Run DMZ

If calmness and serenity are important, I don't recommend visiting Muir Woods National Monument on a weekend. Parking is competitive, despite mandatory paid reservations. The entrance can be a clusterf*ck because of construction and because everyone wants photos in front of the iconic sign. Walkways are often congested because, of course, people need to stop to take more photos -- of them, not the redwoods. That said, if you like moody shots, this is an excellent venue. This is an excellent place if you live or visit the Bay Area. It just took me weeks to realize it. We arrived on a Saturday morning in mid-October, falsely believing that an annular solar eclipse might reduce car and crowd counts. But this is San Francisco: No one could see the sun -- let alone it being partially blocked by the moon -- through a thicket of fog. And fall is an excellent time to commune with California redwoods, so say the swarms that joined us. One reason Muir Woods is so popular, aside from the ob...

In the end, I ended up running about half of the 12k Bay 2 Breakers course. Of the roughly 4 miles we ran, I’d trained for to do just .25 of them. My race entry predated my farewell to  running . And despite landing in a fast corral, I was told there are plenty who choose it to avoid all the naked people and start walking after a very short spurt. In my mind, we’d show up a little before the race start, run at a good clip for a quarter mile and then walk it off.    That didn’t happen.   A long wait while hurling tortillas Parking can be hard to come by in downtown San Francisco. And public transportation can be cumbersome if traveling from another part of the Bay Area, though a ferry will get you within easy reach of starting corrals.  We opted to take a shuttle from a Mill Valley Park ‘n Ride to the start. (“We” being me, my daughter and son-in-law, who are B2B regulars.) Similar shuttles operated from Emeryville in East Bay and Millbrae to the south. This...

Yesterday I signed up to do next year’s   Bay to Breakers , the craziest 12k you’ll find in what remains my favorite city: San Francisco. I wanted to take advantage of the 48-hour low pricing (under $40); generous refund policy; and expiring airline credits. I’ve wanted to return to this event for more than eight years … and now I will if all goes as planned.   I’ll be running or, more likely, walking with my daughter and son-in-law, both B2B regulars. We’re already coming up with costume concepts and deciding which breweries to hit in our version of carbo loading. I’ve also been assured that seeking a position within Corral A doesn’t mean we need to maintain a 6-minute-per-mile pace, or that we get passed and cussed at the entire time.    Bay to Breakers is weird and wild, but the year we did it was weirder and less wild than others due to a bombing at the Boston Marathon just weeks before. That led to lower attendance, probably as much due to a stronger police pres...

We in California got a bit of a jump on the rest of country with sheltering in place voluntarily and then, when that failed, by state mandate. I was in San Francisco just days before the first “loose lockdown" started, and by “loose” I mean everyone went home to work and then took advantage en masse of a loophole: outdoor exercise. In a city as compact as San Francisco, staying far apart and going it alone while running, walking and rollerblading proved too difficult. That’s why I’m glad that San Diego and all of Southern California is spread out. We might live in a big city, but everyone inhabits suburban hamlets that offer more breathing room. Even all those condo dwellers downtown are surrounded by green space and large bayside boardwalks. Like San Franciscans, self-sequestered people here didn’t do as told and stay away from each other at our beaches, parks, boardwalks, bike paths and trails. So, our local government closed everything up – putting up yellow crime tap...

There are typically four things that will throw off plans for an outdoor adventure: weather, family, work/travel or illness. I managed to encounter all of these soon after my last post. Weather: The morning we were scheduled to finish the five-peak challenge in Mission Trails Regional Park, it rained. A lot, by SoCal standards. These trails don't have switchbacks, which makes the descents more difficult than the climbs. I initially didn’t worry about a rain date, but since then. . .  Family: I’ve done some last-minute babysitting for my grandson that I honestly didn’t mind doing because I thought I could soon be back on the trails and then. . .  Work/Travel: I had to fly up to San Francisco, where I definitely got in a good glute workout climbing the 16 th Street Mosaic Steps (see photo). But this was a work trip and it meant long hours on less sleep and no time to even get in some early morning runs (my ferry left Larkspur, a 20-minute drive, at 6:35 a.m.)....

