Category Archives: I love the Bay!

A Monday in Photos

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Yes, I know today is Tuesday, but my Monday was more interesting so I’ll blog about that.

Photos from Monday:

1.

I fell about a half-mile into my run. It’s been awhile since I’ve fallen, so it was a bit of a shock. I was gonna call it quits and head home, but then I realized I wasn’t hurt at all. Just dirty. I ran 10 miles total in 1 hour 37 minutes. That includes time it took to fall, pout, and wash my wounds. And periodically wipe blood from my hands. Overall, good run. :)

2. 

Tony and I had plans with friends in San Francisco, so we took the ferry from Oakland. This was on the way to the ferry. I managed to resist temptation. Then, there was one in Pier 39! I ended up going without, but caved and had a midnight McFlurry. Which was SO good.

3.

4. 

(Hmmm. Wind-blown hair doesn’t look so great on me.) It was so fun to take a boat across the bay. Great idea Tony! We’ve both lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years each and have never taken the ferry. It was great being tourists for the day. Next time we’ll tell people we’re from Arkansas and it’s our first time out of the state. It’ll give us an excuse to be awkward and weird :)

5.

6.

We went to a great seafood restaurant in Fisherman’s Wharf. 2 reasons I’m a bad blogger: I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, and I didn’t take any other pictures of what I ate. I can tell you that we shared clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and lobster gnocci with pesto. Both were deeee-licious :)

 

It’s almost the end of the month and June will be action packed. It’s the last month to cram in training for TRT50 so I have a couple 50k’s coming up. I’m hoping to hit 40-50 miles each week for the month of June. So lots of running and eating posts coming up! I just hope I can stay on my feet :)

Peer Pressure

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I am not proud to say that I caved in to peer pressure yesterday. Actually, no one was pressuring me at all, but everyone else was doing it so I felt I had to do it to be cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bought a running skirt. (Please don’t mind my horrible feet in the photos. I thought it better to cut out my morning face than cut out the feet.)

I’ve been seeing girls wearing them at races for years, and I never thought I could pull it off. But they look so cute so I thought I’d give one a try. I mean, I know I look like a sweaty mess when I’m running, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make an attempt at looking decent, right? It’s like putting lipstick on a pig or something. It’s the effort that counts.

Plus, my soccer shorts from high school were starting to wear out. New running gear was needed.

I’m considering wearing the skirt tomorrow. I’ll be running this:

cinderella trail runand it’s gonna be a hot one. I’m doing the 50K as a training run for my 50 miler in July. This means that I plan on running it and not racing it, so I’ll be taking it pretty easy. That being said, it’s probably not a good idea to be in 80 degree weather doing moderately intense exercise for more than 8 hours.

Weather.com usually underestimates the temperature in my experience. So I’m hoping to aim for a 6-7 hour finish, which means that I’ll have to put in more than the usual effort. Lots of sunscreen, lots of fluids, lots of skin showing, and hopefully no poison ivy on the course.

Wish me luck!

 

Gorgeous Run

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Today I had a great mountain run. The distance: 9.25 miles. The time: 2 1/2 hours. Total elevation gain: at least 3000 ft. (<— um, someone help me set my Garmin to track elevation!)

I didn’t have a set plan as to how long I’d be out there, so I made sure to go prepared:

Last week I totaled out at 30 miles exactly. This week I’m hoping to do anything over 30. Since I took a day off on Monday, I knew today’s run should be at least 6 miles. I also knew that since I’d be tackling the Mountain, I’d be going pretty darn slow for the first half of my run. So I took enough water to last me about 4 hours give or take (you know, in case I decided to make it a loooong run. Or got lost and stranded). I also wanted to test out hydration methods for my upcoming TRT50. I’m liking the idea of a hydration pack (the cute blue backpack above) and one water bottle.

I also LOVE the new visor. I’m hoping that the people I pass on the mountain think I’m sponsored by Clif.

They probably think I’m just another weird dorky trail runner but I prefer to believe otherwise.

I hiked to the peak which took about 1 hour for 3 miles. The peak is at 2,500 ft and has a beautiful view of the East Bay.

This photo wasn’t from the top yet. There were hawks circling below which I obviously didn’t catch on the picture, but it was great. Made me feel like I was in the clouds.

View from the top!

(I obviously have to work on my photo editing skills but oh well.)

Once I reached the top I meandered out and back among the trails until it was time to descend. After a rocky hike down from the peak, it’s about 2.5 miles and 2000 ft all downhill to the parking lot. It’s SO FUN, and I feel like a little kid when I’m coasting down hill. I can’t completely let myself go though, because I’m prone to “eating it”, and I’d hate to be like the infamous Jill and tumble 2.5 miles down the hill.

All and all a great run.