Coming Off The Ledge

If ever there was a month I wish not to repeat, it’s this one. But if I could replicate a morning, today would top the list. With the station wagon loaded with lots of homemade and store-bought goodies, posters, stickers, helium balloon machine and a cooler full of ice, I picked up my former training partner at 5:15 a.m., stopped at Starbucks and headed down to Hospitality Point in Mission Bay. A few years ago our track club marathon training program started The Welcome Committee to greet runners, especially the slowest ones, returning from touring 18 to 20 miles of San Diego on foot. I’ve always been its chair. I decided to run part of the course with everyone since tomorrow morning I’m leaving early for the Festival of Books at UCLA . We first ran along a flood channel, and before too long we were heading into Ocean Beach, a part of San Diego everyone loves. We passed pooches having a ball at Dog Beach, a trio of dudes in dreadlocks (OB is a haven for hippies) and as we climbed Sunse