Getting Back on the Horse

4.5 miles (40 mins)

Hi all.  My apologies for the long sabbatical.  Life has been hectic lately and I've totally neglected this blog.  Yesterday I ventured out on an exploratory run through my favorite part of San Francisco: Russian Hill.  This is the area overlooking Alcatraz Island, the Golden Gate Bridge, North Beach and Coit Tower, and where the famous curves in Lombard Street lie.  I can't get enough of the neighborhood (filled with beautiful, yet non pretentious Edwardian homes with cozy cafes and wine bars tucked in every corner), so I took off on my run without a specific route in mind, but ready to meander through the streets of San Francisco.

I started at my apartment, ran north on the beautiful tree-lined Hyde St. At the intersection of Greenwich St. and Hyde, I came across a true find: a park with gardens and tennis courts completely open to the public, situated on the ridge of Russian Hill. It's very rare to find places in the city where you can see both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate bridge from 1 place...and you can at this location! I continued on my 'Out and Back', taking a right on Greenwich and headed east down Russian Hill and towards Telegraph Hill (where Coit Tower is situated).  At this point, I headed down towards the water and slowly made my way back towards Polk St. The run wasn't particularly long, but heading up and down those hills was certainly a workout!  

Next up: I'm moving to a new apartment in the historic Mission/Dolores neighborhood with my homegirls (Jess and Michaela). I'm definitely aiming to get some runs in that area and explore the neighborhood:)

The GG Bridge and Back / Spandex

~9 miles

Upper body weights.

Core workout.

On Saturday morning, Jessica Kondrick (shout-out to Brown volleyball!!) and I went on a jog together down Jackson Street, down the Lion Street staircase, along the Marina, past Fort Point and back to our neighborhood.  I purposefully left my watch at home, so I don't know what our times were. We stopped a couple times to take in the scenery, but other than that, kept up a pretty even pace. The temp was ~65 degrees.

On the way back, I finally sucked it up and became a member at my local Crunch Fitness. (Up until now, I've been mooching off friends' guest passes..)  This particular Crunch fitness gym is pretty awesome. It's was a huge theater back in the day, which they've now converted to a sick, state-of-the-art workout facility.  It's the type of gym where everyone is wearing spandex and looks like they just stepped out of an Adidas catalog. This is no big deal for the former volleyball players (like Jess and Elvina) who are used to living in spandex, but I am still working on building up my spandex tolerance.  More info on that topic later.

Next up: Sunday - rest day

Monday: To the GG Bridge and back (hopefully)