i guess i have a little bit of a runner's high, so i thought i'd write about the run.
twin peaks is a nice place to run. it's quiet, there's few cars, you have nice views, and it's cooler than most parts of the city. tonight i wanted to expand my run a little bit compared to what i did last time.
i started on a downhill -- so steep that i had to use an extremely short stride so i didn't trash my knees, but quickly it petered out to a gentle slope that allows my full stride. i stayed on this winding little street for about a mile. it's the same street as my bus to work. right before clayton, there's a construction zone where i had to dodge holes in the ground, and a construction guy stared me down as a passed through. not sure if he was pissed that he was working late, or worried i would kick dirt into the holes he had been digging. at clayton i turned *up* the hill. this was the first uphill on my run. felt like i'd suddenly run into an ankle deep pond of goo. i could have slowed down and to make it easier, but then i'd have been working that much longer... so i decided to push on and maintain my speed. a bunch of cars passed by, and i realized my dayglo windbreaker is pretty ridiculous. there's no way you could not see me with it on, and it was still daylight. a lady way up the street with a dog stopped and waited for me to pass. "thanks!" i muttered... (really i was thanking my dayglo, for making her see me from 200 feet away). after arriving at the intersection of twin peaks blvd. and clayton, i did an almost 180° left turn. it was less steep here, and foggy. the fog was a nice coolant, the antidote to my internal combustion engine which really started working hard when i got to the uphill. the sun poked through the fog. panting and overheating, i decided to take a quick break. and by "break", i mean brisk walk while i catch my breath. i realized here i should have slowed down when i got to the uphill. 20 seconds of walking and i got back on it. passed a young man with his old dog. i got to foggiest & windiest part of the run (the part that's in the photo), and a really good song came on. i really want to push through to the top, but needed a 10 second breather. as i was getting up to the top, i took a dirt trail for the very last part, and a song came on: "A Higher Place..." which is a song with no lyrics other than the title of the song. each time it was repeated, it felt like a mantra as i climb up to the top. i got up there and decided i should stop running and walk so i could enjoy the view, and have a nice break. i walked along rail from the north end of the lot. not many people here, except for two cars: one full of thugs with a driver taking a rip off a pipe, and another with a girl sitting shotgun taking bong rips from a short green plastic tube with her friend/boyfriend lighting it for her. apparently this was the weed-smoking section of the parking lot. wassever. i walked over to the viewpoint, and checked-in on foursquare/gowalla/facebook and posted a twitter photo. after a brief pause, i'm back on it. started running through the large groups of tourists on south side of the lookout. i got out to the road, and crossed a family of european-looking backpackers about to get to the trail that goes down to my apartment. as i run past them, i peered down the hillside to see the bus unloading people at the last stop on crestline. "they are totally going to miss that bus... sadface." i ran on, and came across a bicyclist, a harley biker, a jeep with staring passengers, then a shitty hatchback full of kids who are probably about to go smoke out. i noticed a bunch of trails. i got to a windier part of the road and it occurred to me that this might not be the best place to be running. passed more cars. i attempted to take a shortcut but halfway through the shortcut, the brambles got too thick and i didn't feel like getting my legs cut up so i had to abort my shortcut. i jogged the rest of the way down twin peaks blvd towards portola. there were long stretches of straightaways with newly paved road. i decided to alternate running backwards and forwards. 10 paces backwards/10 paces forwards, then 20/20, 30/30, and 40/40. i passed a red sleeping bag wrapped around some other stuff. not sure if it was a homeless person's abandoned goods, contributing member of society's lost goods, or someone's donation to the homeless. cut the corner of twin peaks blvd and portola on a steep deer path underneath eucalyptus trees. slippery. ran up the hill, and passed a firetruck, but didn't see any action. ran all the way up to the crest and took a walk-break. realized my windbreaker was completely soaked so i took it off... now sporting my nasty, sweaty wifebeater, passed a guy walking two schnauzers. i got off the sidewalk for them. passed a random woman. same thing. got to thee bus stop where i either [wait for] or [run to] the bus in the morning... keep running up parkridge. almost home. steepest uphill of the run! got up to the crest where i decided i'm at a good place to cool down, and noticed that my iphone has just started playing the song that i started the run with. i ran for the whole album! good run.
maybe i'll go longer next time, though the elevation really killed me. maybe next time i'll run all the way down the hill to the embarcadero, and take muni back home.
the google earth view is pretty cool:
here's what i saw when i got up there:
found a cool tool called gmap-pedometer.com, which allows you to create visualizations of the elevation gains:
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