In the first couple minutes I begin running, the same phrase comes to mind: This is going to be painful. Coming from a competitive family that did some sort of race every weekend, my usual reply when asked to run was that I was old enough now to stop running, and stay and fight. But talking with other runners whose motivation was more of the journey on the trail, it was blindingly evident I was missing out. It's the places you run that make it more exciting, and that's been burned into me more and more as I'm trying 2 new runs in Bellingham.

The North Shore Trail is six miles there and back (and then some if you tag the fence at the mid-mark) and runs most of the perimeter of the East side of Lake Whatcom, looking back on the homes on Coronado, Strawberry Point, and most of Gates 1 and 2 of Sudden Valley, with a few peaks from homes in Gate 5. This trail is about 8 feet wide, compacted gravel and dirt, wide enough for a morning group of coffee drinkers to walk four abreast, making it just about impossible to not say "Good Morning". The whole run you're looking to your left or right at pristine water, incredible landscape, and a waterfall here and there, thrown in with a couple of well-built, and sometimes slippery bridges. And very dog friendly, with a great beach at the end for my friend's dog, Caymus, to cash in on fetch with a piece of driftwood, after very humbly "holding back" the entire run. It gets a little dodgy during the fall, with the leaves covering a lot of the rocks that could turn an ankle, and turn a winter into "the time I actually read those books assigned for summer reading" and no one should have to read Life and Death of a Salt Marsh. No one.

Looping down through the Dog Park in Fairhaven, through Downtown, and onto the Boardwalk is surreal. Again, your skirting the shoreline for a good portion, looking up at South Hill, and for a little motivation on your way to Bellingham, you pass Wood's Coffee, one of the best things to happen at Boulevard Park since I got free coffee for bringing a Pomeranian, which sounds like a Poker term for bluffing, but actually happened. Continue around the bend and along the rest of the trail, and it will bring you into Bellingham, behind the bike shops there, the Tai Chi class that practices out back during the summer. With a left when you hit the street, that'll bring you right to where the Farmer's Market is every Saturday during the spring and summer. You can stop here, or at the local Brew Pub (Cheers, Nolan!) or run into downtown. There's always something going on.

So many runs in Bellingham....I hope you try out these two, one's a little country, one's a little more rock and roll.

Keep an eye out for a Pomeranian.
Chris McNamara