when I ran on it at the Ultracentric 24 hour National Championships in November. I was injured often enough I only ran 1910 miles in ’07, and 517.71 miles of that was in races. All in all, I needed to somehow end the year right… with a run.

I found out about Purge & Splurge from a fellow Maniac, and it didn’t take long to decide to run it. The run was 30.11 miles; the length of the Wildwood Trail through Forest Park within Portland city limits. It was designed to be non-competitive, so I looked around and recruited a couple cousins to run it with me.

We all showed up at the Oregon Zoo at 8am, and were bussed over to the other end of the park. Our incentive to run was getting back to our cars. The only glitch we hit the whole way was missing the first aid station, and not having any aid (other than what we were carrying) until mile 21.

Don, far left, has run 33.25 miles in the 6 hour at Ultracentric after only 2 weeks of “training,” and hadn’t run any more until the week before this 30miler. Doug, middle, did not train whatsoever, and I am the funny looking one on the right with Homestar Runner on my hat.

The run was absolutely beautiful, and we decided to just take it easy, enjoy the view, and enjoy each other’s company. (Don, Doug, and a couple other Ultra runners flying up the trail)

Don and I running, and before you ask… yes, Don did run the whole way with the backpack

It was beautiful watching the sunrise through the thick fog and trees

We did walk for a while, after all it wasn’t a race, it was just a good (cold) time on the trail with family.

It seemed no matter where we were, we could always hear the sound of rushing water.

We neared the finish, and this looked like an awesome spot to take a picture. I don’t know if it’s the sun in their eyes, or the pain that was causing the grimacing look. Notice Mt. St. Helens in the background.

When we were finishing, we could hear the familiar sound of another cousin-Doug’s wife Anya, cheering us on to the finish. We met up with her and my Grandma and all went out to the Olive garden together.

As we were leaving the park, I saw this view out my car window, and thought it would be a fitting end to our day, so I got the picture.

I have another picture of Don’s losing a toenail… but I though it may not be well appreciated on here, but if you want to see it, here’s the link.

I not only finished the year off right… I also started ’08 off on the right foot, with a new posting on my blog… I know… it’s about time right?

Tim Lawson