Written Friday, October 20th while flying between San Francisco and Washington, DC.
I’ve run twice since my 10 mile run in Diamond Bar. Shortly after my run on Tuesday, myself, my friend Mark Beemer and a friend and employee of his, Patrick Martin, drove up to San Francisco. We were there to see bands, friends, friends in bands, and even have a few meetings.
We got a very reasonably priced motel room (The Ramada Limited Hotel, which is really nothing more than a 2-star motel) in the Marina district on Lombard Street. I’d initially planned to stay on my friend Vanessa’s couch, and Mark and Patrick wanted to get a room at the Phoenix, but circumstances led us to what ultimately became a great place to run.
Having skipped my file mile run on Monday, I’d planned to get in 5 miles on both Wednesday and Thursday. This would give me enough time to rest my legs Friday before my longest training run yet – 20 miles this weekend!
Tired from jet-lag, the 10 miler that morning, and the 6 hour drive up to San Francisco, I was happy that after seeing two bands at Slim’s nightclub we all wanted to get to the hotel for an early night. I called upon my touring band honed skill of quickly falling asleep in a well lit, noisy hotel room to fall asleep sometime before midnight.
Wednesday I woke up around 7am, searched my bag in the dark for my running clothes, shoes and iPod, and made my way out onto Lombard Street. I have a general familiarity with San Francisco, and had even caught a quick glimpse of a road map to indicate that there was surely park grounds to be found if I ran down Lombard street. I left the hotel at a brisk pace and within a few blocks encountered a red light. Instead of waiting patiently for the morning commuters to pass, I made a right turn and realized that water (the San Francisco Bay) lie about 10 blocks ahead. However, after only a few blocks I saw a diagonal street that would take me towards the water and in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge.
By the time I hit the intersection of Bay Street (the diagonal I had taken) and Marina (the last major street before the water) I’d eclipsed one mile. My legs were anything but fresh, but the surroundings were invigorating. I ran down the “land” side of Marina street. I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross busy Marina Street (which fed certain Golden Gate Bridge traffic into the city), though there was a nice running path on the other side. Quickly I found myself at an on ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. Remembering Beemer saying the day before that he possibly wanted to walk across the Bridge during our stay in SF I followed the sidewalk a few steps up the on ramp. The thought of running across the Golden Gate Bridge that morning was fascinating. However, within a few steps the sidewalk came to an end. I turned around and made a right (heading North) by the Exploratorium, hoping it would lead me into, what I remembered from the map, would be Golden Gate Park.
The small road by the Exploratorium paralleled another artery from the Golden Gate Bridge into the city and eventually I found myself back at Lombard Street. I made a right (heading West) which put me much further along my initial path towards the Park. I crossed the busy thoroughfare and quickly found myself at the entrance to the Presidio. I realized that I’d misread the map, but was happy to be in some sort of parkland.
I ran within the confines of the old military base - conjuring up memories: of growing up on bases only a fraction as beautiful, of the Harrison Ford movie “The Presidio” and of the part of Dean Kazantes book “Ultramarathon Man” where he encounters a few military men training for the Western States Endurance 100 miler run.
The weather was magical and the run was great. Eventually I hit the midway point to my 5 mile run, but I instead of opting to turn around and assuredly cover 2.5 more miles, I made my up a very steep hill within the old base. There were a few other runners and a couple of cyclists making their way up the steep incline, too. My legs were surely “feeling it” by the time I made it three-quarters of the way up. At the crest of the road, I stopped at a strategically placed overlook to consult a map of the park to map my route back to the hotel.
I made my turn one road shy of where I was supposed to, but this led me onto a mulch covered path. As I made my way down the trail I imagined myself mountain biking the same trail. It was as wide as a normal sidewalk, not the single track I love while biking, but there were enough exposed roots along the path to picture launching into the air while speeding down the trail. There was a large expanse of grass next to the trail at the bottom where I woman sat watching her dog. Then I made my way up the other side, past a nice community garden and eventually reached Presidio Lane. I headed down that path along a skinnier mulch covered path. The entire path and road were under the cover of giant trees, which made for a very secluded feeling. Though there was traffic along the roads within the Presidio, it still had a very sweet park feel to it.
