Run Forest! Run!

I woke up to Harris crawling in bed at 5:30am this morning.  I had a moment where I thought I could either go back to sleep, or get up and get moving.

When you have 3 little kids, an 8-5 job, and a whole bunch of other stuff, it is hard to fit in a workout.

A few weeks ago when I was wiping the sleep from my eyes to get myself up for a business trip I thought, if I am willing to pull myself out of bed for work, I need to be willing to pull myself out of bed for me.

So this morning, instead of rolling over and sleeping for another hour, I popped out of bed, threw on my running gear, and hit the road.

I have said many times before that I love my neighborhood.  All it takes is a right turn out of my front door and a quick uphill mile, to be surrounded by the largest urban forest in the country.

Ever since we moved to Portland I have had a love affair with Forest Park.  During the first few rainy months of living here I would drop Doug off at work and take myself and Kafka up into the park for a morning hike.

We would venture deep into the damp woods.  Always on the verge of almost getting lost, but somehow finding an obscure trail that would lead us back to where we started.

My hikes with my dog morphed into meeting girlfriends at the trail head for a before work run.  It was a great way to not only stay in shape, but to connect with new friends.

My sister and I even took some of my father's ashes and sprinkled them up in the park one Father's Day years ago.  We did it not because it was a place he loved (my father never lived in Portland), but because it was a place we loved.  It is a place we know we will visit for the rest of our lives, and we wanted him to be a part of it.

The best way to describe how I feel when I am up in the park is Religion.  It is where I feel the most peaceful, it is where I breathe deepest, it is where I move fast and slow down at the same time.

Today it was just what I needed.