Catching up

I uploaded the photos that were on my phone and realized I have been doing so much, but sharing so little.

Physically and mentally I am doing great.  Loving my job, running, hiking, cycling, walking, etc.  Enjoying time with my family and Boomer. 

I finally tackled Morrison Canyon Road.  It's not a very long road but it's one lane and prone to slides so the center of the road has a solid stripe of gravel.  There's no shoulder but there are "turn outs" along the way.  It's really steep so if a car does come, it's hard to hurry up and get to one of the "turn outs".  But, I did it! 

 I took Sara and the pups to Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland for a hike.  This was Sara's first time there and she liked it a lot.  It is a park that never disappoints anyone I've taken there.

Soraya and I did the Holstein 100 60-miler out of Petaluma.  The route took us along country roads that weren't heavily traveled at all.  We went along Hwy. 1 to Tomales Bay, in and out of Marin County.  Lots of fields full of Holsteins feeding freely.  There was a lot more climbing than I remember from last year but I guess that's because I missed a turn and cut out a 7 mile chunk last year.  I think that entire 7 mile chunk was hills.  Beautiful ride though, and excellent food at the rest stops and the finish.  I'll more than likely go back again next year. 

REI Fremont has put together a team to participate in the Jansport 8000 meter challenge taking place September 8th.  Guess who got suckered into  volunteered to be on this team?  Yep, you guessed it.  ME!  This is a 38-mile hike with 11,000 feet of elevation gain to be completed within 24 hours.  There are 3 peaks to summit - Baldy (10,064 ft), San Gorgonio (11,502 ft) and San Jacinto (10,804 ft).  The event starts Thursday at 5:00 a.m.  You drive between mountains, each being about an hour from each other.  We have to be at the final mountain by 8:00 p.m. to take a tram up part way with our backpacks full of gear to spend the night up there after we summit and return to the base camp.  We will drive down and camp Tuesday evening and have all day Wednesday to acclimate to the elevation. Sound crazy?  I think so too. 

So, needless to say, along with riding my bike up hills I've been hiking some.  I took a group up and over Mission Peak last week for a 20-mile hike. 

Kazu, our store manager - his first time up Mission Peak.  Haddie on the right.

Trail approaching the backside of Mission Peak from Sunol Regional Wilderness Park

Backside of Mission Peak.  Still a bit of a way to go but at least it's in sight.

The next day I had to work all day which was probably a good thing.  It got me out of bed early and moving my legs.  Two days after the 20-mile hike I took Boomer to Garin for a trail run.  Poor guy has been neglected this past month.  He was quite thrilled to be running through the hills again!

Finally, we are up to two days ago. 

I took my store manager back to Mission Peak for some trail time.  We started at 6:30 a.m. and it was cold, dark and foggy.  By 7:15, we were here:

Simply beautiful.  We were able to take our top layers off and were on the top of the peak a short while later and this was our view of the bay area.  Pretty incredible. 

We went over the peak and down toward Sunol but not the entire way this time.  We both had commitments to get to.  We ran every flat and downhill portion and were back to our cars 4 hours later.  Great way to start a Sunday! 

This morning I joined the Fremont Freewheelers for the weekly hill climb ride.  Today was a different route that took us through Niles Canyon, over Palomares, Dublin Canyon and Foothill.  This group bills themselves as a moderate pace (14-16 mph) ride but they are much more comfortable at 18-20 mph.  I don't mind too much on the flats but I'm the slowest on the hills.  :(  I get there but I'm usually last.  I get pretty frustrated and talk bad to myself during every climb but for some reason I keep going back, week after week.  I'm not exactly sure what that says about me. 

I guess that's probably enough for now, huh?

Thanks for reading!

Until later.............

Blogging?

I need to start blogging again.

I've been doing so much, so many different things.  Hiking, running, riding.  In some beautiful places too.

I seem to have lost my blogging mojo.

What to do, what to do.............

Trail running and tea tasting

Kathryn, one of my cycling friends,

is trying to train for the Nike Women's Marathon coming up in October.  She has a problem though.  She hates running!

Last week, she sent me an invitation to go tea tasting in Berkeley with her (she had a Groupon that was expiring soon).  I agreed, asking if we could incorporate a bike ride into the day.  As the day approached, I had a better idea.  I asked her if she would like to try out trail running.  She looked at her schedule and found out she had a "8-mile run on a hilly course with run/walk combined".  That sounds exactly like trail running to me!

I came up with a plan and told her where we'd meet.  She was a little nervous about trail running.  I brought Boomer along to help show her the ropes.

The trail starts off with some uphill so we hiked and ran until we came upon these beautiful single track trails.

At the 4-mile mark we turned around and went back the way we came.  Another thing that's so nice about trail running.  When you do an out-and-back, the way back is always a totally different course. 

As you can see, the weather was cold and foggy.  Perfect running weather.  None of us (I'm including Boomer) complained about it. 

She said it was the most fun she has ever had running!  I didn't have a doubt in my mind.

Then it was off to tea tasting.  We went to Teance in downtown Berkeley. 

We got there early enough so we were the only ones at the bar.  We got to choose three different teas to try.  Picture wine tasting, but tea instead.  The host was educating us on how the tea is made, how to prepare it properly and how to serve it.  We also enjoyed a piece of Mochi, a Japanese treat.

We tasted tea for a little over an hour and I will say, it was quite a bit of fun. 

It was a great way to start a Saturday morning and I enjoyed introducing my passion to Kathryn.  There's many more trails for her to see, whenever she's ready.


Until later.............