As I exited the park via the same route I’d entered I heard the voice indicating I’d covered my 5 miles and my workout had ended. I made my way onto Lombard Street and completed one more mile of running by the time I reached Buchanan Street, the cross street closest to the hotel.
All in all the run was good. It was very nice to run in such a beautiful environment. Though my legs were tired, it was nice to be challenged by the hills mid way through the workout.
Wednesday night Mark, Patrick and myself made our way to the show of one of the bands I work with, Strike Anywhere. After the show the club left the bar open and we stayed pretty late to party prior to the Strike boys needing to take off for an overnight drive to Portland. We made our way to the wonderful Mission district of San Francisco for a very late night burrito. By the time we made it to the hotel and went to bed it was after 3am.
The combination of the alcohol and a full stomach made for a pretty lackluster night of sleep. By 9am I was wide awake and had no desire to run. I realized that often times running allows me to aid the cure of a hangover, but having covered 16 miles of running the past two days combined with a lengthy hike Mark and I had completed in Marin the day before told me to take a day off. As I’ve mentioned before, I like to adhere to schedules, so I was a tad disappointed that I wasn’t going to knock out another 5 miles.
We had to go out for another round of show going and partying last night. Though this show was at the same club and we ended it with late night burritos, the events between did anything but conjure up notions of déjà vu. I dind’t drink as much, but the burrito seemed to sit much heavier than the night before, so I awoke at 8am with a horrible stomach ache. I cleared that problem and then donned my shoes and headed out into another amazing San Francisco morning.
Our luck with weather during our three day stay was quite rare for October. Each day the sky was cloudless and of a perfect blue hue. The temperature in the morning was in the mid to high sixties and the air was clear. I intended to only go four miles, as I wanted to retain as much life in my legs for tomorrow’s 20 miler. However, by the time I’d made it back to the intersection of Marina and Bay, I changed my goal to run as close to the Golden Gate bridge as possible.
This time I crossed Marina Street and followed the trail to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge on-ramp. Rightfully so there were a lot of other runners out and shortly after the bridge on-ramp the path turned from pavement to a hard sand sprinkled trail. In addition to runners there were multiple groups of women out doing morning training routines. Like the stay-at-home mothers that seemed to be everywhere along Chestnut Street’s promenade in the Marina neighborhood, these women seemed to have little worries or urgency to be anywhere. They were simply up early enjoying the weather with friends and staying in shape. Oh the life!
As I ran towards the Golden Gate bridge I wished I had a longer run to complete. From reviewing the map during the course of our stay in San Francisco I knew the trail would eventually lead under the bridge and lead from the waters of the San Francisco Bay to those of the Pacific Ocean. One of the reasons I’d wanted to fly home today was to ensure I’d feel comfortable with the terrain of my 20 mile run on Saturday. I couldn’t think of a better environment than the trail I was on this morning. 2.5 miles had been covered and I was still shy of the bridge itself. Though I wanted to eclipse the threshold of the structure, I didn’t want to push my legs any further than 5 miles. I turned around and realized that entire San Francisco skyline lay within my sight.
I took in the beauty of the buildings, Alcatraz Island and the Bay Bridge. The morning was again magnificent. The entire time Mark and I had traversed the city and it’s surroundings, we joked that any place “on vacation” can seem amazing. He said his philosophy was “once you receive a utility bill in a city the magic is over.” As I transitioned from the sand packed path back to concrete and the sidewalk of Marina Street I wished I was returning to a Marina neighborhood apartment to pay a utility bill.
Instead of returning the length of Marina to Bay, I cut over to Chestnut and ran there until I reached the shopping Promenade. I stopped at 4.6 miles to get a 1.5L bottle of water from Walgreens, a medium sized Peet’s Coffee and a peanut butter and jelly bagel from Noah’s. I felt good during the entire run, probably benefiting from the rest on Thursday. I hope that when I awake tomorrow I also feel good, and that I didn’t expunge my first 4.5 miles of fresh legs by running the day before my long run. Only tomorrow will tell.
Running in San Francisco reinvigorated me. Aside from my rain drenched 18 miler a few weeks ago I have yet to need my gardening gloves or rarely even a long sleeved shirt. I’m hoping the good weather holds for the next few weeks and that marathon morning in the Outerbanks is as gorgeous as many of my runs have been thus far.
