Bear Creek Trail

7.5 miles in 1:04

Since Silas is out of town, I decided to get in another trail run this
week. I barely made it to the Transports trail run last night;
actually, I didn't make it, but several others were late, including
the run leader, so I was able to get a late start with some company.
This week's run was on the Bear Creek trail at the Briones reservoir.
It's over the hills (or through the hills, since I took the Caldecott
Tunnel to get there) in Orinda, where our water comes from. Being stuck
in traffic was made more bearable by hearing "Hell Bent for Leather"
played on Fresh Air; thanks, Ian, for arranging that.

The course was singletrack out and back, mostly hugging the reservoir
but with wild fluctuations in elevation. It basically started with a
short downhill, a long uphill (where I took a spill - rolling to break
my fall and causing some concern for one of the early-birds who was on
her way back to the start), a long downhil, and a flat stretch past a
herd of goats to the turnaround. I spent most of the run with a new
guy who recently moved from back east; we chatted a bit when the hills
weren't too bad, but I dropped him on the way back as he had some GI
issues.

The sun was setting on the way back, making for a beautiful run as the
brown scrub on the sides of the trail took on new colors that I hadn't
seen before. This more than made up for the long hill that I was
struggling up, and I picked up the pace quite a bit for the last long
downhill. I met with a few of the runners in the parking lot and then
we headed down to Oakland for a post-run dinner.