Running Around the Bend, and the Rest of Oregon

Oregon had not been part of my travelling plans until around three days before I crossed the state line from Idaho. But it certainly contributed some amazing running to my travels. Outside of my race at Western States (the Race Report for that can be read here), which was a magical running experience, I would classify my six days in Yosemite National Park and my eight days in Oregon as the running highlights of my trip. I plan to cover the sections of my Oregon experience in greater detail once I catch up with some recent race reports from the next stage of my travels. So for now, I will cover it in summary.

A number of great ultra runners, both trail and road, currently reside in Oregon. It doesn’t provide the elevation that draws elite athletes to Boulder and Flagstaff. Many parts of the state are particularly wet, not contributing ideal weather conditions for outdoor training. But the state does contain some of the best trails in the country, and not just in my opinion.

I do love running through forests, with trees whizzing by on either side and ground cover brushing my legs (excluding poison oak), bounding along soft dirt (and even occasionally muddy) trails, navigating around or over rocks and roots and branches. They are my favourite types of trails and they are plentiful in Oregon.

But I did say “not just in my opinion.” The McKenzie River Trail has been rated as one of the twenty-five best trails in the country by Runners World. Bend was named “America’s Best Trail Running Town by Outside Magazine in 2006. I didn’t bother to look up any accolades that might have been won by Ashland, but as home to two separate two-time winners of the Western States Endurance Run I think its inhabitants spell out its accolades. Of course the state did also manage to spawn a little shoe company called Nike and happens to be home to a city known as Track Town USA (Eugene).

So now that I have talked about the state in general, let’s briefly cover my running experiences.

McKenzie River Trail – Sahalie Falls