The Wood Between the Worlds

I know you don't look at me and think "runner".  You know the type...the ones with long slender legs and tall willowy bodies (I have an "apple shape" and short muscular legs).  And I know I'll never win a race.  I do not care.  That does not stop me from enjoying running.  I get my high from running.  And I get my best epiphanies while I'm running.  

So after two back to back pregnancies and ending up more out of shape than I've been since, since probably before I ever started running (9th grade).  And well, I like being in shape.  I like the way I feel most of all...like I can bound up several flights of stairs with great energy.  Like I can chase my kids around for hours without getting tired or grouchy.  I also like that with consistent running, the belly gets a little less apple shaped.

I decided that I really NEEDED some motivation to get to the kind of shape I like being in...so I do what I always have done to look for that motivation.  I decide and/or sign up for a race.  This time I have my sights set on the Sauvie Island Half-Marathon on July 4th.

And in order to train for a race like this, the most important thing for me is having a place to run.  I need to know where I am going to be able to run 4 or 9 or 12 miles before I do it.  And it needs to be in a place I find enjoyable.  Every location we live it takes time to find that *perfect* running place.

I feel really lucky where we live here in Oregon to have found that *perfect* location nearby.  There is a long paved pedestrian-only trail which traverses through beautiful trees.  I took some pictures the other day as I was running...mostly just for me to look back on in the future.






And as I was stretching out at the end of my run I played "I spy":

the beautiful, pure trillium flower in bloom!