The G Running Diary

No Rain, No Pain: 12/14/03

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Well, maybe a little pain. Yesterday Don and I ran the Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing in San Francisco. We did the 50K, which most people choose, but there is also a 50M. The route follows the 49 mile scenic drive, which is sign-posted throughout the city. The start and finish is at Twin Peaks, a nice big hill that makes a good start but a tough finish. Not that it matters. This is a casual run. Some people have the goal of stopping at the best cafes and eating the most interesting food on the run. A fast finish time is usually the last thing on people's minds. I like it for the scenery. If you want a tour of San Francisco, this is it. You get the seedy side, the touristy side and the rich side. You get the views of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate, historic buildings and landmarks, the whole thing. Don took pictures the whole way.

I don't think anyone had the fear. I heard some of the loathing--ultrarunners don't like pavement. I had some fear. My legs have reacted badly to pavement in the past. Sometimes when there is a twinge up my right leg from my ankle to my hip, I worry that the dreaded stress fractures will return. But if I could do the Ridge Trail run with almost 250 miles of pavement and not have a problem, I must be a hardier soul by now.

When we started the run (3-2-1-go, yay), everyone seemed to be flying down the hill. Were these 8 minute miles? Or were Don and I running 13's? I think we really were that slow. We were soon last. When we were new to this sport that would have been unacceptable. We would have been afraid that we wouldn't finish in time. But now the back is fun. We also knew that we would catch up to people, because they often go out faster than they should.

After descending from Twin Peaks, the course turns up Dolores for a while. I noticed churches and lots of parked cars. We found a bathroom at a park. I was happy. Then, Caesar-Chavez takes you through the seedy part of town, and past the street where my sister and her husband live (their little neighborhood is nice though). We passed homeless people under the freeway and headed out toward PacBell Park. There is still construction going on in the industrial area before the park. They are running light rail through there. It's not clear where it will connect to. Right now it's all kind of messy.

The ball park is beautiful. This is where we caught up to a good-sized group, who said they were doing the run just to tour the city. Joan said it's their tradition to go around the ball park and then later in the run she stops at Cafe Trieste in North Beach. You can actually see into the playing field through the gates. I was impressed. I have no interest in baseball, but seeing the field made me want to go to a game.

Then we came to the new ferry building and its farmers market. Another great scene to stop and look at. The produce was beautiful, even the lettuces looked tasty. I saw Sur la Table for gourmet kitchen supplies and a Peet's coffee. We kept going. After a bit farther on the waterfront, the course turned into town and then went up Market Street. There were more homeless people, then the nice, new stores, like Anthropologie and the Gap, then more seedy stuff. A guy yelled at me as I was going by saying he wanted to ask me a question. I kept going, but was happy that he called me a runner and not a jogger. All right. We went off of Market, and continued up to Coit Tower, where there was another bathroom. The climb didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be.

Next was Japan Town, and then China Town. That was fun because Don wanted to buy some balls. There is a lot of activity in this part of town, busy streets and stores with items that spill out onto the sidewalks. I started to realize that the route we were following wasn't as direct as I had thought in previous years. We were running up and down streets that just took us back and forth. Don was jingling from the balls in his pockets. It was a nice sound, like an ice cream man or distant church bells.