Japanese Gulch Trail, Mukilteo

With one week away from The Last Chance Marathon I wanted my last long run to be on trails as I have limited experience off road.  So this run was not about mileage, but time in the trenches so to speak.  I have heard about the "Gulch" for a while among the ESNW Google Group emails.  So I decided to check it out.  The Japanese Gulch trail system has two parking entrance area.  The gulch is small wood plateau, with a road / Railroad track system to the north, houses to the south, industrial complexes to the east and over the railroad.  And the Puget Sound to the West.  Here is an overview of the trails (in white).

There is another Gulch trail system called the Big Gulch of Mukilteo blvd (I think).  I may check it out at some point but for now the focus is on the Japanese Gulch ...  I started at the 44th street entrance, in Mukilteo.  It's the top entrance.  Since I was unfamiliar with the area I looped around the top trail once.  That is, I kept right at all forks and at some point I realized I had looped back lol ... I did venture off a couple of times... but when the trails off looked like they go back and down towards the the railroad road I got back on what I though was the "main" loop.  I could still see the Sound not so far out trough the leave-less trees ... I stopped a moment to enjoyed the view:

Once I completed the first loop though I felt more confident to go off track.  I followed a trail down the side which lead me to this creek.  On the other side is the service road running parallel to railroad track on the background:

Once over the creek I headed downhill the towards the water:

About five minutes downhill the service road and the railroad track merged.  The road went over the track (bridge) so I decided to continue along the track towards the water ... I was heading under the bridge with anticipation, a reminder why I love to run:

It was another five minutes to near the Mulilteo waterfront.  Being back on a flat route if somewhat uneven I was able to pick the pace up.  I followed a path carved by previous runners and bikers in the surface ... The railroad finally crossed a road which I followed for another quarter mile.  In the background I could see the Whidbey Ferry, a "Mukilteo" railroad sign at the passenger station ... And the other direction I could see the large blue structure from the Everett port.  Cool sight!

I noticed a couple on the other side of the train station.  They were walking their dog towards the North.  So now I am wondering about running there some other time and see if I can make it back to Everett along the waterfront.  Well that's for some other time.  For now it was time to head back so I turned around and started the climb back to the Japanese Gulch ... On the way down I saw an elaborate bridge structure, I had decided I will cross into the Gulch on the structure.  Once up the service road I scanned the side for the bridge.  I recalled the bridge to be larger than it was really ... Never less here it was   ... 

And here I go ...

 

I crossed the bridge hoping the way up wouldn't be too painful ... cause it looked pretty steep and muddy lol ... And it was treacherous too.  Very muddy.  There were plank laid in the mud to help passage.  I walked the muddy parts.  That led to another bridge about one third the way.  The view looking down ... You can see the creek and the first bridge in the upper left corner of the picture ...

Upstream the bridge the trail was much steeper.  Getting to the top seemed to take forever.  Once I did though I was happy as I recognized the view I took the first picture of the Sound from so I was back on the loop.  Starting running the loop feeling pretty confident about myself yet pondering the overall pace of the run ... 15 - 16 min per miles.  That is worrying me a little for the marathon.  That's what, a 7 hours marathon?  

It was definitely a tough run.   Ten miles in under 2:30 hours is not the norm for me.  The only trail event I ran was the Steilacoom Half, in about 2:15 hours.  The Gulch are reminiscent of the terrain I encountered there so I was surprised I ran so slow.  However since I ran 8.32 miles yesterday and 7.41 miles the day before, and considering the steep descent to/ascent from the water I think a part of the slowness was just good ol' tiredness.  On the plus side I could say that DESPITE having ran 8.32 miles yesterday and 7.41 miles the day before, and considering the steep descent to/ascent from the water I still was able to run couple of hours around the Gulch (oh and yeah that fondue I ate for Christmas' Eve lol) ...

So ... It was sluggish run today ... but I enjoyed the run all the same.  Elevation change 1374 ft over 10.09 miles.  So a good elevation change over a (relatively) short run so i'd say not bad.  Taper week ahead leading to the Last Chance Marathon (and my first trail marathon).  New year's Eve: a stepping step to my trail running.  Happy running everyone :)