I’ve run twice since my 10 mile run in Diamond Bar. Shortly after my run on Tuesday, myself, my friend Mark Beemer and a friend and employee of his, Patrick Martin, drove up to San Francisco. We were there to see bands, friends, friends in bands, and even have a few meetings.
We got a very reasonably priced motel room (The Ramada Limited Hotel, which is really nothing more than a 2-star motel) in the Marina district on Lombard Street. I’d initially planned to stay on my friend Vanessa’s couch, and Mark and Patrick wanted to get a room at the Phoenix, but circumstances led us to what ultimately became a great place to run.
Having skipped my file mile run on Monday, I’d planned to get in 5 miles on both Wednesday and Thursday. This would give me enough time to rest my legs Friday before my longest training run yet – 20 miles this weekend!
Tired from jet-lag, the 10 miler that morning, and the 6 hour drive up to San Francisco, I was happy that after seeing two bands at Slim’s nightclub we all wanted to get to the hotel for an early night. I called upon my touring band honed skill of quickly falling asleep in a well lit, noisy hotel room to fall asleep sometime before midnight.
Wednesday I woke up around 7am, searched my bag in the dark for my running clothes, shoes and iPod, and made my way out onto Lombard Street. I have a general familiarity with San Francisco, and had even caught a quick glimpse of a road map to indicate that there was surely park grounds to be found if I ran down Lombard street. I left the hotel at a brisk pace and within a few blocks encountered a red light. Instead of waiting patiently for the morning commuters to pass, I made a right turn and realized that water (the San Francisco Bay) lie about 10 blocks ahead. However, after only a few blocks I saw a diagonal street that would take me towards the water and in the direction of the Golden Gate Bridge.
By the time I hit the intersection of Bay Street (the diagonal I had taken) and Marina (the last major street before the water) I’d eclipsed one mile. My legs were anything but fresh, but the surroundings were invigorating. I ran down the “land” side of Marina street. I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross busy Marina Street (which fed certain Golden Gate Bridge traffic into the city), though there was a nice running path on the other side. Quickly I found myself at an on ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge. Remembering Beemer saying the day before that he possibly wanted to walk across the Bridge during our stay in SF I followed the sidewalk a few steps up the on ramp. The thought of running across the Golden Gate Bridge that morning was fascinating. However, within a few steps the sidewalk came to an end. I turned around and made a right (heading North) by the Exploratorium, hoping it would lead me into, what I remembered from the map, would be Golden Gate Park.
The small road by the Exploratorium paralleled another artery from the Golden Gate Bridge into the city and eventually I found myself back at Lombard Street. I made a right (heading West) which put me much further along my initial path towards the Park. I crossed the busy thoroughfare and quickly found myself at the entrance to the Presidio. I realized that I’d misread the map, but was happy to be in some sort of parkland.
I ran within the confines of the old military base - conjuring up memories: of growing up on bases only a fraction as beautiful, of the Harrison Ford movie “The Presidio” and of the part of Dean Kazantes book “Ultramarathon Man” where he encounters a few military men training for the Western States Endurance 100 miler run.
The weather was magical and the run was great. Eventually I hit the midway point to my 5 mile run, but I instead of opting to turn around and assuredly cover 2.5 more miles, I made my up a very steep hill within the old base. There were a few other runners and a couple of cyclists making their way up the steep incline, too. My legs were surely “feeling it” by the time I made it three-quarters of the way up. At the crest of the road, I stopped at a strategically placed overlook to consult a map of the park to map my route back to the hotel.
I made my turn one road shy of where I was supposed to, but this led me onto a mulch covered path. As I made my way down the trail I imagined myself mountain biking the same trail. It was as wide as a normal sidewalk, not the single track I love while biking, but there were enough exposed roots along the path to picture launching into the air while speeding down the trail. There was a large expanse of grass next to the trail at the bottom where I woman sat watching her dog. Then I made my way up the other side, past a nice community garden and eventually reached Presidio Lane. I headed down that path along a skinnier mulch covered path. The entire path and road were under the cover of giant trees, which made for a very secluded feeling. Though there was traffic along the roads within the Presidio, it still had a very sweet park feel to it.
