The closest park to home is Shoreline park in Mountain View. I run there most of the time via the Stevens Creek trail that is 1 mile away from home. I usually reach the center of the park on my long runs (over 10 miles round trip).
Right now, I find the park particularly beautiful with its trees in bloom and the multicolored marshland grass. Alicia and I went there for a walk today and I took some pictures.
I thought I would share:
Continuing on our series of local parks, today we hiked in Castle Rock in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a bit less than 1 hour away from home.
The weather was awesome and the sun scorching. So much so that at one point, we disturbed a rattlesnake that was taking the sun in the middle of the trail. Happily, both parties agreed that retreat was the best course of action and after waiting a while, we were able to resume our hike.
Today we wanted to hike the Ewoldsen trail in Big Sur but a series of events did not see it that way.
A late start, a wrong turn, a stubborn driver (that would be me!), and to prove that sometimes, it is not worth fretting over the little things: a closed trail!
Yeah, the Ewoldsen trail is closed because of last year’s fires. Even if everything had gone as planned, we would not have been able to do the hike we planned.
We still had a great time though and got to enjoy the famous Julia Pfeiffer’s fall on a gorgeous day.
Today, I ran my first race of the year. After the Sacramento marathon in December, I took it easy and did not run much in December. Then the demands of the new job and the cold weather have kept me (read: I got lazy!) from training as much as I would have liked early this year. To remedy to that, I signed up for the Santa Cruz 1/2 Marathon race this morning because knowing I have a race coming always keeps me motivated in going out running.
Anyhow, My goal was to have a good race. I had initially set a 1:40 finish time goal but then, based on my training, I could not see that happen…
I woke up early and drove to Santa Cruz. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and moderate temperature in the high 50s. Getting to the starting line seemed like it would be hard when I got stuck in traffic 1/2 mile away but then, I got good parking karma and found a spot waiting for me with only a short direct walk to the start.
While waiting for the race to start, I got into a discussion with a man that looked to be in his 50s and in good shape. Along the way, Ricardo told me he has been running over 30 marathons and many more other races since he started running 15 years ago. Today was his first race after he injured an ankle some weeks back so his goal was to finish in less than 2 hours, pretty far from his all time best of 1:45. He won several gold medals at the senior olympics last year and he is running again this year. And the most amazing thing I discovered was that this gentleman is 71 (yes, seventy-one) years young! If you do the math, that means he started racing at 56. Kudos to Monsieur Ricardo Guidolin. What an inspiration.
The race went well, I paid attention to my pace at the beginning as usual to not let myself be carried away by the adrenaline rush of the other runners. I felt a bit tight for the first 5 miles and though it might become hard by the end. But then, I and my body relaxed and things got smoother, I started accelerating. The views along the Ocean cliffs were beautiful and kept my mind busy as I was pushing harder. I kept on passing runner after runner giving me an even bigger moral boost. By the time we were back on West Cliff Drive, I was so pumped that I felt like I was flying (lack of glycogen does that you… some also call it the runner’s high). To make a long story short, I finished in 1:43:04. Really happy with my race and my results. I will be back next year to run that awesome race again.
Next in line is the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon in July. It was the first 1/2 marathon I ran when I finished it in 2007. It will be a good way to see how much I have improved since then ;).
And by the way, Ricardo finished in a bit more than 2 hours taking first in his age class by 25 minutes! I just wish I can still run when I am his age.
Alicia and I went for a day trip to Point Reyes today. Point Reyes is located North of San Francisco in Marin County. Marin County is very beautiful and home to the Point Reyes National Seashore, a great park with never ending empty beaches.
We arrived a bit late so we could not go for a long hike. We still went for a 3 mile roundtrip to the beach. Pretty nice.
Before that, there was a local mushroom presentation at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. I would have loved to go on the Ranger guided mushroom hunt yesterday but sadly, we could not make it then. Another time :). The presentation was on the small size. They had collected some nice specimens though. I thought we had taken some pictures but I don’t have them… maybe Alicia does.
After the hike, we went on a hunt for local food around Point Reyes Station. I had read about two places I wanted to try and Alicia was more than happy to indulge :).
The first one is the Cowgirl Creamery. They make local European style cheeses. The shop in Point Reyes Station reminded me of the little creameries my Mom used to go when I was a kid in France. Their cheeses are very tasty. Our favorite is definitely the Red Hawk. This is a tasty washed-rind rendition of one of my all time favorite: Epoisses.
The second place is the Marin Sun Farms butcher shop. It is not a very nice looking shop. I mean, butcher shops in France are way nicer than that with good lighting and welcoming presentation. The shop is nothing like that. Still, the meat was just looking gorgeous. We bought a nice steak that we just ate later on. Yummy!
It is pretty rare to find a creamery or a butcher shop in the Bay Area, or any artisan shops for that matter. You best bet to find tasty cheeses and meat are the big specialty stores. It was very refreshing to go to those stores. Of course, I would not go everyday because those good things are not inexpensive. They are completely worth the price. But then, it is so much better when they are enjoyed for a special occasion.
Anyway, today was a great day. A hike, yummy food, and most import of all, great company!
Big Basin is a great little park in the Santa Cruz Mountain close to home. Alicia and I went for a hike there on Saturday. Great company, deep conversation, nice weather, pretty waterfalls, tall trees and a gorgeous view of the Ocean once you have reached the top.
We did a 6 hour hike and ended up walking in the dark for the last mile or so. When we reached the parking lot, my car was the last one left ;).
In order to celebrate my first 2 weeks at work, the company decided to organize a trip to a basket ball game (*).
So, yesterday night, we all met in a pub in San Francisco for a pre-game warmup and then took the Bart to the Oakland arena where the Golden State Warriors were playing against the Houston Rockets. I will not comment on the game since I am not a basket ball expert but the Warriors did not do well.
It was still a great evening and a nice opportunity to get to know better my new coworkers and their families. I like the spirit of the CDD team and I think we will do good stuff together :).
(*) Just kidding. It was a planned company event that happened to coincide with my 2 week anniversary ;).
Arrrh… me lickey Halloween. ‘reat time to load to the gunwales and talk to the lasses…
Almost thou’th me be at Fiddlers Greens!