Ego Trip

Another lovely day in San Francisco, another 5 mile run.  Today I went the other direction, up into the Presidio and over to the head of the Golden Gate Bridge.  After my last experience with running on the bridge, (it sucked, too many aimless gawking tourists to bump into, I advise against it) I opted to take a picture and turn around, knowing that I had a good run in.  Again, I had to stretch it out by going down a block or two, but I got it to exactly 5.00 miles.  For no particular reason, I thought I'd make a very egoistical playlist.

Playlist	In the Key of "I"
I Luv I Jah	Bad Brains
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend	Ramones
I Stole Your Love	KISS
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart	Wilco
I Lost It	Lucinda Williams
I Got The Feelin'	James Brown
I Fink U Freeky	Die Antwoord
I Feel Fine	The Beatles
I Do	J. Geils Band
I Wanna Be Sedated	Ramones
I Wanna Roo You	Van Morrison
I Am That I Am	Peter Tosh

Distance 5.00 miles
Cumulative 20.16 miles
Time 43:49
Pace 8:45 min/mile

GG Park II

While Veronica is with her grandparents, I thought I'd go on a solo run to see if I can still go longer and faster.  It was rather painful, actually.  It's a bright sunny day in San Francisco, probably in the 70s so much cooler than I'm used to, but still I didn't feel like going on and on and on.  As it was I went up 14th Ave to Geary, then up Funston to Fulton and into the Rose Garden (in full bloom!, that's about 1.0 mile) Then I went up JFK to over by Oak near Haight and back near the playground and carousel, then around the mall by the DeYoung (where I went this morning) and Cal Academy of Sciences.  Then back out by the Rose Garden and home with an extra block to make it 5+.

Playlist
Vibrate On	Augustus Pablo and the Upsetters
Red, Red Wine	UB40
T.B. Sheets	Van Morrison
Jump Around	House of Pain
How Many More Times	Led Zeppelin
Pass the Dutchie	Musical Youth
Enter the Ninja	Die Antwoord
Creep	Radiohead

Distance 5.03 miles
Cumulative 15.16 miles
Time 43:27
Pace 8.38 min/mile

GG Park I

We arrived in San Francisco on Saturday evening, and Veronica and I went for a run in Golden Gate Park on Sunday.  All together, we ran/walked about 3.69 miles.  She was having a bit of a tough time staying in a jog, and ended up walking a bit.

Distance 3.69 miles
Cumulative 10.13 miles
Time 39:06

Goodbye SF, Hello August

Last run in cool San Francisco, up into the Presidio, around the golf course and back down and around Mountain Lake Park. Then around Presidio Landmark and down part of the Anza Trail, which wasn't on the gmaps-pedometer :( Also on this uncharted leg, I ran out of playlist, so I stopped to re-up it. I emerged over near Baker Beach, and came back up Lincoln to 25th Ave and home via Lake St. I'm going to miss this weather, for sure.

Yesterday my wife and I went to visit some other neighborhoods, namely the upper Haight and Japantown. We came across the SF Marathon coming through. Also, I stopped at Amoeba Music and got some new CDs to plug into the tune-o-matic, some of which featured in today's playlist :)

Playlist (mostly 80s and 90s again)
Working For Vacation -Cibo Matto
Solsbury Hill -Peter Gabriel
Right Place, Wrong Time -Dr. John the Night Tripper
Pictures of Matchstick Men -Camper Van Beethoven
Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key -Billy Bragg and Wilco
Shock the Monkey -Peter Gabriel
Driver 8 -REM
Tide is High -Blondie
Sledgehammer -Peter Gabriel
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road -Lucinda Williams
Catapult -REM
Devil's Roof -Throwing Muses

Times
L1 37:48
L2 (pause for playlist adjustment, a bit longer than 0:54, really)
L3 11:40
Total 50:23

Distance 3.8+1.2+0.4 =5.4 miles?
Cumulative 5.4 miles

A Golden Finish to July!

After a nice long run through Golden Gate Park, I thought I'd head the other direction and attempt the Golden Gate Bridge. It's 2.25 miles from the house to the bridge plus 1.2 miles each way, for a round trip of 6.7 miles. That puts me over my quota for the month! The route over through the Presidio is quite beautiful, although it's mostly up one side of a big hill and back down the other. Once on the bridge, it's quite a tangle of tourists on foot and bicycle, not too many other runners. It got much less congested after the first stanchion, and even less so after the second, although there was some traffic coming from the Marin side at the end. Yay for nice cool conditions to get me up to my goal with a few days to spare.

I have to wonder if I've set the bar too low, seeing as how I was slacking off at the beginning of the month, and I have a couple of days to spare at the end. On the other hand, this is only the third month I've completed my goal out of the twelve I've committed to, and I'm certainly a bit worn about the calves and knees as a result. Look out August! Here I come!

