Bridge to Bridge 12K

The giant bagel lathered in strawberry cream cheese and chugging a vitamin water did not sit that well in my stomach come mile 6.5 on last weekend's 12K run through San Francisco.  Other than wanting to puke the last half of the race, the run was awesome with some sweet sights along the way.  Brett joined me bright and early down by the Embarcadero Center to kick off the run that skirted the water along Fisherman's Wharf, Fort Mason, Crissy Fields, the Golden Gate Bridge and finishing at the parade grounds in the Presidio.

-Tyler Grubb

Trail Hog Half Marathon

With not a lot of big mountains around and no snow in the near future, I’ve had to keep myself busy out in San Francisco somehow.  So I started running around Fisherman’s Wharf and Crissy Fields prepping for a couple races at the end of September.  Last weekend I woke up at 5:30 AM to drive down to Joseph D. Grant County Park just east of San Jose for the Trail Hog Half Marathon.  I joined about 30 others in the middle of nowhere to run on some hilly fire access roads and hiking trails.  Some highlights of the run after the view from the starting line.

Mile 0.5 – Wasp Nest (Hidden under cone by race officials)
Mile 2 – First big hill of 2000 ft of total vertical elevation

Mile 11.5 – 14 year old race volunteer points 6 runners (including me) the wrong way.  We ended up running about a mile and a half extra and finished running backwards through the finish line.
Mile 12.5 – A 3 1/2 foot Diamondback Rattlesnack hanging out in the middle of the trail

 

Mile 14.5ish – Still managed to get first in my age group and an extra medal (out of like 3 other 20-24 yr olds).
Even with the lost in the wilderness bit, the Trail Hog Half Marathon was a good time and an extra long training session for the SF Bridge to Bridge next weekend.
-Tyler Grubb

Escape from the Fog

Brett and I took off on Sunday to get away from the fog that continually blankets the city and ruins tourists' days on Golden Gate Bridge. We hopped on the 101 and crossed over to the north side of the bridge and drove up the hill into Golden Gate National Recreation Area. From here, views of the city would have been spectacular but you could only see about 20 ft in front of your face.

Instead we parked at the top of the hill and ducked through a tunnel that led to some trails on the backside of the hill. We ran a ways to the top but got stuck at a dead end so we backtracked and took the easy run down the road knowing that the way back up was gonna suck.

After getting a little lost, we followed a trail down to a cool hidden beach. We were both a little wiped from the long run so we took some time to climb the rocks around the water and look for starfish and sea anemones.

It was a nice little escape from the bustling city and we definitely enjoyed getting out of the fog for a little bit. Haven't had a good trail run like that in a long time, especially not with an awesome beach smack dab in the middle.

-Tyler Grubb