Life is short. That’s the truth. When I was presented with an opportunity to go to San Francisco for a weekend, I honestly debated with myself about going. I mean, going away for the weekend was seriously a spur of the moment decision – I’m talking within hours – and considering I would be a passenger in a car with a coworker/friend for a good 12 hours round-trip, I may have ended up regretting my decision quickly. When it was all said and done, I just remembered life is short and sometimes I just have to take chances when given them. And so I did.
By the time we left LA on Friday the 13th, it was close to 7 p.m.. Since neither one of us had eaten dinner, we decided to stop off at Chipotle for some road food: for me, a teeny-tiny veggie bowl and for my friend, a 16-pound mega burrito!! My gawd, this thing had a mind and attitude all on it’s own. Only about half of it was eaten, and then the other half became the backseat driver.
“You should’ve seen me when I was full-sized.“
Once I got settled in, I was able to enjoy this amazing little view of the Bay Bridge…and of parked cars…and MUNI buses.
Since I used to live in San Francisco, I still have a few friends here. One of them is my dear friend Tracy who I got to meet up with on Saturday. Of course, she had to pick the perfect time to meet up, when the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were taking place. Perfect timing T. 🙂
However, I was able to watch a bit of it before she arrived and it made me think about when I got to watch the Men’s Olympic Marathon Trials in 2007. I was there to “run” the New York City Marathon the day after it, but as luck would have it, I fell and injured myself 3 weeks before the race and had to cancel my entry that year, but I did get to see the men duke it out to see who would be representing the U.S..
“Surprise! You don’t really want to watch the marathon trials do you?“
Honestly, missing the race wasn’t really an issue since I don’t know when I’ll be back in San Francisco again. I wanted to really enjoy my time there and see people I haven’t seen in, well, since last May. Of course, after our meet-up, I was so exhausted to do much of anything else and ended up watching football. Probably the only time I watch football is during the playoffs.
Go Pats!
Sunday was my time to run! Friday night before leaving LA I had very little time to pack, but the first things I did pack was my running gear. How could I be in San Francisco and not take advantage of running in it?! Of course, I decided not to take my Garmin with me. I just wanted to run and not be mindful about distance or pace or anything else but where I was and how I felt. And I felt great! I won’t lie though, I did kinda miss my Garmin. Oh well.
The morning weather was chilly with a cloudy overcast. Just absolutely perfect weather! My route took me along the Wharf, the Marina District, and finally to the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve run this route many times so I wasn’t in unfamiliar territory, but when I got to the bridge there was one thing I realized I had seen before but, never knew the meaning behind it…until now.
Hopper’s Hands is named after Ken Hopper, an ironworker, who along with other ironworkers, volunteered to rescue people attempting to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. I never knew! I’ve run across the GG Bridge many times so I didn’t really feel I needed to run across it this time around. Hitting Hopper’s Hands was enough for me.
High-5 from Hopper’s Hands
After I placed my hand on Hopper’s Hands, I took a moment to give thanks for everything, and being grateful for the chance to be in San Francisco for a few days. It was at that moment the sun peeped out. It was seriously straight out of a movie!
Sun? Is that you?
I jumped at the chance to take a photo in the sun, but after a few quick shots, the sun was gone again. It did come out later in the morning though. Turns out my intended few miles, turned into 9.5 miles (Thanks gmaps). I really was only planning on running for about an hour, but it turned into a couple of hours. No complaints from me!
The next morning, when I set out for my second and final run in San Francisco, the sun was there to greet me! It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and I couldn’t have asked for a better way for the city to send me off back to LA.
I wasn’t planning on taking another 2 hour run, but I did want to get a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge as I wish it could have looked the day before. It looked so red and bright. If the weather was like this on Sunday morning, I probably would have run across it.
This run was 4 miles taking me along the Marina area again, and back to the Wharf where I found the Peet’s Coffee I was trying to find the day before. It was a great ending to another great run, and a great weekend!
