Cold Runs, Warm Company

No shortage of good people to run with this fall season. Good company for the cold and foggy days. Seems like more and more folk are taking to the trails, short and long distances. In fact I had just gotten back from a 2 hour with Jochen Horn who lives only a few blocks away. We started late (7:30) and ran towards the bridge and the trails of the Presidio before heading back. It was cold, dark, foggy and perfect. Our headlamps were barely useful in the Presidio, the light scattered by the fog. Jochen is a great runner, put up a phenomenal sub-24 at a hot Western States this year and will also be running the Firetrails 50-miler in October. I sure hope Firetrails won't be warm this year, I have zero heat training!

The weekends have been great, this past weekend I ran with the Endurables, a great running group led by Jim Vernon. The weekend before that Suzanna Bon was in town from Sonoma, Florencia Gascon-Amyx, Pete Hazarian, Jon Gunderson and I joined her for a 5 hour run in the Headlands. We left late then too, 3:30ish in the afternoon and darkness had set in before we left the trails. Jon and I didn't bring our lights but thankfully the others were better prepared. On the way back, crossing the Golden Gate bridge back to San Fran cisco, a guy in a golf shirt, khaki pants and a baseball cap, caught up to and started talking to us. It turned out to be Tom Triumph from New Jersey. I met Tom when I crashed in the Hotel room that he was sharing with friends at the Kettle Moraine 100 last summer. It was quite a surprise, he was just walking on the bridge, in town for a conference. I told him that our little group doesn't usually run together and my long run usually happens much earlier in the day. What a crazy coincidence that was. Still smiling about it. And the past several Sundays I've been running with our triathlon club for the shorter 9-13 mile cluub trail runs to follow up the long stuff on Saturdays. The running has been good I must say with more to come.

The weather has been a bit schizophrenic lately though - warm and sunny one day, cold, foggy in the next and it seems like it's always foggy when I'm out running. We usually have spectacular weather this time of the year and it's either late or it ain't happening at all. Maybe October will be super with the sun just hopefully not on the day of the Firetrails 50.

So yeah just been quietly training hard for my next race, the Firetrails 50-miler which is on the second weekend of October. My favorite 50-mile race and my first back in 2002. Enough hills to make it fun at 8,000 feet of total elevation gain. A variety of surfaces from road to fire road and single track, exposed and covered trails. I didn't expect a long recovery from Headlands but it is what it is. The important thing is that I'm back to my old self again. One more long weekend and it's back to the taper.

Well you all have a great weekend. Soon I'll have more exciting stuff to post, nothing but the grind of training lately but with good company.

Jon leading the way at our Headlands run.

Jon, Suzanna, Florencia and Pete. We didn't quite make it off the trails by the time the sun set on our Headlands run.

Such a bizarre coincidence running into Tom Triumph, we don't even live on the same coast.

The Endurables and a couple of tag alongs, me for one.

Regrouping, waiting for the rest of the gang on Deer Park fire road during a club run.

Enjoying some Guinness and food after a club run at the Pelican Inn at Muir Beach.