I know we have several Oregon / Washington folks here so help me out.
Just booked flight to Portland, Oregon on Sept. 7th will most likely be 5-8 weeks out from a marathon (haven't picked which yet) Will need some good places to run in Portland & Seattle areas.
Planning to tour Portland on 8th, Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood area on 9th. Silver Falls State Park area on 10th then head north to Mt Rainer & Seattle on 11-12. Will be plenty of moderate hiking so not looking for a 20 miler but probably a 16. Motel not booked yet but looking at Portland east Hampton Inn on NE 181st Ave.
Any suggestions would be appreciated above plans are flexible.
Courage ! Do one brave thing today...then run like hell.
Maniac 505
Sarge:
Sorry I missed this when you posted it. I don't know much about Portland, For Seattle, assuming you are staying down town, you won't go wrong by just heading down to the waterfront and start running north. The end of the waterfront turns into a narrow park about 1.5 miles long, at the end of the park You can keep going straight and eventually end up in a quiet residential area for about 2 more miles, then You will find yourself on a 3+ mile dirt path through Discovery park. If this sounds like what you would be looking for, let me know I can give more information.
Unfortunately, those dates are in the middle of my work week.
Enjoy it out here.
Dave
Thanks for the response Dave, I had given up temporarily & was going to try again in a few weeks. Anyway, we will be staying in Tukwila & I see we are near the Green River Trail, how is that for running early in morning? Then I thought the other day we would try drive up to Lake Washington Blvd. & run the string of city parks along there. Any thoughts on these areas? Since it's a Mon. & Tues. morning I wanted to avoid the downtown traffic. Also easier access to Mt. Rainer & Mt St. Helens. There seems to be plenty of great running spots in Seattle area.
Rick
Rick: I don't know much about the green river trail (though I have cycled it a time or two. I would guess that it would be fairly heavy with bike commuters in the morning, but unlike some parts of the world I don't think the cyclists would feel like they own the trail, My guess is that they will give runners room. I don't know if that would bother you or not.
Lake Washington Blvd would be a good choice. That is a big stretch of the Seattle Marathon (from the I-90 bridge around Seward park and back under the I-90 bridge) I don't run there often, but I do some of my longer runs from my Condo over to Lake Washington and back (kind of following the marathon course) In fact I did a 20 miler today on exactly that route.
If you choose that route, good, wide sidewalks. more traffic than a residential area, but not heavy. I would suggest you start at Seward Park. good parking. and you can start with a nice 2 mile loop around the park. then out and back as far as you want. The Seattle Marathon also continues through a residential area, down Madison Ave (a busy street, but also with good sidewalks) through the arboretum and up Interlaken Ave (MY favorite part of the course)
just throwing out Ideas, but from what you say you have in mind, I think Lake Washington Blvd is a good choice.
(We were in Renton, Erika.)
The burke-gilman trail is about 30 miles or so of trail that is very nice, safe, and scenic. It's not down in Tukwila - you'd have to be closer to the city to access it. I can't remember exactly where it starts, but somewhere around Lake Union I think? and it ends up taking all the way over to Bothell/Kirkland area.
Tammy
Tammy:
the Burke Gillman trail offically starts at Golden Gardens park in Ballard, but there is the infamous "missing link" forcing you onto surface streets for a mile or so before it starts for real on the other side of 15th Ave.
Here are some links to bicycle paths in Seattle, Most of these would also make good running routes.
Seattle area bicycle maps