If you live in Portland, or get there on a fairly regular basis, chances are pretty good that you’ve run the Waterfront Loop.
There are variations – Steel Bridge to Sellwood Bridge is roughly 10 miles, take the Ross Island Bridge instead and cut it back to 8 miles. But the primary loop is the Steel Bridge to Hawthorne Bridge route of 2.65 miles. Runnable over a lunch break at nearly any pace, easy to find and hard to get lost, the Waterfront Loop is one of those routes that you just have to run at least once.
So Run Oregon is creating a virtual, free “time trial” for the Waterfront Loop, along with a form through which you can submit your times. Use it to compare times to friends (and competitors), or track your own progress – we may even possible create “awards periods” with some time windows where we’ll do prizes for things like fastest time, most improved time, or most miles run on the loop. It’s kind of like that function Strava has where you can compare yourself to your contacts on any route.
Click here to check out the route. Because it’s a loop, you can technically start at any point along the loop as long as you run a complete loop and stop your time at the exact point where you started running. Note: You should never use a dog as your starting point. I recommend something like the plaque in the ground shown here, which is in the sidewalk just east of the Salmon Springs Fountain and bike rental building.
Then, once you’ve run, log your time here. You can also find the time log at any time from the “Virtual Time Trials” link on the Run Oregon home page, where we’ll add new courses as they come up. We’ll occasionally post results with your name and time, unless you check the box to keep your name private (then we’ll just use your initials). We might also post aggregate age group and gender results, but without names. Your email address will never be posted.
In addition, you can look forward to Run Oregon Virtual Time Trial routes in other areas and for other distances. Joe is working on a mile course in the Portland metro area, Matt is creating a route in Salem, and Jessica is planning one for Eugene. As a matter of fact, if you have a great route you’d like us to review and potentially add to our line-up, be sure to let us know (and include a public link to the map). Before you send your route in, though, make sure it’s a safe route with no road crossings (or any road crossings are safe for pedestrians and easy to see cars coming as you approach).
So, get going! Tell your friends … and have fun!
