Skip to main content

Destination Run: The Golden Gate Bridge

Waking up in San Francisco this morning proved to be the best way to tackle my 12 mile scheduled training run. The weather was clear, sunny, warm, zero wind, and zero fog. A perfect San Francisco day. I took off in the general direction of the bridge from near Fisherman's Wharf. After a few hills, and working my way to higher ground, this was my first glimpse of the bridge...the teeny tiny red thing out there.

It was at this point, lots of other runners started appearing, seemingly headed somewhere, so I followed. The land opened up, I was closer to the water, and apparently on the right path.

A paved path ran right along a narrow beach where TONS of people were out with their dogs, running, romping, frolicking in the sand and the water.
Staying on this path, the bridge was getting larger and larger in front of me. I ended up directly underneath the bridge, in a parking lot at Fort Point, at a dead end. I stopped in the middle of the parking lot to survey the scene, wondering how to get UP to the bridge, but others kept running right on by me. I watched a woman run to the fence, touch something with both hands, and then turn right around and keep running.
Others came up and repeated the same routine. So....I did it too, hoping I wasn't breaking some sort of runner's code by touching these hands without knowing what it means. Later, THIS is what I discovered about the meaning behind the sign, and was proud to have partaken in the tradition.

I backtracked a while, trying to find another route, when I discovered a super secret staircase (that was clearly marked with a sign) that led up.
I loved these stairs and was very careful to dodge the many banana slugs hanging out on them.
At the top, after missing one more turn and ending up underneath the bridge one more time (the sound of the cars driving above me was a little frightening, I finally reached the starting point to crossing the bridge. I took a deep breath and started out across.
Luckily, still, no wind whatsoever. Luckily, because that railing wasn't all that high. I had a few moments of panic, mostly when I looked down at the water or when I stopped to take a picture and could feel the vibrations and rumbles from the passing cars. Looking out, however, was breathtaking.

After crossing county lines and touching solid ground, my journey was complete, so I turned around and ran back to San Francisco.
After two hours, I made it back to the hotel exhausted. My reward was clam chowder and grilled salmon. I might have to do this every weekend.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year's One Day 12 Hour (Uh, 7 Hour) Race Report

Here's the idea: You pay actual money to run around in a circle for either 6, 12, or 24 hours. This is how you choose to spend your New Year's Eve.  That's it. That's the course. Just keep turning right until midnight.  Each time you complete a lap, you pass under the finish arch, that is never actually the finish line, and over a timing mat that tracks the number of laps you've done and displays it on a screen. This should actually say, "KEEP GOING FOR MORE HOURS" You're looking at the same people lap after lap. It's the Golden Gate Bridge over and over again. You're not actually getting anywhere.  What is the point of what we are doing. That question is exactly why I love this race.  Here are hundreds of people, lap after lap, living entirely inside their own heads for hours and hours, each with a different answer to that question.  Last year I ran because I just wanted to find out if I could do it. I wan...

Marin Ultra Challenge 2016 Race Report

In theory, cucumber mint flavored Gu sounds refreshing, like it would be a wonderful break from all of the sweet and salty stuff late in the race. In reality, it's kind of weird and gross. Do not recommend.  What a day in the Headlands it was! Last year, conditions were near perfect, and I had a near perfect race. This year, El Nino raged, and the wind actually blew me over . FUN! Up and down. Repeat.  I'm working toward my first 100k in May, so it was important to feel like I could run a smart 50k with no issues because I should be able to run a smart 50k with no issues and not even think about how a 100k is twice as far. The Beginning. Everything's wonderful.  The start and finish had been changed from Fort Baker to Rodeo Beach because of the rain. It was a dark start at 6am, but dawn wasn't far off. I opted for no headlamp. We did two Hill 88 loops as the sun rose before sailing down to Tennessee Valley under what I'd call a heavy dri...

American River 50 2014: There can be no other title except MY FIRST 50 MILE RACE REPORT

This is a big deal. Without fail, there is somebody at every ultra I've run that I hear say, Oh, I'm not really trying for anything today, I'm just using this as a training run for my self supported run across Canada next month. I'll probably just cartwheel the whole thing.   I heard this type of exchange on the bus on the way to the start. "It's only a 50 miler, so the heat shouldn't even be an issue." It's a good thing it was dark... The "it's only a 50 miler" comment snapped me out of the anxious mind chatter and got me refocused. The few weeks leading up to the race, any time it came up, GeNene would say to me, "This is a big deal." Then I started saying it, and understanding what it really meant. This is something that I used to talk about doing "someday". It seemed really far off. I believed I could do it, but it would happen to some distant future version of me. "This is a big deal" m...