Hello readers, friends (and as i’m learning….spammers)!
Well, vacation has come to a close. While i am mostly sad that the trip is over, I am super excited to be back home with this clown…

California is so beautiful. From downtown San Francisco to Napa, the Pacific Coast Highway coastal drive to Pismo Beach, and Los Angeles to San Diego, there was just one breathtaking vista after the next. And of course lots of running. I am happy to report I ran 4 of the 6 days! Let’s get started with San Francisco…Valerie, the sister of my friend Lisa, (you know, the one in this video who got me inspired into running in the first place) lives in Sausalito. Her husband was kind enough to come scoop me up at the hotel and and drop us at the Marin side of the Golden Gate Bridge for us to venture out on a 7.5 mile run over the bridge and into San Francisco. He took this shot just before we started.

ready to run

I have run over bridges before, but this was just stellar. The temps were spot on, the view was amazing, and I finally got to meet Valerie in person. We chatted up a storm. I probably could have run 20 miles. I took a few more pics as we crossed the bridge and a few more once we made it to the other side through Chrissy Field and along the Presidio.

I succeeded in matching my running outfit to the bridge=)

A for effort but my hands were a little too low.

this view isn’t too hard on the eyes

We finished up at the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero and walked up Market Street to a Starbucks and chatted a bit more. What I loved about this run was that pace and distance weren’t important. The conversation and the view took precedence. (Word of Wisdom which I think I’m going to just abbreviate moving forward to W.O.W.: You must do this every now and again. Take the emphasis of a run off of pace and distance and put it onto conversation and surroundings. It’s like renewing your vows. Tee Hee!) Now that’s what you call running on vacation! My post-run “recovery”? A day trip to Napa Valley with my travelmate Lisa (a.k.a. TheRescueBaker who will be blogging about lots of our delicious dinners and desserts in the next few weeks).

Sparkling wine tasting. I needed to hydrate.

my travelmate Lisa (a.k.a. The Rescue Baker)

And like wine tasting and relaxing on beautiful patios overlooking scenic vineyards wasn’t enough of a post-run treat, we had dinner at this cute place in San Francisco called American Cupcake. We dined on their 3 signature items: Mac and Cheese Cake Pops with Cotton Candy, Candy Apple BBQ Ribs and Red Velvet Fried Chicken…..really a unique pairing of comfort foods and sweets. Oh yeah, and of course we had a couple of cupcakes too. =)

Amazeballs!

Well I better get back to unpacking and such. I’ll be posting about my runs in Pismo Beach and Los Angeles soon. I’ll also be sharing some of the “small stuff” that I sweat out on those runs. Happy Hump Day.

Question: Anyone run or do anything sporty with an amazing view recently? I saw some people parasailing along the coast. I think i’m too chicken for that.

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