Finding a Place to Call Home

A lot of exciting changes coming up and this past week was spent exploring the wonderful city that is going to be our future home: Portland, Oregon.  The closer that we are getting to re-locate the giddier I am getting about all the amenities Portland has to offer.  This week I got a quick glimpse of the energy, lifestyle and culture I’ll be plunging into in like two months.  I’m definitely going to miss Ithaca, my family, and the community that I’ve been a part of for the last five years but the time has come to move on.

Other reasons my spirits have been lifted this past week are finishing my classes and finals, and the fact that I have been upping the ante on my running.  I am feeling like I am getting back some of the fitness I lost during my one month hiatus and I am not showing any signs of the iliotibial band pain returning.  (Knock on wood!) However, I am making sure that I don’t jump back into it too aggressively as I have read that this is a very common mistake for people like me.

Tuesday we flew into Portland and checked in to the hotel and got situated.  One of the main purposes of this trip was to try and find a place to live for August 1. We lined up some appointments from Craigslist and had a pretty packed schedule for this short Tuesday through Saturday morning visit.  Wednesday we checked out a townhouse that is in an ideal location.  It is two blocks from Washington Park (which connects to Forest Park which contains like 70 miles of trails!) and close to downtown, Portland State, grocery, etc.  This was our favorite place even though we really like fellow ultra runner Olga V.'s place...by the way...thanks for taking the time with us...it was a pleasure to meet you and we'll see you soon!

Anyway, we haven't set anything in stone yet and are waiting on some answers but it's good to know that we have some solid options.

Wednesday I did an out and back 7-mile trail run on the Wildwood Trail from Pittock mansion in the rain...(It was a characteristic Pacific Northwest day but once I got warmed up the rain felt great!).  Thursday I hit the Wildwood Trail from a different location.  This time I went from above Hoyt Arboretum and headed down toward the Pittock mansion and back...good for 8 miles.  Thursday I headed over to the Leif Erickson Trail and did a speed workout running 9 miles at a 6:07/mi. pace.  Wednesday and Thursday were epic in terms of the weather and we are so enthralled that this trail runner's wonderland could potentially be basically our back yard.

Read more about Forest Park by clicking HERE

The next two weeks I will be doing some teaching practicum work at Boynton Middle School and Ithaca High School.  The days are flying by and I am trying to enjoy this area as much as I can while we are still here.  I'm thinking that if all goes well that my next big race will be on the 4th of July at the Finger Lakes Fifties Ultras just a few miles down the road.

Happy Running!