Taper is overrated.

Because, you know, if you can get your butt to the Gorge 3 times in a week - that's THREE, mind you - who needs taper! Honestly, I always said taper is a bad word:) And again, when you're blessed with trails we are - who cares? It's all training, including 52 mile slog in Pocatello in upcoming week!

I won't overwhelm you with pictures here, simply because I couldn't choose which ones to put up, so I shrunk them and linked to my Picasa album. I'll give you a few teasers, though:) Be jealous, very jealous. I am.

So, all together I put on 80 miles this week, which is after two weeks of 60 is a good return to the base. Hopefully, I'll somehow manage 30 before going out to Idaho (I did it before Zane Grey) to round up another good week again.

First Gorge outing on Wed with Gail took us to Herman Creek trail, where we climbed to first clearing before Benson Plateau (favorite hill repeat spot for locals), then did a bit on Herman trail to resupply water from the creek, and then climbed a mo-fo Nick Eaton, which I forgot how steep it is! But the rewards was a nice downhill on Gorton trail, soft and cushy. We finished just in time to beat downpour that hit Portland for the rest of the day.

Saturday Gail, Sid and Monika got me into hiking Hamilton Mtn. Me being me, loving solitude and not being able to follow smart conversations about politics, with 1/3 to the top I pulled away and enjoyed making the day into hill repeats. Took it down, came back couple miles to meet with guys, down again, up again to meet them...you got the idea. It was awesome sunny warm day with beautiful views!

And on Sunday Gail and I took it all the way to Larch Mtn! It was practically clear, by all definition! There was snow last 2 miles, about 2 feet deep, but soft and trail was easily found. And the 360 degrees views...Oh, My God, so worth the slow pace, calm blue skies and every mountains in PNW like laying on a palm of your hand...We spent a good amount of time there, just soaking up the sun, then ventured to Franklin Ridge (with a bit of trail finding, but not much), down on Oneonta, reciting our past runs and great times (and great "times" as in how fast we used to be), climbed 4 miles back up and had a sweet downhill all the way to the mid-day "zoo" of people trying to park at Multnomah Falls. Dude, gotta come at 6am to snatch a parking spot! It was 85F, and PNW-terners lived up to being sissy's when it comes to heat (that would be me). It was cool in shade of trees, but every open spot would send me yelling "hot!". 7 hrs to add on to 5hrs and 3 hrs Gorge miles did us lotsa good stuff.



As for a fine print - the ankle I turned at MacForest a week ago...hurts. But the aircast with ankle brace combo give me good stability and less pain (somewhat, anyway). Who needs to back off? I got HardWalk 100 in less than 2 months, and it's coming onto me like a freight train! But with last week, I feel more confident. It's gonna be lots of fun!