Comfort Zones-TerritoryRunCo Sunrise Run

Territory Run Co- Sunrise Run

Wildwood Sunrise Chase
7/20/2016
5:10AM
Once a month Sunrise run in Forest Park with the Runners of the Wild Crew

It’s 3:45 am and my alarm goes off. It’s time to get up and face the day. Thoughts fly around in my head like…”maybe resting is better” and “you‘ll be too slow to run with them” and “you don’t even know anyone there” or “It would be better if I just ran road today.”

That early in the morning it can be very easy to talk yourself out of your original plan…which is why I had a backup plan. I had asked a friend to meet me there at the trail head as well. If I bailed now…that would make me a bad friend.

I am what you would call a shy extrovert. I love to be with people and do things in groups. But, when I first meet someone I am awkward,dorky and loud. I usually repeat the same thing over and over again because I can’t get my nerves to stop freaking out. I’ll say “Nice to meet you” trip on my own feet and bite my tongue all while trying to shake their hand. Yes, that has actually happened. Suddenly, my face is huge, my tongue is too big for my mouth and I lose the ability to form complete grown up sentence. Now, this eventually goes away after spending time with a person....and I would like to think that my awkwardness becomes endearing. But, going to this sunrise run meant that I would be running with people I had never met before….lots of them….not just 1 or 2…we are talking like 30 people I would have the chance to awkwardly trip over, spit on, or run into. So, Barb was my partner in crime to keep me from getting weirder than necessary…not to mention I love running with her. I swear I wasn’t using her.

                So Barb was coming…I needed to get my butt there. So, I hopped in my car and drove from Vancouver to downtown Portland…up Upshur to Forest Park.  Now, if you haven’t been here before it can be tricky to find…especially with the moon still shinning aggressively. Barb got lost and wasn’t there yet. I ended up standing off to the side trying not to make eye contact with anyone just in case my mouth let weird sentences fly out. I decided to stop being so caught up in my awkwardness and the fact that I was the least runner looking girl there…. And more on the fact that I was having the opportunity to start my day out with a fantastic trail run with other people who loved the trails just as much as me. I had to remind myself that I deserved to be there too---à sometimes those voices in the back of your head can be so dang loud. I mean all this is …is a FUN run. That’s all.

               After a quick announcement from Bret about not having coffee this morning for everyone we headed towards the trail. At 5:10 AM we were off… I’ve never ran a trail in the dark before…and I don’t know why but I found it kiiiiinda amazing. I loved every second of it. As we were heading up… I got a message from Barb said she was there and that she would start running. I gave her directions while running in the dark…via text… not the easiest thing to do. I thought I was in shape until I started running with everyone. I was breathing loud and tripping over my huge feet. It was beautiful tho…watching the sky get brighter and brighter as we headed up the 2.5 mile climb to Pittock Mansion. Finally, we made it up to the top and headed behind Pittock Mansion where the view of Mt. Hood and the city lay. The sun was just lighting up the sky. I looked around and everyone chatted like they’ve known each other for years. Maybe they have. At that moment…I didn’t even care that I couldn’t bring myself to start conversation with anyone. I was just taking in the view.




About 15 minutes later Barb shot around the corner and joined me. It was a fun descent down the hill with  my little running partner. As we finished up our run we noticed the announcement about the coffee was thankfully a false alarm. There was coffee (sooo good), Munk Packs (delish!) and a free Territory Trail Bandana sitch for everyone who was there. I remember sitting at my desk that day at 7am… and feeling amazing. Spending some quality time on the trail before work really changed my entire mindset of the day. I felt fulfilled. It wasn’t just the time on the trails. It was the going way out of my comfort zone that really made me feel like I had accomplished something. Such a small thing. Just a little sunrise run with people you see on face book…such a dorky accomplishment. I even managed ( I think ) to get out of there without making a dumb “Ashley Joke” …well there’s always next month’s sunrise run . For me, that is what trail running is. It takes me out of my comfort zone….and I feel like that’s the only place that I can truly develop into a stronger and better individual is by spending a good amount of time in that uncomfortable zone.  So, even though I was the least “runner looking “ girl there and close to the slowest runner…. I won’t always be. 

That’s the amazing thing about comfort zones. They are forever changing.