up Mt Teneriffe down Mt Si

Boom. My first trail run in freaking months! And we could not have picked a nicer day for it.

The skys were totally clear, the sun was out, it was 45 degrees at the start and at least 60 degrees at the finish. The Salmon Berries were HUGE and ripe and I was just so damn thrilled to be back out in the woods and to have it not hurt my hip. Thanks to Thomas Frizelle for the company and for being willing to run at my recovery pace.




When I asked Thom if he would be up for a slow run he said yes and then said I should feel free to suggest a route. Thinking that I could manage 10-12 miles I looked at my running history and found this one. Mt Teneriffe is always awesome and I recall really liking the Talus Loop Trail the one other time I ran it so picked this. As a bonus, Thom had never done any of this and I always love showing someone a new cycling or running route.

The climb up the Teneriffe trail is always rewarded by spectacular views on a nice day.



For some reason (perhaps because the entire trail to the top is not officially complete?) most people take the road to the top of Teneriffe. I did that once and it sucked. Instead we took the trail to Teneriffe Falls and then just continued to the top. Road be damned.

From here we ran down the road just a bit to the crossover trail that connects Teneriffe and Si. To my surprise we encountered four other people on the crossover trail! How cool that hikers are utilizing this too, it really expands your options.

Running down Si was super fun but I was very tentative. First and foremost because my hip is still very suspect but also because I had not been out on the trails in quite a while and the last thing I wanted to do was wipe out and further delay my full recovery. And of course it was pretty crowded.

Luckily all went well and by the time I got back to our car you would have been hard pressed to wipe the smile off my face.

By the time I got home my left hip did flare up a little... but it was not much and I'm hoping it won't last. I suspect I was a tad overambitious with this route? That's the first time I have felt any pain since I took six weeks off from running. Luckily it did not prevent Shelley and I from taking the scooter downtown and eating and drinking our way through some super cool places in the Pike Place Market that we had never been to before. Oysters and beer, I love that!



Here are all my pictures and video.