Climbs and Crossings

I've never actually written a year end recap post because I'm usually writing about stuff all year long so why be redundant. THIS year, however, I've been such a slacker at writing and racing that this will be brand new information. If anyone is still here. I had a kick ass 50k in March followed up with a crappy attempt at my second ever 50 miler in April, and that's pretty much where we left off. Let's address that and get it out of the way. Here's what my Lake Sonoma race report should have said: I can come up with excuses that sound reasonable as to why I dropped, but in reality my head wasn't in it. When I needed mental strength to push through, it wasn't there. That's it. I moped the rest of the spring and spent most of the summer trying to shake it off.  ANYWAY...on to summer. Summer was great. My birthday is in July, and somehow my birthday celebration has gone from the actual day, to a week, to a month to...well it started in June this ...

It's summer, and I'm not injured. Finally, my dumb ankle isn't trying to ruin my life, so I ran the hell out of my birthday. 33 miles for 33 years. From the City to the trails.  Lucky for me, it was a cool foggy summer day in the city. I loaded my pack with Gu and Glo bars and took off from the Castro a little after 7am toward the Marina. There's quite a bit of up and down between those two points... I made my way past Crissy Field and on up to the bridge, which, at this early hour, was pretty much empty except for a few cyclists. Karl the Fog out in full force On the other side, I crossed underneath the bridge to pick up the Coastal Trail and start the one mile climb up into the Headlands. I was hoping once I got to the top and made my way to the other side of the hills the fog would clear, but....nope. It was really quiet and a little bit spooky for most of the miles to the beach. I was prepared to round a corner and suprise a mountain lion...