20 mile attempt 2

Total Distance So Far: 283.5 miles

Since I had to get my 20 mile run in by Wednesday if at all, Coach Joe had told me to try again on Tuesday. I was admittedly nervous about this: a solo run, a very long distance solo run. No aid stations, no running partners.

In preparation I used mapmyrun.com and came up with 3 loops that started and ended at my house that added up to 20 miles. I got my coworker/friend Paul to agree to come get me if I needed help, and he had the courses I was planning on running, and the approx times I thought I would be done with each. The weather forecast was cold and wet. I wasn't looking forward to that aspect, but I was prepared for it.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, I layered on the clothes: 1 pair of Hind running capris, my TNT training jersey covered by a long sleeve exercise top, my windwall vest covering this for heat retention, and ontop of everything else my motorcycling reflective vest so motorists can see me better.

I had all my gear: cap on my noggin, ipod, Garmin on my wrist, slathered on sunscreen (just incase), snacks in my pocket, cellphone & $20 bill in my arm wallet for emergencies, and my waterbottle in my hand. I was ready.

I set out just as the sun was rising.

My first out and back was a 9.07 mile (total) route north of my house. I was attempting to run the Discovery Trail, an area I'd never been to before. I had found an access point onto the trail that was less than 2 miles from my house, so that's what I was headed for. To get there I had to pass a Hospital, cross over I-5 into a nice residential area, and then cross a busy commuting intersection that was controlled by stop signs (that makes it easier for a runner, let me tell you!). Once past that intersection it was a half block onto the Discovery Trail in Leverich Park. Wow, what a neat route!



Leverich Park is a nice rolling green space with a creek running through it (burnt bridge creek). It had picnic tables, picnic shelters, a beautiful rock-masonry BBQ pit, big open grassy areas, large old trees covering it, and I swear I saw a baseball field up on a hill. It is a pretty and well-maintained park! The Discovery Trail just skirted along the park on the north side. Here is a link to the PDF trail map of the Discovery Trail section that I ran.

Once you go over I-5 on the dedicated pedestrian bridge, you cross into a pretty greenway area, and it's easy to forget you're in the middle of the city!



According to the blurb on the trail map, "This shared-use hard surface trail offers excellent opportunites for walking, biking, jogging, commuting, and viewing the Burnt Bridge Creek Greenway. It meanders east along the creek through thick forests and grass bottomlands, and crosses over two bridges to end at Hazel Dell Ave."

It was simply a lovely run, even at 7am. As I approached NW Fruit Valley Rd I passed about half a dozen dog walkers. Even tho I could see my breath fogging in front of me, I was really happy on this part of my run. Also, fall was in the air, and there were some newly fallen leaves covering the trail in parts. That really added to the charm of this place. Oh, I should mention that I got lost. I missed the trail on NW Hazel Dell Ave (it's up the street maybe a quarter mile from where you find yourself on the street), so I kept going... up this big ol' hill probably an additional quarter mile before it occurred to me that the elevation chart from mapmyrun.com didn't include a spike in elevation at this point in the run. I must have missed the trail somewhere at the bottom of the steep hill! I turned around and backtracked down the hill till I found the innocuous unmarked trail. Ugh.

On the way back to my house I found the Evergreen Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. It was in a humble little brick house. This really isn't relevant to anything, I just thought I'd mention it.

I found myself back at my house at about 9am. With the extra 1/2 mile "mistake" I made I had gone about 9.5 miles at this point.

I refilled my water bottle, took off my reflective vest, shoved some gummy bears in my mouth, and headed back out on the next stage of the journey.

This route was an easy 5.65 mile out and back to Vancouver's Waterfront Park on the Columbia River where I ran a stretch of the Waterfront Renaissance Trail.



According to the Parks & Recreation website blurb on this trail, "This 14-foot-wide, shared-use concrete trail is the crowning jewel of Vancouver's Columbia River Waterfront Renaissance, connecting the downtown area to the city's long-neglected shoreline. The trail follows the Columbia River, passing Vancouver Landing, the Captain Vancouver Monument and the plaza dedicated to Ilchee, a Native Indian chief's daughter."

