Take the long Way Home

I had entered the Run for the WildWood 10k and Max was home from Europe a day early so I looked at him and said, “Would you like to go to the run with me”?

Max’s usual response was an energetic”Sure”.

We fuddled around to make it to the start and I registered Max for the run. I really expected to finish the run in about 2 hours. I had planned on walking it with him.

Well the starting gun goes off and Max is off into a trot. He just strolls to the 2 mile mark in close to 23 minutes. He had packed a thermos full of Apple Juice and sipped that the entire way. At the three mile mark he opts for some walk breaks but we hit down hills at 4 miles and he is running well again. He actually pauses to comment on how pretty the WildWood trail is. He loses about two to three minutes looking at banana slugs. The final half mile is uphill but of Course max gets up that in no time flat.


Max completed 10 kilometers in seventy odd minutes. Calculates to a little over 12 minutes per miles.

This crushes my heart.

Male 13&UNDER

1 Max Schofer Portland OR 9 M1 12:44 1:18:55 157 95/102

Labels: Max Running

The day started off as originally planned. 5 oclock wake up call and it seemed like I was on top of my game.

• Sun block....check.....
• Water -check
• Water Filters -check
• Pretzels -check
• Goo -check
• Fresh clothes check.
• Wallet -check.

We were on the mountain by 7:10 which may have been an upset of sorts. Something happened early on and Joel said to me that it may be a harbinger of things to come. From the few brain cells that are still working I believe it was the fact that we could not find the trail around the mountain, but that always happens on these types of runs. And to be quite honest I ever ever gave it a thought as to what type of run it was going to be. Joel and I had done this run before years ago and I remember it being fairly easy. I some how forgot we had run only a portion of the course previously. Memory is a funny thing.

The trail was hidden in the corner of a bolder field and after we found it was quite obvious. We started out pretty un uneventful and the first few miles through boulder fields and mild dry brush which was flat and pleasant. We were actually in awe for awhile having left the real world behind with wonderful views of Mt Adams, Mt. Ranier and Mt Hood as well. The temperature at 9:00 in the morning had reached a comfortable 70 degrees.

For some reason I had wore my pedometer for this run, just because I like to fill my mind with numbers. It keeps my mind busy. As we approached the Plains Of Abraham the Maslow in me was high in self esteem and working on Self-Actualiztion, gradually sipping lower level neccessities such as water and Trader Joe's Vitamin Water. I glanced at my my pedometer and we had covered about 11 kilometers. Spirits were high. I can never tell from Joel, as he is amazing as he keeps a level keel duting everything, but I did notice he was starting to get dusty and hot....

The middle and pretty part of this story will be written at a later time....

Well we got to to Tuttle Canyon, a 2 mile switch back in the sand, with 95 degrees temperatures and my water supplies running dangerously low. But I heard water running down the canyon and I saw lush green plants on the climb out of the canyon which gave us some hope for the last 12 miles of this journey. We sat in the water under a scorching sun as we headed out of Tuttle Creek at what I viewed as not so difficult a hill as it was in the shade. Well I could not have been more wrong about the hill, my moods and my fitness level. About 11 minutes into the climb I would have to bend over and catch my breath (later I would learn that back spasms were just making my breathing shallow) and I was starting to use water like it was the last commodity on the planet. I looked over at Joel and truthfully he wasn't doing all that much better.

This is still in Progress.......