Bay Area Recap and Lots o’ Pics

I’m back home after a wonderful visit down to California. It was so good to see my brother and sister-in-law and all my friends. I have missed them so much since I moved and I really loved being close to them again. It went by too fast but I made the most of my time with them.

 

The weather was perfect and I got in a TON of awesome miles.  It was seriously like a running vacation. Which was perfect because this long weekend included the majority of my peak week miles. Being back on my old favorite trails and running with friends really helped me stay motivated. Here is the recap of the three runs I did followed by a brazillion pictures:

 

Friday
12.0 miles/1:31:47/8:29 average pace
Tempo run on the Stevens Creek trail in the south bay area near my brother’s house. I slathered on the sunscreen and cranked up my ipod and had a perfect run. I had forgot to turn my auto-lap back on after last weekend’s half marathon, so I didn’t even get to see my splits during the tempo miles. Turns out running by feel works for me! Here’s the breakdown:

1.5 miles warm up @ 9:41 pace
7 Tempo miles @ 7:42 pace !!
3.5 miles cool down @ 9:32 pace

Saturday
6.0 miles/59:37/9:57 average pace
Scenic recovery run with Maritza at Coyote Hills Park near Fremont. We talked and took tons of pictures and just enjoyed running together. She’s my running bestie!

Sunday
20.0 miles/3:00:23/9:01 average pace
SUPER awesome long run in San Francisco with Aron. This was seriously the best run ever. We started off at a comfortable pace down the Embarcadero. Then we hit several hills in the next few miles, but we kept the pace very reasonable and chatted all the way up. After we ran over the Golden Gate Bridge and headed back down the hills, we picked up the pace but it still felt very comfortable. We got back to the Ferry Building at 17 miles where Aron finished up, and I ran the last 3 miles solo. I felt so fresh still that I busted out three faster miles (8:01, 8:19, 7:55) and burned up some of that left over energy. I still felt fantastic though and wasn’t even sore after! I’m so proud of this run and I’m so glad I got to share it with Aron. She’s my dream running buddy because she’s so light and fast and makes it look so easy! She keeps a consistent pace and takes good photos too, hehe. She’s been a great friend to me and it was awesome to finally get to spend some real time together in person and really get to know each other. :)  
Pace by five mile segments: 9:30, 9:24, 8:49, 8:22

 

TOTAL miles for the week: 55!

 

Picture time! I won’t go into the details of the weekend but you’ll get gist from the photos. Lots of running, eating, drinking, and goofing off. It was fantastic. :)

I’ll start with running pictures:

Long tempo run on Stevens Creek Trail:

 

 

6 miler with Maritza at Coyote Hills Park:

 

 

San Francisco 20 Miler with Aron:

Random non-running pics:

My first stop in CA was delicious Mexican food (hard/impossible to find in OR):

  

My brother at lunch – he can never just smile like a normal person. I love it.

 

Loving sitting outside in the sunshine for lunch!

 

Me and my adorable sister-in-law Bri heading out for dinner:

Goofy brother Jon:

 

Big oak tree at Pete’s pub in Danville:

 

Post-run brew in Danville:

 

My favorite store in the Bay Area:

 

I got a new fuel belt! Wore it on my 20 miler and loved it:

 

Going shopping in Walnut Creek:

 

Beautiful Mitzi:

 

Tara and Maritza drinking Beverly Hills iced teas:

 

I went with a mojito:

Sunday we dropped Tara off for the inaugural Oakland Marathon (she ran the half) She’s so cute!

The full marathon started an hour earlier:

 

Heading into SF for our long run:

 

Aron and Kristen at the post-run breakfast:

 

Cheers!

 

Tara showing off her awesome medal:

The whole gang after breakfast:

Aron and Tara relaxing in the afternoon:

 

Aron gave me this Ironman hat she got from the people at Headsweats. I love it!! It’s exactly like my other Ironman hat but it’s pink. :)

Me and Tara enjoying some Hurricanes: 

Ya-ee-ya-ee-yaaaa:

Several beers/hurricanes later, we got a well-earned pizza:

 

That’s it! Thanks for reading!! :)