The river was a little breezy, so I was glad I had my vest on. There were also a good deal more walkers on this stretch of my run. On the way out to the river I stopped at the Washington Department of Licensing to use the government building bathrooms. I also stopped to stretch a bit and enjoy some gummy bears at the turn around point on the riverside. On the way back to my house (a slight but constant uphill) my legs were starting to feel the burn (passing the 14 mile point I think). I also ALMOST witnessed a car accident when a silver SUV, altho stopped at a stop sign, thought it was a good idea to try to go directly in front of a red sports car who didn't have a stop sign. Both cars screeched to a halt (as I crossed the street quietly behind the silver SUV) and the two female drivers glared at each other for a moment before the red car moved on and the silver SUV finally was able to cross that intersection.

Around this part of my run I was noticing the SUN trying to break through the heavy cloud cover! GASP! Note, at this point I hadn't felt one raindrop. This is a good thing. I was getting a little hot by the time I got back to my house.

Back home, my legs were really feeling the run. My right calf was trying to cramp up on me so I took a longer stretch break, refilled my water bottle, changed into shorts and a shirt (and the windwall vest), and was ready for the last leg of my journey (even tho I'll admit I was tempted by the lure of just... staying home at this point, hee!).

The last route was a 5 mile loop that wandered past Clark College, Hudson Bay Highschool, Officer's Row (next to Fort Vancouver), up Columbia St to Carter Park, and then back to my house.

I was just dragging myself at this point. I think I was TRYING to go at a 13 minute mile pace, but sometimes I just slowed down to 15-16 minute miles on occasion. My foot that the shot was in was starting to ache on the side, but luckily my knees were both holding up pretty well.

I slogged past the newly renovated Marshall Community Center and Leupke Senior Center. There were construction crews installing the sprinkler system, and newly dusted green stuff on the dirt that will eventually become a lush community center lawn. I noticed a lot of the people I passed gave me a smile as they witnessed me creep past them.

Then I passed Clark College. It's hard to miss the college as it's well labelled.


Across the street from Clark College is Hudson Bay High School. I remember attending a few colorguard events here over a decade ago. It looks pretty much the same now from the street as then. School was in session, but even tho it was around 11am, there were a number of students just arriving to school in cars. I even got cat-called by some students pulling into the parking lot as I dragged myself down the street! I found this amusing considering I most likely was in high school the year they were born.

Finally, I looped around to head back to the downtown area, through Officer's Row.



Again, according to the Parks & Recreation website, "Located just north of Ft. Vancouver National Historic Site. Walk in the footsteps of presidents & generals along this tree-line land of 21 stately turn-of-the-century homes built for officers at Vancouver Barracks. It is the only entire row of officer's preserved historic homes in the nation."

Well, I slogged instead of walked. But I also enjoyed the trees and green lawns. This stretch home was probably the most challenging for me. I had to convince myself to keep going, and noticed when I took walking breaks for the pain, the pain continued. Thus, I might as well keep pushing myself to run as fast as I could manage. There really was no relief from the feeling of having gone this far, the kindest thing I could do for myself was not make it drag on longer than it had to. I DID notice here though that I broke my 18 mile time by about 10 minutes. So, I was doing fairly well all in all.

The last little detour before home on this route was a pass by my neighborhood park, Carter Park.



A slightly less bombastic blurb on the Parks & Recreation website, "This small, 0.7-acre park serves the residents of the Carter Neighborhood with facilities that include play equipment, benches, and picnic tables."

From here it's 1/2 mile to my house. It was good to be home.

Originally I planned a 4th excursion on a small 4 block loop to finish up the 20 miles, but with the mistaken 1/4 mile hill climb, and then the inevitable 1/4 mile descent looking for the trail I missed, I was satisfied that I had gone 20 miles total.

I ended my run with my Garmin showing 4:18:53 as my time. That comes out to 12:57 minute miles. I wouldn't have been able to manage that without the stretching breaks tho, so my time doesn't include any amount of time I wasn't progressing along the course. All in all it looks like it took me nearly 5 hours to run my 20 miles, but none of it was in the rain.

Today, I'm sore. But hey! I think 20 miles are SUPPOSED to hurt. I think it's a law.

A good run. An amazing effort. It's all tapering from here until event day!