Worth the Price of Admission

Gary promised a short gradual incline for our morning jog on Mt. Tabor. I knew he was wrong, but couldn't argue with his boyhood memory of the trails. We started out on 60th, took Lincoln into the park and then began climbing more than 300 feet in a little more than 1/3 of a mile. Less than half way up I decided I either had to walk or risk a life threatening incident. Gary didn't seem to mind staying with me even though I told him he could jog on ahead. I reminded him that the Mt. in Mt. Tabor is short for mountain and by the time we climbed to the crest, Gary was willing to admit our route was more than a short gradual incline. 

Since our move, we have been trying out jogging routes in our new neighborhood hoping to find a good trail on Mt. Tabor because it is so close. We miss the quick access to the paths at the Rose City Golf Course across the street from our apartment. Most Saturdays we still drive out to the beautiful wooded fitness trail around Glendoveer Golf Course on 148th and Glisan. One day we even jogged the East and West Bank Esplanade along the Willamette River. 

Gary has been an on and off jogger for most of his life, but for me this is a relatively new routine. Eight years ago this summer he talked me into starting a program of running and walking for 30 minutes about three times a week. At first we ran for two minutes and walked for two minutes gradually working our way up to running for the full 30 minutes. It took more than a year to reach our goal. Since then we continued to use the same stop watch to keep track of our time. Last winter we discovered it was no longer keeping accurate time . . . the 30 minutes was really 50 minutes.

Back to this morning on Mt. Tabor . . .

The benefit of climbing up the side of the mountain is the spectacular view. This morning we had a panoramic view to the East of a magenta sky behind a crystal clear silhouette of Mt. Hood. All I could manage in my oxygen deprived state, was a breathless wow. By the time we reached the down hill path above the double reservoir on the West side of the park my response to the early morning glow of the city below was, "this is definitely worth the price of admission."