Bike Ride Eagan-Farmington-Hastings-Eagan

Nice bike outing with some colleagues from Thomson Reuters and the MN Boat Club. They were poopooing my rickety old bike but they could not drop me ... I did get that wobbly wheel fixed, though ...

Christian, Christine, Martin Carlos & Jack

Portland, OR: Back on the Wildwood Trail

I could not resist, I had to head for Washington Park again, first, because I messed up on my original route, and second, because I loved the trails through the forest so much. Thus I found myself back on the Wildwood Trail, this time coming from Burnside St., as originally intended.

I took a different direction, heading yet further up. I asked a woman walking her lab (people with labs are nice!) if I could return to the south end of the park following the Magnolia Trail which she confirmed.

The tall firs were impressive and blocked out most of the light on this overcast morning.

As I returned to the hotel I took note of the chill, noticeable by the redness where my wet running shirt had stuck to my skin. I should have worn some warmer clothing ...

Portland, OR: Willamette River Run

A benign run along a river. I crossed to the east bank of the river at Burnside Bridge, running a gauntlet of homeless people in their sleeping bags, bedded on either side of Burnside Ave.

Nice vistas of downtown and the environs, but the noise from Hwy 5 on the east bank of the river was a nuisance. At the Portland Opera I asked a fellow runner if I could cross the river at Ross Island Bridge. He thought it might be possible but difficult. I ran up a ramp to Hwy 5 under construction, but no way to get to the bridge. I then ran to the bridge on the river trail, hoping there might be a stairway. Non such. So I turned back and crossed at Hawthorne Bridge.

A beautiful view of downtown Portland on this glorious morning. The flat terrain and the absence of interruptions by traffic lights made for a decent pace.

Portland, OR Jog from Embassy Suites to Washington Park

God morning for a jog, overcast but cool and dry. Woke up early because of jet lag scouted out a possible route and headed outside. I did not seem to be able to hit Burnside Street, it turned out that the intersection was just a couple of blocks north from where I started while I was heading south.

When I saw the street sign for Jefferson, my planned return route about two blocks ahead, I decided to simply strike out for the hills, abandoning my original route. I started running up Salmon St. and after  a quick dogleg Park Pl. When I saw a group of runners heading towards me, I shouted to them "Is this the way to the arboretum" to which they responded "always straight ahead." I continued uphill. Before long I reached the edge of Washington Park, right by an obelisk.

Looking down Park Ave. from the monument at south end of Washington Park

Uphill from there, some times steeper than others, like these stairs up to Parkview Dr.

Soon leveling off, when I reentered the park to run the Wildwoods Trails. Beautiful!

Back down into the valley, exiting park near Reservoir #4 and Vista Ave Bridge.

Returning along the home stretch, Willamette River, here at Hawthorne Bridge.

Harriet Island-Mendota Bridge Bike Ride

Beautiful afernoon bike ride with Lynn, Peggy and Joel. It seems we were always a nose length ahead of some sprinkles and immediately after out return it began raining in ernest. We celebrated our accomplishment with ice cream at Creamy Cone at Maryland and Dale.