M.O.R.E.: The Long and Winding Run

Friday, April 6, 2012

The Long and Winding Run

As I was looking for a quote today, the one I eventually posted made me laugh because that pretty much summed up our run today. When you think about how our conversations go from trespassing to getting arrested, to homeless people, to packs of coyotes, to coyote poop, to bathrooms, to Hunger Games, and finally to oh $#*t! the water fountain isn't working, it's amazing that we even come back sane after our long runs.

It isn't uncommon for us to scale a fence or two or climb a wall to get to our desired destination when running, but today we were thwarted by too many obstacles to make it on our intended route and had to finally settle for a detour. We wanted to run from Peets to the old train bridge because it was supposed to be open at the end of March, but when we got there it was still locked up and men were working on the trail so my wiser friends decided that it wasn't worth getting arrested for so we started to head back. Then that's where we really started to get into trouble. We started to venture into the river thinking that there might be a way around the fences and still try to cross the river or at least bypass the fence and get on the bridge. We made several attempts to cross, but we got a funny feeling as we headed into thicker brush. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up as I saw more and more coyote poop and the whistles disguised as birds. Patty was concerned about homeless people and I was more concerned about coming across a coyote den. We finally decided to give up and head back to Peets for another bathroom break when we came upon a gentleman with his dog. He saw us coming out of the river bed and warned us about going in there because they had a real problem with packs of coyotes in that area.

As we left and eventually headed towards the South Fork trail, I started to think what WOULD have happened to us if we came upon a pack of coyotes. I guess we should have used better judgement. We thought we were in the clear and finally started into our long run and reached almost the half way point when we stopped for water and the fountain was not working. Eight miles without water is a long way and of course I jokingly said it's like the Hunger Games. It felt like people were messing with us and throwing in all kinds of obstacles to see if we would give up on our long run and admit defeat. In the end, we did finish our long run completing exactly eight miles. Those were the longest, most complicated 8 miles I have ever run. On a positive note, the girls and I did almost 20 miles this week, which is a first in a very long time.

1 comment:

patty said...: Yes it was long and winding!! Mentally it was a little tough because I kept thinking about finishing so I could get home quickly. We all felt like kharma was out to get us, because we seemed to get stopped short several times! First at the Train Bridge entrance, then at the bathrooms at Pavilions(bikers ugh), then at the water fountain, and then by the wind in our faces on the way back:( it was a hard won 8 miles, but seeing the 19.4 total mileage for this week, kind of made me feel better:); April 6, 2012 at 12:37 PM

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Favorite Trails

South Fork 3.1: Start from dirt parking lot on Magic Mtn Pkway and run to the loop at Wiley Bridge and return the same way.

Tesoro 3.25: Start in Albertson parking lot and take sidewalk/trail until it ends and then enter the water tower road to the top two towers where the ends. Return the same way.

Chesebrough 3.25/4.60: From Chesebrough Park, N. to Copperhill, So. on Bike Trail, turn around at Decoro, back up trail to power lines to bridge at park. Turn around at Heritage will give you 4.6 miles.

Chesebrough 3.5: Chesebrough Park down to McBean, south to Northpark Dr., the paseo trailhead. Take the paseo to Helmers and back. Very hilly.

Bridgeport 4.0: Fairly flat, run toward Lowes and under Bouquet bridge to RiverPark community until you reach the closed gates and return. For a hilly run, go north into Helmers and run up the paseo switchbacks into Northpark where the paseo ends and return the same way.

Chesebrough 4.0: N. to Copperhill to west side of river trail, run S. on Bike Trail past Decoro bridge, across Decoro to the east side of river trail, up back to power lines trail, back to park.

Chesebrough 4.0: From park down power line trail to Heritage Park and back same way.

Bridgeport 4.0: From School, cross McBean via bridge or street and head into industrial center on Ave. Scott Bridge and enter bike trail going south toward the train bridge. Turn around at train bridge and return same way or cross the bridge and head toward Peet's after crossing train bridge and back onto the Lowes Trail.

Heritage 4.0: From park, run up bike trail to Decoro, over McBean Bridge into Helmers, and into Bridgeport through lake trail back to park. Can be done in reverse. Moderately hilly.

Chesebrough 4.25: Chesebrough north to Copperhill, left to Albertson side of bike trail. Run south on trail to Decoro and cross over bridge and head north all the way to Copperhill on east side of river trail and back to the park the same way as started.

Cheese/Decoro/Helmers 4.25: From the park, down dirt trail to bike path, south to Decoro. Leave bike path at Decoro and cross paseo bridge at McBean. Stay on paseo up hill towards Helmers. Run up water tower trail once then continue on to switchbacks and paseos back to park.

Heritage/Bridgeport 3.3: Heritage Park south to McBean Bridge @ Panera. Cross and head toward Lowes bike trail and head east toward Bridgeport Park. Halfway mark is at park bathroom, head back by entering trail along the lake and back onto the bridge.

Lowes 4.25: Lowe's parking lot to McBean, cross the bridge and to South Fork. At Valencia Bridge, enter trail behind Hart Baseball diamonds. Continue on trail to Bouquet and across the bridge on the east side and back under the bridge again towards Lowes.

Peet's & Decoro 5.2: Peet's Coffee to train bridge path; to Decoro and across bridge; back down McBean side of bike trail back to Peete's.

Peet's & Wiley 6.0: Start at Peet's Coffee and head east toward South Fork trail and past the Wiley Bridge. Keep running another 200 yards to where the trail forks left and right. Turn back same way.

Peet's & Copperhill 6.0: From Peet's to bike trail heading north to Copperhill and back.

Albertson 7.0: From the Albertson parking lot on Copperhill, enter the westside bike trail and head south until the train bridge. Return the same way.

Peet's 8.5: Run to Copperhill on east side of river trail and return via train bridge on other side.

Lowes 10: Start in the Lowes parking lot. Enter the bike trail heading west. At McBean, cross the bridge and head east toward SouthFork trail. Continue on trail until you come to the Wiley bridge and head back the same way.

McBean 14: This route can be done from anywhere along the trail route. Starting from McDonald's across the post office, run to the end of the South Fork trail and return the same way, cross the McBean bridge and run on the Lowes trail until you hit Bridgeport Elementary and then cross Newhall Ranch via the bridge or street and run back towards McBean. Continue north on McBean until you hit Copperhill. At Copperhill, cross McBean and enter San Francisquito bike trail and run south on the trail until you are back at McDonalds.