City Run

The city in the distance, 7:30am Saturday morning.

Descending down a short trail after a big street climb.

Angela and Stephen.

Running past the old red brick homes in the Presidio, I think these were officer's quarters at one point. You can just see one of the suspension towers of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and the Marin Headlands behind it.

Running past the Ferry building and the weekend Farmer's Market. Tons of people; fellow runners, tourists and locals enjoying their weekend.

Angela's brother Hugh and the Oakland Bay Bridge. No foot traffic allowed on this bridge nor would you want to run on it anyway. Two decks of high speed traffic, noise and exhaust fumes for a looong way.

This past weekend I joined Stephen and Angela for their usual Saturday morning city tour run. These two like to run around the city on Saturday mornings for 2-3 hours. We met at Stephen's place and after a short discussion between the two of them it was decided that we were going to take on the hills first. It was a nice change from the usual routes and I didn't mind the hard surfaces or the numerous crosswalks and street lights. It was what it was and I enjoyed myself. The constantly changing scenery through the busy streets and neighborhoods kept me entertained and I got to explore some new areas. I've been here for 16 years and there were a couple of places on that run that I've never been. There was one big hill which seemed bigger than it was since it was unfamiliar to me and we also got to run a few short sections of trail. There are trails in San Francisco but they tend to be short and not too hilly, it's all relative of course. An hour and a half into it we stopped by Angela's place and picked up her brother Hugh who was visiting from the East Coast. The last hour was flat and faster but no less scenic.

After the run we had brunch with Stephen's family and his parents who were visiting from Dallas. He's a trained chef and whipped up some delicious vegan dishes - Angela is vegan. It was quite good. I love meat but I could eat that meal anytime and be happy. I was certainly still thinking about it the next day when I was slogging through a 6.5 hour run in the Marin Headlands with nothing but energy gels, salt tabs and energy drink. Nothing hits the spot like a tasteless salt capsule downed with sickly sweet goo and sweet energy drink - yum! I can't wait to start participating in races again. I carry less junk and eat better.

I plan to join these two again soon. They are quick but they were nice enough to slow their pace down a bit so I could keep up.

Just a couple of the dishes Stephen whipped up for lunch. I was surprised at how good the mushrooms and the squash was without any butter.