Sunday, September 29, 2013

Watch Out for Bees

Mileage
Today: 7
Present: 541
Count: 79

When the toughest decision you have to make all day is which of the world class trail runs that are fewer than 30 minutes away to choose from, its hard to complain about much. Such is life in San Francisco.

Tyler and I left early to get back early. Still working his way slowly into running, I wanted to make sure our run was fun and challenging, but not a death march. I don't know the trails here nearly as well as I do the headlands, but there is a fairly proscribed path that I've gotten to know through races and a few more casual runs. It has some elevation gain to be sure, but is a fun and scenic and run.

A perfect morning for running, crisp but cold, warm enough to stay loose all the way. We kept a good pace up the first climb and into the flats before starting the long set of switchbacks up to Skyline. A gradual climb that is totally runnable, we pushed up to the flatter section, which I actually find harder because the slope is harder to see. You think its almost flat so you pick up the pace, only to find that not only did you just climb 1,000ft, but its also still most certainly up. Turning around and zooming down, you realize why that last mile was as hard as it was.

We bumped into a high school cross country team practicing, and were happy to veer off away from them and have the trails to ourselves. Just like the ups, the downs at Huddart are just that perfect pitch to coast down at pace, still running, not just falling southward.

Strangely, not once but twice, I was dive bombed by bees along the trail. I don't think I have been stung by a bee in 20 years and damn does it hurt! The first time I saw it out of the corner of my eye and it nailed be right behind the ear. Early in the run, my head hurt the entire time. Then later out of nowhere, one got me behind the right shoulder through my shirt. That one swelled up and bothered me all week. I've heard about bees on the trails, especially in the fall, but have never had an issue with them. I guess you spend enough time out there and its bound to happen.

A little bit lost at the end, we popped out into the parking lot and didn't realize it was ours until we saw Tyler's car. Oh, we're done. And while it's nice to be surprised by being done before you think, I couldn't help but feel like there was a little running yet left to be done. Next time.

http://app.strava.com/activities/85998174

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