Bay 2 Breakers 2013 from Run DMZ on Vimeo . Of all the races I did during my five-year blogging hiatus, none left as big of an impression as Bay to Breakers . This storied run from the bay to ocean through San Francisco is distinct, and not just because of the high nudity quotient or people passing the time throwing tortillas at the start . It’s more than 100 years old (ancient by West Coast standards) and in the Guinness Book of World Records for holding 110,000 participants in 1986. It remains one of the largest fields in the world, ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 on average. Bay to Breakers, to me, embodies San Francisco. There are crazy-ass costumes and plenty of people wearing nothing but their birthday suits. There are spectators drunk at 8 a.m. on a Sunday, hosting raves on the toughest part of the course, and cheering on the teams of salmon “swimming” against the endless current of runners and walkers going the other way. On a good year, there are upwards of 100...

In the months leading up to both our daughters’ weddings, I watched the television show  Four Weddings . For the unfamiliar, four brides leverage their weddings to win a honeymoon. Most often they are judged by the other three contestants on the venue, decor, bride’s dress, vows, length of service, entertainment, quality of food and quantity of booze.  Rarely does the bride’s parents’ speech play a major factor, but that’s just because they never heard the speeches  I  gave. I got a lot of compliments on both, though perhaps that was just the effects of a five-hour open bar talking. Still, I thought it might be a nice way to introduce you to the newest members of our family. Alex & Alex, August 26, 2017 Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla Shores Saturday Afternoon in La Jolla Shores (Wedding Day) from Run DMZ on Vimeo . I’ve been ordered by Her Highness and a high-ranking member of her court to keep it short. So, without further ado: ...

Those familiar with my personal history might remember that shortly before my wedding, I got “lukewarm feet.” I loved my fiancé and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. But I didn’t love where he lived in rural North Carolina. Nor was I keen on his friends, who would have to become my friends since I was leaving behind everything and everyone. There we were sitting across from each other at a Pizza Hut when he won me back with one name: San Francisco. He explained that this place was temporary and that we had a lot of better options a year from now, like San Francisco. I’d never been to San Francisco or any point west of Virginia, but I knew it was a big, big city filled with lots of culture and smart people. I didn’t know it felt like winter even in July. Well, we never moved to San Francisco. Still, I thought back to that conversation almost 27 years ago as I helped my older daughter and her boyfriend move into an apartment near Golden Gate Park. It’s...

Beach near Bodega Bay in northern California, taken by my daughter, Elise.

Taken at San Fransico's Lincoln Park by my daughter, Elise.

Read this blog long enough (or look at the travelogs in the sidebar) and you’ll discover one of my favorite cities to visit is San Francisco. In all my trips, one of the few things I’d never done was visit Coit Tower. It’s an iconic landmark that, it turns out, isn’t as easy to find on foot as you might think. We were actually heading to another tourist attraction – the crookedest street on Lombard – when a local recommended we instead climb up to Coit Tower for a view. The unmarked stairs, he said, were just around the corner. True enough. The climb would include a lot more sets of steep stairs often bisected by homes and roads, but it was totally worth it just to experience an urban hike like none other. This is not for the weak of knees or tender of foot. We had one of each in our trio, but once you get to a certain point, ‘tis better to just keep moving upward and onward. At least I believe that's what my husband and sister were thinking since no one had a spare breath to talk....

If you haven't heard, the Nike Women's Marathon last weekend showed that it's an elitist race by awarding the top prizes to women in the elite field when someone who started with the masses actually bested them all and ran the fastest time. She left San Francisco emptyhanded. This apparently is the second time in a week that race officials have made that call. Last weekend in Chicago the Kenyan who finished fourth was shut out of prize money because he too started with the regular athletes and not a special pack. You can read about it here. One question I have is: Why do elite athletes even need a head start? I mean, aren't they supposed to be fast enough to split away from the others right out of the gate anyway? And what an audacious excuse was given: The elite women might have put in more effort if they knew someone else was on their heels, in this case a 24-year-old schoolteacher who never considered herself elite. That's the other incredulous claim: that the w...

Click on the image for a more detailed view.

I spent the latter part of the week in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities and a place I've written about previously on this blog. This time around, I thought I'd try my hand at a different kind of pictorial to show some highlights of the past two days. It's my first experience with digital video software, but you can trust it won't be my last.