I'm not finished collecting donations but, thanks to your generosity, I have surpassed by minimum commitment of $4900 - the requirement to participate in the Wildflower triathlon. Thanks!
"Where else but in San Francisco would characters such as Sister Boom-Boom, a transvestite who dresses in a miniskirted nun's habit, and a punk rocker named Jello Biafra run for seats on the Board of Supervisors? And where else would 75,000 runners dress like centipedes, gorilla, and six packs of beer to participate in the "moving masquerade ball" otherwise known as the Bay to Breakers Race?"
-JoAnne Davidson, journalist
My oldest daughter emailed me about a 101 year old man training to run the London Marathon on April 13th. I don't know what else to say, but... Amazing! Apparently, if he finishes he will be the oldest person to have completed a marathon. Go man go!
I was able to squeeze in a 12 mile bike on monday before I headed for San Francisco and the weather in Cleveland took a turn for the worst. On tuesday I got to the hotel a little after noon changed into my running duds and headed out towards fisherman's wharf. I'm guessing that the hotel where I stayed is about 3-4 miles from the wharf. The weather in San Francisco was just about ideal all week. A little beyond fisherman's wharf is a public pier that curves around opposite Alcatraz. From the pier is a beautiful view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. I slowed down a bit and took it all in. The other side of the pier was a nice sheltered cove. If I had my wet suit I could have gotten in an nice open water swim or two. I think I need to concentrate on the running, however. That final 13 miles is looming larger and larger in my imagination these days. In a little over an hour I was back at my hotel.
The next two days I got up around 5:30AM and headed out for a 30-45 minute "hill" run. I actually found someone else who was crazy enough to keep me company on these runs. Wouldn't you know it, he's a former Marine. Kinda figures. :-) He and I ran up and down Nob Hill. Nob Hill is a gradual climb for about 4-6 blocks but just when you think you're almost there you hit the last 1 block uphill which is an absolute killer. It's a significantly steeper grade than the previous climb. It provides great practice for just "gutting" it out to get to the top. My legs think they are running but my body is moving at an agonizing crawl. Heading down hill is not much better since your legs take a real pounding on those steep grades.
On friday morning I had to be at the conference by about 7AM so I wasn't planning to run. However, I found myself wide awake at 3:30AM (6:30AM EST). So, I headed out for the hour round trip to fisherman's wharf one more time. On the way I saw a baker taking a 4 foot crocodile out of the oven. It was a loaf of sourdough shaped like a croc. :-) Aahh! The smell of freshly baked bread is well worth waking up for. It was a nice finish to my San Francisco runs.
I left Frisco that evening on the red-eye, wondering when I would make it home. All of Ohio was by then in the middle of a record setting late season blizzard. I expected to get stuck in Charlotte, which was my intermediate stop, on saturday morning. But I did make it at least close to home that day. However, I didn't actually get home until the following day, sunday. After all that, I'm really glad to be home!
I had a pair of prescription swim goggles that I had ordered last week waiting for me when I got home. What a treat. Now I may actually be able to spot the bouys on my open water swims.
I'm off to florida tomorrow where I hope to continue to build up my running mileage.
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