Double Black Diamond

I stood at the top of a vertical drop off on the Tolt pipeline in Woodinville, Washington, feeling a little bit like a beginner skier who accidently took a lift up to the top of a double black diamond slope. The difference, however, was that I knew I could get down, but I was not so sure how I would make it back up.

I was trying to do a 10 mile out and back run, and I still had almost 2 miles to go till my “turn around” point. As I stood at the top of this hill, I could see the Burke-Gilman Trail snaking through the valley below, shielded by tall poplar trees. I wanted to be down there, running along the creek between the poplar trees.

So I took the plunge and ran down this hill. And it was steep, and it was fast, and the next thing I knew I really was running in the poplars, pretending to be a Burke-Gilman “regular”. Of course, less then an hour later I was walking up the “steep” and “fast” double black diamond “cliff”, but it was worth every tilted second of it.