{"id":5157,"date":"2010-11-10T08:39:52","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T16:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=5157"},"modified":"2010-11-10T08:39:52","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T16:39:52","slug":"why-wednesday-why-i-run-the-waterfront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=5157","title":{"rendered":"Why Wednesday – Why I Run the Waterfront"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Waterfront Esplanade,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I really miss you a lot. It’s been months since I’ve been able to run your loop during my lunch break. The last time I ran you, I beat my own PR<\/a> on August 23rd. A week before I ran Hood to Coast.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You were an excellent place to train for my Big Race<\/a>. You were a fixed route with a fixed mileage and I was able to focus on my speed work. I had landmarks to gauge myself by and I knew the route by heart. The cracks in the sidewalk. The slippery (when wet) parts of the bridges. The hills. The stairs. The narrow parts that get congested.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>

Stairs to Burnside Bridge<\/p><\/div>\n

Since my injury, I’ve been relegated to jogging short distances on the treadmill. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like home to me. Did I mention I miss you a lot?<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been avoiding the Waterfront lately because I can’t run it. I’m sorry about that. It was just too hard to see you when I couldn’t run on you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>The other day the weather was beautiful in Portland. I went for my walk (the norm now) at lunch instead of running (like before). The sun was out. The weather was warm. I put in my earphones and decided to walk the Esplanade.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” comes on my iPod. I’m being passed by runners left and right. As I lose myself in the song, a song that would often pump me up on my runs, I almost start to run. I almost lose myself in the moment, in the muscle memory, in the old habit of Running You and then I stop.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sad.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember I’m wearing jeans and a blouse–not running gear. I remember I’m not running yet. I remember that I have to take it slow. I’m sorry I ever dreaded running you, or felt like running you was a chore. I’d give anything to be able to do it now!
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was walking, I crossed paths with my friend Kristin<\/a>. She was running and she looked great! I smiled and waved even though I was feeling sad.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope that someday I can run you again.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Love,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lisa<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(The rest of this was written months ago, pre-injury.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of the good things about running the Esplanade is that you’re pretty much stuck once you’re on the other side of the river. You have a choice of either turning around to get back, or keep going forward. Either way you can’t just decide to quit like you can on a treadmill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The beautiful scenery also keeps me coming back. The Waterfront reminds me daily how gorgeous Portland is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The river is beautiful, the trees lining the Esplanade are always blooming (or turning colors). Plus I can see Mt. Hood on a clear day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Running the same route on a regular basis also means I saw the same people. I saw good runners and admired their speed and form. I saw bad runners with horrible form. I saw current coworkers and old coworkers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

QUESTION: What is something you miss right now, for any reason?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Waterfront Esplanade, I really miss you a lot. It’s been months since I’ve been able to run your loop during my lunch break. The last time I ran you, I beat my own PR on August 23rd. A week before I ran Hood to Coast. You were an excellent place to train for my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[195,224,1389],"tags":[546,1828,890,1396,8707,1158,1390],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5157"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19046,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5157\/revisions\/19046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}