As I exited the park via the same route I’d entered I heard the voice indicating I’d covered my 5 miles and my workout had ended. I made my way onto Lombard Street and completed one more mile of running by the time I reached Buchanan Street, the cross street closest to the hotel.
All in all the run was good. It was very nice to run in such a beautiful environment. Though my legs were tired, it was nice to be challenged by the hills mid way through the workout.
Wednesday night Mark, Patrick and myself made our way to the show of one of the bands I work with, Strike Anywhere. After the show the club left the bar open and we stayed pretty late to party prior to the Strike boys needing to take off for an overnight drive to Portland. We made our way to the wonderful Mission district of San Francisco for a very late night burrito. By the time we made it to the hotel and went to bed it was after 3am.
The combination of the alcohol and a full stomach made for a pretty lackluster night of sleep. By 9am I was wide awake and had no desire to run. I realized that often times running allows me to aid the cure of a hangover, but having covered 16 miles of running the past two days combined with a lengthy hike Mark and I had completed in Marin the day before told me to take a day off. As I’ve mentioned before, I like to adhere to schedules, so I was a tad disappointed that I wasn’t going to knock out another 5 miles.
We had to go out for another round of show going and partying last night. Though this show was at the same club and we ended it with late night burritos, the events between did anything but conjure up notions of déjà vu. I dind’t drink as much, but the burrito seemed to sit much heavier than the night before, so I awoke at 8am with a horrible stomach ache. I cleared that problem and then donned my shoes and headed out into another amazing San Francisco morning.
Our luck with weather during our three day stay was quite rare for October. Each day the sky was cloudless and of a perfect blue hue. The temperature in the morning was in the mid to high sixties and the air was clear. I intended to only go four miles, as I wanted to retain as much life in my legs for tomorrow’s 20 miler. However, by the time I’d made it back to the intersection of Marina and Bay, I changed my goal to run as close to the Golden Gate bridge as possible.
This time I crossed Marina Street and followed the trail to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge on-ramp. Rightfully so there were a lot of other runners out and shortly after the bridge on-ramp the path turned from pavement to a hard sand sprinkled trail. In addition to runners there were multiple groups of women out doing morning training routines. Like the stay-at-home mothers that seemed to be everywhere along Chestnut Street’s promenade in the Marina neighborhood, these women seemed to have little worries or urgency to be anywhere. They were simply up early enjoying the weather with friends and staying in shape. Oh the life!
As I ran towards the Golden Gate bridge I wished I had a longer run to complete. From reviewing the map during the course of our stay in San Francisco I knew the trail would eventually lead under the bridge and lead from the waters of the San Francisco Bay to those of the Pacific Ocean. One of the reasons I’d wanted to fly home today was to ensure I’d feel comfortable with the terrain of my 20 mile run on Saturday. I couldn’t think of a better environment than the trail I was on this morning. 2.5 miles had been covered and I was still shy of the bridge itself. Though I wanted to eclipse the threshold of the structure, I didn’t want to push my legs any further than 5 miles. I turned around and realized that entire San Francisco skyline lay within my sight.
I took in the beauty of the buildings, Alcatraz Island and the Bay Bridge. The morning was again magnificent. The entire time Mark and I had traversed the city and it’s surroundings, we joked that any place “on vacation” can seem amazing. He said his philosophy was “once you receive a utility bill in a city the magic is over.” As I transitioned from the sand packed path back to concrete and the sidewalk of Marina Street I wished I was returning to a Marina neighborhood apartment to pay a utility bill.
Instead of returning the length of Marina to Bay, I cut over to Chestnut and ran there until I reached the shopping Promenade. I stopped at 4.6 miles to get a 1.5L bottle of water from Walgreens, a medium sized Peet’s Coffee and a peanut butter and jelly bagel from Noah’s. I felt good during the entire run, probably benefiting from the rest on Thursday. I hope that when I awake tomorrow I also feel good, and that I didn’t expunge my first 4.5 miles of fresh legs by running the day before my long run. Only tomorrow will tell.
Running in San Francisco reinvigorated me. Aside from my rain drenched 18 miler a few weeks ago I have yet to need my gardening gloves or rarely even a long sleeved shirt. I’m hoping the good weather holds for the next few weeks and that marathon morning in the Outerbanks is as gorgeous as many of my runs have been thus far.
posted by Mike Mowery at 8:16 AM
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