Banged-up knee won’t keep her out of the Trillium

A banged-up knee won't keep Ann Browning out of the Trillium Trail Run.  

She's competed in every race since the Trillium's spring 2016 debut, always running the 10K. This year, rehabbing a slight meniscus tear, she'll step back to the 5K distance – and she'll walk it, nursing the knee as she rebuilds her strength.  

But it keeps her Trillium streak going. And what is a walk but a slow run, anyway? 

"Exactly," Browning says. "And some would say my walk is faster than some others' runs." 

The Trillium Trail Run was established a decade ago by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, to showcase the island's public trails and raise money to build more of them. Despite several races lost to the pandemic, the Trillium has grown with the trail system itself. 

The Parks & Trails Foundation has helped plan, fund and build 10 miles of new trails in that time, pushing the trails network to around 50 miles today. Meanwhile, the Trillium now draws more than 300 runners of all ages from the island and around the region. The addition of a Kids Fun Run – a mad dash within Battle Point Park – has boosted the event as an all-family draw. 

Registration for this year's event, May 9 at Battle Point Park, is at www.trilliumtrail.run. The Kids Fun Run begins at 8:30 a.m. with the timed distance runs at 9 a.m.  

The race is sponsored by Jason Shutt / Windermere, Wildernest, Town & Country Markets,  and GoRun  and supported by Bainbridge Youth Services, Bainbridge Prepares, Bainbridge Ultra Run Team, , Fort Ward Parkrun, BARN, and the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District.  

The Trillium 10K and 5K courses wind through the 240 acres of the Grand Forest park – some the island's very best trails – with the challenge of the Hilltop climb mid-course. Browning rates the Trillium favorably to others she runs both in and out of state, and says the course delights her no matter how many times she hits it through the year.  

The wooded trails keep the run cool, Browning says, with a little burst of blue where the course summits Hilltop meadow – "a nice little pop-out moment, if you're wanting some sun."  

"It's neat that we live in a community that supports such a unique and alluring trail run," she says. "The size of the trees and the variety of the landscape – it just feels really well loved and preserved.  

"I know every little twist and turn, and it still feels fresh."

Bringing young runners onto trails

Browning manages the group GoRun (a sponsor of this year's Trillium) to bring girls in fourth through sixth grades into trail running, about the same age she herself started running as a youth. The experience "just opens up worlds to them."  

"Some of them have never run on the trails, and they've lived here for a number of years and never really explored," she says. "We now do a field trip to run the Gazzam Lake trails, and they get done and they had no idea that it was, like, the Olympic Peninsula. They see the vastness of our trails, and they're kind of blown away."  

It's a revelation shared by all ages, as our trail system grows and new connections and opportunities unfold.  

The Parks & Trails Foundation's "Trails Connect Bainbridge Island" campaign last year brought three new trails online: the Arbor Trail near Bloedel Reserve, the Sunny Hill to Nute's Pond Trail, and Vincent Road to Gazzam Lake.  

Proceeds from this year's race support completion of the Lost Valley Trail – a marquee project, the final link in a cross-island trail route from Winslow to Gazzam Lake. Gifts will be matched by a $10,000 challenge grant from Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island. With funding, the trail can be ready and open at end of summer 2026. 

"Everyone who runs the Trillium will be helping get the Lost Valley Trail built," says Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. "The race fees go straight to building Lost Valley, so this is a great year to run." It's also fun. Most years, Browning would be training toward a new personal best for the Trillium 10K. This year, the knee had other plans. But she will enjoy the Trillium all the same.  

"I'm not going to be running, so the (best time) goal is not going to happen," she says. "But the flip side is the community part. I honestly can't think of anything I like more to do in my community and with my community than be outdoors, connecting with people in this setting, even walking. 

"The Trillium is such a great event, I want to see it happen in perpetuity. I'm proud to be a part of it."