The Weekend Recap

In the background is Fort Chronkite and Rodeo Beach, one of my long and scenic runs.

Wow!  What a weekend!

Some of us have a favorite route that we like to do whenever we can.  Last Saturday happened to be one of those days.

With the Oakland Marathon now about four weeks away, the long training runs are winding down.  As mentioned in the previous post, I had the weekend scheduled off from work and needed to take advantage of that and the nice weather.

Saturday morning, I relented from doing the long run only in the city and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into the Marin Headlands.  The Headlands is about 45-50 minutes from my apartment by easy running.  You can get there quicker by car, bus, cycling, running or walking.  

Don’t get me wrong…..Golden Gate Park and Crissy Field are great places to run but there’s something about the Headlands.  No signal lights, fresh air and people who like the outdoors like myself that don’t bother you.

The reason I haven’t been there more often during my long runs this year is the Golden Gate Bridge itself.  Besides the fact that the sidewalks are concrete and the runners feel it, there’s only the eastern side that is open to all of us right now since they’re doing construction work on the west side.  The last time prior to this weekend, I nearly got nailed by a passing cyclist that didn’t care who was on the bridge that day.

  

The Headlands has views like the photo above.  Taken from Hawk Hill which I do some of my long runs to and back to San Francisco, it’s an amazing sight.  I showed this to my friend – Coach Rio during his visit to San Francisco in November 2009 and he was excited about it.  To tell you the truth, it feels like God’s Country when you see some of the sights.

Anyway, on Saturday, I did my 20 miler going from my apartment to about Fort Chronkite and back.  I added part of Golden Gate Park and the Presidio to the mix.  Yes, I feel very fortunate to do a run that is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  The weather on Saturday was nice, probably 12-13C or 53-55 degrees.

After the long run, stretching and breakfast, the afternoon was spent taking some photos in parts of the city.  Originally, Sunday was a day that I was going to race in a 10K but I woke up a bit sore from the long run.

After doing a short recovery run and a good breakfast, it was back to the Marin Headlands for a second day in succession.  Instead of running, it was the #76 MUNI bus, a nice and easy walk and taking some photos that you see on this post.  I added some of the photos to my facebook album (SF2012) if you want to take a look.

With one more 20 miler prior to the marathon.  this Friday is circled on the calendar for one more run in the Marin Headlands.  Rain or shine, my plans are to be there.