4/11/09: Running in San Francisco!

I'm writing from beautiful, sunny San Francisco! Jen and I flew out Thursday night. We spent Friday and Saturday in San Francisco with Danny and Rachel, our good friends from college. We're heading to Yosemite on Sunday on Monday (woohooo!). Tuesday we'll either stay in Yosemite or come back to San Francisco for something fun. I'm working from our SF office Wednesday to Friday, we've got all day Saturday in San Francisco, and then we'll head back home. It'll be an awesome time!

I took Friday off from work and got an early start for a big run in the Marin Headlands. If all went well, the plan was to run about 40 miles up in the big, beautiful hills. I ended up having an awesome time and took a ton of pictures along the way.

I started at about 6am in Berkeley, where Danny lives. There was a beautiful full moon lighting the way as I headed to the nearest Bart stop.

I got on Bart and headed across the bay to the Embarcadero stop. I got off at Embarcadero and headed towards the Golden Gate bridge, which was about 5-6 miles away.



(Coit tower in the early morning)



(The Rock)


(I love the hilly streets of San Francisco)

(Heading towards the Golden Gate bridge)

(Sunrise over the bay)

(Cool street)

(Nice park)

(Staircase heading up to the Golden Gate bridge)

(Cloudy view of the city from the Golden Gate bridge)

So far the run had been going well. My legs were a bit tired from the hard training I've been doing, but on the whole I was feeling pretty good. The weather was perfect for running. It was in the low 50s with just a bit of a breeze.

After coming off the Golden Gate bridge I headed up into the headlands. The next 30 miles or so were on trails through the Headlands, and I had an awesome time. The wildflowers were in full bloom, the views were fantastic, and I saw a lot of cool creatures along the way. I ended up seeing coyotes, deer, rabbits, hawks, and a giant slug!

(Climbing up on the SCA trail)

(Still climbing up the SCA trail)

(Looking northwest into the headlands!)

(Looking west towards the Pacific)

(Looking back towards the city)

(Eucalytpus!!! )

(Looking back out at the city)

(Looking back up the ridge I just ran down from. You can see the eucalyptus I ran through)

(I'm about to head to the peak in the top middle)

(In the distance is the eastern ridge I'll back aross at the end of the run)

(Who's this geek?)

(Looking back towards the city again)

(Mt. Tam is in the top left covered by clouds)

(I ran down from the peak at the top right, passed through the ranch on the left, and then climbed back up again.)

(Looking out towards Sausalito)

(Holy crap that's a big slug!)

(I ran a few miles into Mt. Tam state park before turning around)

(Mt. Tam finally came out of the clouds)

(The few miles I ran in Mt. Tam state park descended into a very lush valley. There were lots of cool trees, ferns, and various other plants)

(This is the very scenic Alta trail, which was featured in Runner's World Rave Runs)

(The California state flower, the Golden Poppy. They were lining a lot of the trails)

(Later in the day we went over to Stanford. Rachel is finishing law school there and lives nearby)

(Jen, our puppy Eve, Rachel, and Danny)

So it was a great ~ 40 mile run. I finished feeling strong. My stomach held up very well, which was a welcome relief from my recent troubles.

Jen and I are heading out to Yosemite tomorrow. We’ll be doing lots of hiking (and maybe some running), so I’ll try to post some more pictures soon!