There’s a lot to be said for kissing 2016 goodbye and moving on, an extraordinarily divisive election with a troubling result being at the top of the list. But as year end approached I was cheered on by an email from Strava that chronicled the collective athletic achievement of the world’s users of its […]
December 4: North Face Half Marathon
Beautiful morning in the Headlands for the North Face Endurance challenge set of races (10K to 50 miler). Overheard a wonderful quote while I was walking to the start. A woman in her 30’s or early 40’s was talking to a friend: “I only started trail running a few years ago, and it’s like drinking […]
October 25 Running, like everything else. It is all relative.
My current running addiction is the 10 mile “commute” run from the Headlands above Sausalito, down to Vista Point, across my Bridge, through the Presidio and Marina Green, all the way to my office. Crazy views of SF Bay, GG Bridge, Alcatraz, Headlands, and the Pacific. After running the last 8 miles at 8:30 pace, […]
September 15 Wassup next?
With the Dipsea, Double Dipsea and Bridger Ridge Run in my 2016 rear view mirror, this is a fair question, right? No obvious answer, which is good!. But here are my current ramblings (aka crazed mumblings) as to what may or may not be my next running adventure: The Trans Atlas Marathon (Morocco): a cousin […]
September 1: Running to work over GG Bridge
In a new wrinkle, a few of the Saturday morning crazies are running into the city from a trailhead just west of HW 101, near the Waldo Grade. After a series of rocky switchbacks made trickier by the darkness of a 6:00am start time, the Morning Star trail climbs 500 feet to join the Alta Trail, […]
August 21 Say Hello to the AT
Just a week after the challenge and excitement of Montana’s Bridger Ridge Run, I find myself in Roanoke, Virginia for a niece’s wedding, and scout out a place to squeeze in a run. Bonus! I should have remembered this from my college days in central Virginia, but the Appalachian Trail, or AT, runs along the […]
August 13 The Journey
College commencement speakers often point out that “the end of a journey is the beginning of another”. True in that context. True here. So many thoughts and emotions coming down that last downhill stretch, winding through the forest, nearly 7 hours into the 2016 Bridger Ridge Run. Repeated reminders to self, “look down, DO NOT […]
August 10 Three days to go
I feel like a stalker, the Bridgers rising in picture postcard fashion directly across from the B&B where I’m staying. They are the first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I think about at night. What a strange obsession! But I’m not alone. At breakfast I traded pictures and running tales […]
August 8 Sacagawea, up close and personal
No more worshipping from afar. This morning, my United flight gently banked to the right, and there it was — the whole darn Bridger Range. Nose glued to the glass, Trying to name each of the five peaks along the way. The mountains appear less threatening from up here, looked fairly tame actually. You can […]
July 30 — Frankensense
In my ongoing reading about the Bridger Ridge Run (unbridled lust from afar), I found this summary of the race from some badass who finished 5th last year, despite almost completely destroying one ankle: The Bridger mountains form a steep, rocky north-south ridge line just outside of town. The race is 19.7 miles, with 6800ft […]