Running Parade

Last weekend, UMM and I headed out to the Sausalito area for a run weekend!

Our first stop was running the ninja loop with friends. This is the second year we’ve met up with friends through the SFM ambassador program. Perhaps this might turn into a tradition. The forecast called for pouring rain, but really, we only got rained on for exactly one minute. It was a heavy rain, but I welcomed it as it was unusually humid that day and of course, I had dressed for the rain and the cold so I was quite hot.

Kevin, UMM, Penny the Pup, Meg, Paulette, Kristin, & Matt

It was so wonderful to see everyone and awesome to be out on the trails. Some of us did the full ninja loop, while myself, UMM, Paulette, and Kevin took a shorter route. And by shorter, I mean by a mile? We thought we had shorted the loop by three miles, but perhaps we took a wrong turn somewhere. No worries as we were all able to regroup at the parking lot all just the same.

I don't know what we are doing, but why aren't we enjoying the gorgeous view at this very moment?

Family picture!

Photo credit by the lovely Paulette

Love this picture taken by Matt G.

Beautiful Humid Day!

We then parted ways, where the five of us - Paulette, Kevin, UMM, myself, and Penny the Pup headed to the Marin brewing Company. The beer was delicious, the food satisfactory, but you can’t beat the wonderful company!

Penny the Pup making friends at the brewery.

On Sunday, UMM and I awoke to the sound of rain. We dressed in our race/rain gear and headed out to the Coastal Trails Golden Gate Trail Race. UMM was going to race the marathon, and I was running the 5 miler. I had UMM’s oversized rain jacket on and the hood covered much of my face. I resembled Kenny from South Park. I was bummed to learn after the fact that so many of my friends from the Bay Area were also running in the race. With my head kept down looking at my feet most of the time and everyone in rain gear, I did not recognize a single person. Oh well. Glad to hear through social media channels that they all had wonderful races!

I wasn’t very motivated to run in the race, but being that UMM was running the marathon, I told myself, I could always wait in the car and think about what a loser I was, or just run the bloody five miler and enjoy it for what it is. And that is what I did...Did you honestly think I would just sit in the car? Shame on you! UMM’s race started 15 minutes before mine. I watched him run in the distance for quite some time. Just running up and up and up. I wondered if that would be me, hoping not, but discovering that sure enough, up and up and up I went. I walked quite a bit of that continuous climb that brought me to a series of stairs that led me to rocky climbs. Finally, I reached the downhill part and was in heavenly bliss. The views were outstanding and had I had my phone with me, I would have captured some beautiful pictures. Instead, I flew down the hill. I love running downhill, got into a groove, only to discover that my shoe was untied. I stopped to tie it, but the laces were sopping wet just like my gloves that I was wearing. I knew that if I removed the gloves, I would never be able to put them back on. Wanting to get my groove back on the downhill, I quickly tied my shoe in a half ass manner and continued down again. Flying I was again down the hill, my other shoe soon became untied. And this continued to happen for at least a dozen more times. I finally just threw off my gloves and tied those buggers properly. In hindsight, I should have tied them properly to begin with, but you know, I just love tying my shoes over and over again! Best thing ever! For the rest of the race, I carried my wet, heavy gloves and crossed the finish line. I was happy to be done.

UMM apparently had a great race! He loved running in the rain and high winds. He placed 4th overall and 1st in his age group even despite missing a turn and having to backtrack 15 minutes!

The rain certainly did not rain on our running parade! It was indeed a fun run weekend!