Bridge to Bridge... to Brews

Today, I decided to take a break from the rigorous training for Reach the Beach to do something a little different. I ran a 10K! Not exactly relaxing, but a great experience nonetheless. I've never been much of a runner and didn't exactly plan for this. My coworker Harrison mentioned it early in the week, and within minutes we were both signed up.

As luck would have it, the race began and ended at the Widmer Brewery, about 10 minutes walk from my house. We started by running over the Fremont bridge and into NW Portland. For those unfamiliar with the city, Portland is essentially divided in half north to south by the Willamette River and divided east to west by a road called Burnside. The business district and heart of the city is on the west side of the river south of Burnside. The northwest offers trendy and expensive shops and condos along with a large industrial area. Of course, all the cool people (like me) live on the east side of the river, and if you're lucky enough to land a job on the east side (also like me), you don't have to venture west much at all.

If you do decide to venture west, however, there are a number of choices for getting there. I think I mentioned in a previous post that one of Portland's nicknames is Bridge City. There are 10 bridges that connect the east and west. Starting from south Portland and going up the bridges are Sellwood, Ross Island, Marquam, Hawthorne, Morrison, Burnside, Steel, Broadway, Fremont, and St. John's.

Each of these bridges has its own unique character and features. Suspension bridges, drawbridges, double decker bridges. Most are pedestrian and biker friendly. The Hawthorne and Steel Bridges connect the east and west bank esplanades to make a nice loop where runners and bikers flock.

The Fremont bridge, where we started our run, is not one you'd normally consider fun to walk across. It's an interstate bridge, used to get people quickly past the city on their way to Seattle in the north or Salem in the south. But I'd wager that Fremont does get the occasional walker based on the number of Suicide Help Line signs posted along it.

After crossing Fremont, we ran through the industrial area of Northwest Portland then turned south again to eventually cross the Broadway bridge back to the east. At the finish line, we headed for the brewery for our complimentary hot dog and beer. Widmer makes a Hefeweizen that is pretty popular even back east. They also have a Drop Top amber that I'm pretty fond of.

Recovering from the race required a two-hour nap in the afternoon, and some yogic stretches this evening. The good news is I can finally scratch that 10K off my New Year's resolution list. It's been there for about 8 new years.