San Fran Whirlwind

View from our hotel room.

Matt and I began our day in San Francisco with a run on the Embarcadero.  

It was early enough that we were mostly alone with the birds and street vendors setting up their shops.  Some people hurried from the bus stops, cell phones glued to their ears, dressed in business suits.  Eventually, these people disappeared and were replaced with tourists.  It seems we finished our peaceful bay side run just in time.

As we explored the streets of northern San Francisco, Matt and I chatted about what draws people to cities.  Mostly, the people that live in cities are people people.  They are social and crave high amounts of interaction with others.  For me and my intense introversion, I find these people absolutely fascinating.  Maybe that is what I love most about visiting cities.  I could never live in one, but I enjoy seeing how social people live.  Put me out in the woods and I’m happy.

 Big windows aside our table provided fantastic plenty of entertainment.

Mason St. near Sports Basement and the fog starting to come back in.

For a couple of weeks, Matt and I have been debating our next move.  We are perfectly content to remain here until something perfect came open, and then something did.  For the umpteenth time since we’ve left Alaska, we’ve considered Anchorage and each time we said “no thanks”.  All of those positions would be lateral moves for Matt’s career.  Suddenly, with an opening resulting in a promotion and nearly $30,000 (promotion plus cost of living allowance) more a year, the idea became more inviting.  Until today, the day we walked around the city, we were undecided.  Without further debate, we realized how we are not attracted to the things that people love about cities.  We love the woods, we love having a little bit more land.  And as enticing as the prospect of living in more moderate winters of Anchorage, we found ourselves unable to pull the trigger and go for the city life.  It would also mess up all the concrete running plans we have already booked up through next May.

The thing we love most about the city is shopping.  We spent most of the afternoon in Sports Basement.  Since we go shopping for running gear once a year and run about 1,500 miles in between each trip, the bill when we finally hit the checkout is pretty shocking.  Here’s what we ended up with:

-Matt: Brooks Pure Flow, North Face raincoat, and extra-bright rear bike light.  He will also be ordering a second pair of shoes from our local store when he decides which ones.

-Karen: Brooks Launch, Nike Run Free 3, New Balance shorts, UA running socks, Moving Comfort Bra, and CEP compression sleeves. (I also got two Lululemon headbands, but not at SB. These are the only ones that provide enough of a sweat dam to keep my eyes from stinging.)

The great thing about Sports Basement is that we rarely pay MSRP on anything.  Now we’re outfitted for another marathon training season!

We found ourselves leaving the city at 5pm.  We were freaked out enough by the traffic that we made it across the Golden Gate Bridge and were already exiting the freeway.  Every time we leave San Fran, we talk about visiting the swanky tourist town of Sausalito, so we decided today was the best day.   

My favorite street.

We enjoyed the cute bay side town while sipping our late afternoon decaf coffee.  When exploring new places, we really enjoy seeing what the local life is like, away from the tourists.  Every road leaving the main one was a steep uphill.  We pictured ourselves inside one of these beautiful houses.  Yes, some were small, but the view from their kitchen must be spectacular.  Sunrise breakfast views of the San Francisco Bay each morning?  Sure, I could do that.  One house in particular looked terrifying.  The supports required to keep this house from falling down the hill were exposed.  The deck leaned in an unstable fashion.  When man wages war on nature, nature always wins.  Okay, so maybe I don’t need sweeping bay views after all.

Notice how it looks like the deck is falling off? I'm not sure which is more frightening: 

losing my deck or having the neighbor's deck fall on my house.

Our last stop before leaving the city was to Marin Headlands and the Slacker Ridge trail.  Admittedly, we were fatigued and were drawn to this particular trail because of its name.  It is steep enough that anybody less than Superman himself would be considered a slacker. 

 Slacker Honey.

At the top, we were rewarded with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and city to the south and waves of stratus clouds washing in from the coast.  To the west were the naked hills of the park and the setting sun.

A pretty action-packed and varied day, don’t you think?