Playlist (California and Western States Influence)
El Microfono -Mexican Institute of Sound
Corona -Minutemen
Straight Outta Compton -NWA
No Phone -Cake
Mexican Radio -Wall of Voodoo
In This House That I Call Home -X
Come As You Are -Nirvana
Let Me Drown -Soundgarden
Jane Says -Jane's Addiction
Hot Pink -Meat Puppets
History Lesson Part 2 -Minutemen
I'm a Mindless Idiot -Meat Puppets
Time Is Too Expensive -Del The Funky Homosapien
When I Win The Lottery -Camper Van Beethoven
Motel Room In My Bed -X
Long Line Of Cars -Cake
Gin and Juice -Snoop Dogg
Carbon Monoxide -Cake
Walk On By -Cake
Strange Apparition -Beck
Mustache Man -Cake

Times
L1 37:25
L2 36:57
Total 1:14:22

Distance 6.7 miles
Cumulative 34.0 +6.7 =40.7 miles W00T!

If you're going to San Francisco...

I'm back in California for a visit to my in-laws who live in San Francisco, pretty much right between the Presidio and Golden Gate Park. Since it's Sunday, I thought I'd head west towards GGP, which is largely closed off to car traffic today. I up 14th Ave to Geary, then across and across again and up Funston to enter through the Rose Garden, then down towards the beach.
It's probably about 15-20 degrees cooler here than back home, which made my body happy, and enabled me to get a nice long run in. My calves are still barking a bit, but hopefully Vitamin I (as in ibuprofen) will help sort it out. I ran in my old New Balance, since I don't think I'm up to such a long run in the Five Fingers.

Playlist (in honor of GGP, mostly hippie hits from the 60's and 70's).
Going to California -Led Zeppelin
One More Saturday Night -Grateful Dead
Rocks Off -Rolling Stones
The Jean Genie -David Bowie
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) -Jimi Hendrix
Breakdown -Parliament
Rock & Roll -Lou Reed & Velvet Underground
Friends -Led Zeppelin
Celebration Day -Led Zeppelin
Lucifer Sam -Pink Floyd
Standing on the Verge of Getting It On -Funkadelic
What Goes On -Velvet Underground
What Is Life -George Harrison
No Expectations -Rolling Stones
Width of A Circle -David Bowie
You're My Best Friend -Queen
Chicken Strut -the Meters

Times
L1 1:12:29
L2 0:30
Total 1:12:59

Distance 7.7 miles
Cumulative 34.0 miles. Getting close to my goal!

Boxing Day/Golden Gate Park/Lion of Soweto

After a rainy and blustery Christmas, this morning was bright and cheery. It being Sunday, most of Golden Gate Park is closed off to car traffic, so I thought I'd take advantage for a long run today. Amongst the gifts under the family tree was a tuneomatic gift certificate, which I promptly applied toward the purchase of Lion of Soweto, a compilation of the works of Mahlathini. It was this that I listened to as I ran through the beautiful Golden Gate Park, admiring the Rose Garden, the Botanical Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers, and other features. I almost got up to the one hour mark, which is a good sign. I could have gone for it without too much trouble, but given that I went yesterday and I'm trying to build up, I didn't think it wise to push it for that artificial goal.

Playlist (Lion of Soweto [LoS] plus some additional Indestructible Beat of Soweto [IBoS])
Baba-Ye -LoS
Bayasazi -LoS
Kudala Besifuna -LoS
Kwa Mfazi Onge Mama -LoS
Bhula Mngoma -LoS
Kumnyama Endlini -LoS
Kumnandi Emgababa -LoS
Amagoduka -LoS
Mahlalela -LoS
Abake Ba Bonana -LoS
Bayasimenmeza -LoS
Ngibuzindlela -LoS
Ilele Insizwa -LoS
Ngiphelekezele -LoS
Emthonjeni Womculo -IBoS
Ngicabange Ngaqeda -IBoS
Qhude Manikiniki -IBoS
Indoda Yejazi Elimnyama -Amaswazi Emvelo (IBoS)

Times
L1 9:15
L2 33:19
L3 9:03
Total 51:38

Distance 5.2 miles
Cumulative distance 19.1 miles

San Francisco, a nicer place to run in July

I've fallen off the wagon again, today was my first run in a couple of weeks. It's really been too damned hot for me to run in Auburn, and I've been busy landing a job (!) at the University. Now I'm on vacation in San Francisco, where, it's much nicer for running, to paraphrase Mark Twain. Last night I went to the Giants game at AT&T Park, which was nice, though it was sold out and I spent the game on my feet. My knees were feeling it about the 5th inning on. Great game though; I got to see Tim Lincecum pitch.

Today I went on a pretty short one from my inlaws house to Mountain Lake Park and back. Just a short one to get me going hopefully for a longer one tomorrow in Golden Gate Park.

Playlist
Going to California -Led Zeppelin
Oh! You Pretty Things -David Bowie
Lust for Life -Iggy Pop
Found a Job -Talking Heads

Time
19:55

Distance
? not sure, probably not much more than two miles if that.