Today I ran 16.5 miles point-to-point on the Banks Vernonia Trail. I’ve wanted to do this run for a while and figured this was as good a time as any. I’m not training for anything so it was a little ridiculous, but whatever! I have been doing a long-ish run of 10-12 miles each week for the past couple months with weekly mileage in the low to mid 20’s. So this was a bit of a stretch.
We’re at the beginning of a heat wave in the Portland area so Zach and I tried to get out as early as possible. We got out there about 9:00. Luckily, it was much cooler up in Vernonia where we started, with temps in the upper 60’s. This trail is good for a hot day because it is mostly shaded. So even as the temps warmed up into the 80’s, it never felt that hot. The last mile was the only hot spot because there is no shade and the temps were above 90 by then!
Zach started out with me and ran 5 miles before turning around for a total of 10. I kept on and made my first stop at the Tophill Trailhead at 8.5 miles where I had a water bottle stashed. I refilled and stretched and continued on. The trail climbs very slightly from about 600 feet in Vernonia until about mile 10 which is about 1,000 feet.
My next stop was at the Buxton Trailhead at almost 14 miles where Zach was waiting. He had water for me but I also wanted the option to stop the run here. However, I was feeling great and knew I could keep going. The trail descends for these last few miles from that high point to about 400 feet at the end. That helps!
I finally made it to my “finish line” at the Manning Trailhead at exactly 16.5 miles. I felt surprisingly good, even though that last hot mile was rough. I was very hot and thirsty but proud to have finished!
It was tough run but I loved every minute of it. I kept the pace slow because I knew that was the key to doing such a long distance on minimal training. I ended up with a 9:16 pace which I’m very happy with! I am probably going to keep doing long runs and maybe another super long one now and then, just for fun. I’ll definitely share when I do!
Here are some pics we took along the way. Zach was the photographer for the first couple, then I took a few while running, and then he took the last few pics after he had finished and drove down to meet me. Enjoy!
Mile 2:
Mile 4:
Mile 7:
Mile 8.5 pit stop:
Mile 9:
Mile 11:
Mile 14 pit stop:
Mile 15:
Mile 16 survival mode:
Mile 16.5 DONE!
10 comments:
Am just about to do the same tomorrow (today?) - heading out for 15 just because I want to but without having run more than 10 long for a while. I'm going to take it slow and steady and just listen to my podcasts, enjoy being out there.
You're looking great and that seems like a gorgeous trail.
Sounds like an awesome run! Nice pictures. Good job!
That is a really nice trail. I've biked it before. I bet the run was nice and cool with all the shade!
Glad you were able to keep cool; it's been pretty brutal the last couple of days! That's fun that you could do a point to point on the trail, it's real pretty out there!
fun times! Point to point is always better than out and back!
I do love this trail, I haven't been out there in a long time.
You never cease to amaze me with all the fun and challenging stuff you take on! Pretty soon one of these weekends you're going to go run a marathon solo for the hell of it =). I'll ride along side =)!
awesome job jen!!! what a beautiful trail to run on. and you look great!
looking good girl! gorgeous trail and nice mileage!
NICE job girl!!! looks like you had a great time on a very beautiful trail :)
That looks like a beautiful trail. Fun to run point-to-point too - feels like you've used running to get somewhere ;)
This is a very nice post, so informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing such a great post.
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