Portland Trail Series - Race 1

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A few months ago I signed up for the Portland Trail Series as a way to get more exposure to the Portland Trail / Ultra Running community. There are several groups that get together weekly for runs, but I am such an introvert that I get anxious about not knowing anyone. I figured signing up for the Race Series I didn’t have to be social if I didn’t want to since it is a race, but at the same time I would get around the community which would help ease my anxiety, so maybe I could get the courage up to join one of the “social” runs.

From the Portland Trail Series web site:

The Portland Trail Series is a super-cool, low-key series of trail races held in Forest Park in Portland. A total of five races are held every other Wednesday evening from September-October, and each race will cover a different, challenging course, ranging from 4-6 miles. Runners that participate in at least four races are included in the overall Series standings, and doing well in the Series will land you some fantastic gear from our great sponsors.

The Series will benefit the Forest Park Conservancy and a post-Series party is held immediately after the final race at the Lucky Lab Brew Pub. There we will present awards to Series winners, hold a raffle and enjoy a well-deserved beer.


This week’s route was pretty hilly for being only 5.78 miles. We started at the Thurman / Leif Erickson trail head. We ran up Leif to Dogwood and up Dogwood to Wildwood. Yassine and his daughter were at the Dogwood cheering on all the runners and directing traffic. It was great to see him, he gave me a big high five. We continued climbing a bit on Wildwood to Alder, then we got a nice downhill on Alder to Leif Erickson. We then went back up Dogwood all the way to NW 53rd and then back down on Wild Cherry to Leif to the end.

I killed it on the hills and passed a lot of people, but then all the same people passed me on the down hills. Once I hit Wild Cherry and knew it was down hill all the way I imagined I was chasing Susan down hill which sped me up a bit.

I was 9th in my age group and 16th female.
race results


Race 1 route

Location: Forest Park, Portland, OR 97231, USA

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