My friend Rich suggested this race, which despite having taken place eighty-nine times prior to today had never come to my attention. The timing was good for a new race. The DSE race today was a 5K in Golden Gate Park, which would have been fine but this racestarting next to Washington Square in North Beach and going down The Embarcadero just past the Bay Bridge and back the way we camewas not only new to me, but covered … Read the rest
Tomorrow I plan to be running in the Statuto Race in North Beach so I don’t want to overdo anything today. Yet I didn’t want to let another day go by without getting out on the road at least a little, as the last couple of days I haven’t run at all. So that poses a dilemma: how to do something challenging enough that there’s some fun to it while avoiding wearing myself out with a relatively long distance? I … Read the rest
Fatigue is a funny thing. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when I am actually fatigued and when I simply think I ought to be fatigued. Certainly when I got to the top of Potrero Hill without stopping I was breathing hard and happy to start back downhill even after only a half mile, but I didn’t consider stopping. Even as soon as a mile later there was something in me telling me to stop. I played the usual tricks on … Read the rest
It’s funny — and kind of a shame — how seeing a «dead end» sign will discourage me from using a street even when I’m on foot. I say it’s a shame because here in San Francisco there are so many hills too steep for automobiles where there are nevertheless steps to allow pedestrian access. The result is that I’ve lived in Potrero Hill now for almost five years (on the Hill for half that and in Dogpatch for the … Read the rest
As of today, I’ve removed svg versions of the typefaces my site uses (See Colophon). The rendering of svg faces in Webkit browsers such as Google Chrome and Apple Safari has been less than satisfactory, and in Chrome’s case svg fonts were used even when TrueType fonts (which Chrome renders very well) were available. This change means that this site will look better in newer versions of Chrome.
Unfortunately, this removes the appearance of dynamic fonts from Chrome browsers … Read the rest
It was a gorgeous day here in San Francisco. 70 degrees and only a few wispy clouds. A perfect day for my return to organized races at the DSE Runners Mission Bay 5K.
We had a great turnout due in part to a convention in town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people at a DSE event, but I haven’t been running for almost three years so maybe the club has gotten more popular while I’ve been … Read the rest
I’ve combined two walks here, one to the start of the DSE Runners Mission Bay 5K today and the other back home. I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it because the next report will be about running that happened in the middle of this walk. It seemed silly to have three runs logged for one trip out, but I definitely want to keep my race entries separate.
One nice thing about this walk is that for the way … Read the rest
It’s been over a week since I went for a plain ol’ run. There were walks, a barefoot excursion and some rest days, but I haven’t been running. I have been resting some overly tight calves but that doesn’t make me miss the running any less.
It’s nice having GPS to keep track of my route. I used to plan my runs out in advance and not vary from the path lest I lose track of my mileage. With the GPS … Read the rest
Can today’s walk count as training? Well, of course it can, and it does. I chose to walk as my primary transportation today, so even if most «training runs» don’t include a stop for pizza and a nine-inning ball game, well, that just means most people don’t have quite as good a time when they train as I do.
I was invited tonight to see the Giants play the Washington Nationals. Of course, such an opportunity is not to be missed. … Read the rest
This was my first barefoot run on pavement. I went only a little over a mile so as not to avoid what I’ve read is the biggest mistake: TMTS, otherwise known as Too Much Too Soon.
Observations from this short run: contrary to what I would have guessed from traversing both kinds of surfaces in shoes, sidewalks are smooth and soft in contrast with paved streets, which are jagged and unforgiving. I also found that in bare feet maybe it is … Read the rest