Into the fog

I got one good run in over the weekend. Christine's folks were in town, and I stuck around and made breakfast on Saturday morning. While everyone else went to the farmers market later that morning, I waited a respectful length of time for the blueberry pancakes to digest, then started out, looking for 90 minutes on the road.

Since I was running without Silas, I decided to get part of those 90 minutes off the road, and I headed up toward the Strawberry Canyon trail. This is a hilly route on a dirt fire road above the Cal campus; I have hiked on it before, but never run. I thought I might just take the first leg of the trail, where one has the choice of heading up a very steep quarter-mile hill or turning out onto the residential streets. I had been planning to go with the latter, but changed my mind at the last minute and chased another runner up the hill. He was more up to the challenge than I (did I mention it was very steep) and I had to walk the last bit of hill, but I continued on the trail for another 10 minutes or so. I asked a couple of hikers for directions; they told me I could continue on and come out above the national lab, then I could take the road back into town. I considered this, but the at the thought of pounding back downhill on solid asphalt I decided I should double back and get as much time on the dirt as possible. I mostly retraced my steps coming home, taking the long route around the University and grabbing a few extra blocks at the end. I can't map this route, and I had a slight timing malfunction, but I'll call it 11.5 in 1:33.

I'm almost done with a busy day at work, but it's looking too late to get in a run tonight. C and S left for Tampa today, and I'll be joining them on Friday. I'll try to get in runs each of the next four mornings, but I think I'll leave my shoes at home for the trip.