Week Fifteen

Eighteen miles today! It was a good run, nice cool weather, nice low-key run. There were only five of us running in our group today, which made it a little more relaxed, I think. Since we were doing a longer run, we slowed down our pace and interval, running 15 minute miles at a 2:2 run/walk ratio (and my watch is still working!). The route was down Great Highway to Sloat and back, through the park to the Polo Fields (running up Bernice Rogers, across JFK and down Chain of Lakes Drive, instead of the usual straight up MLK and Middle Drive), then down Sunset, around Lake Merced and back. The other new twist was a slight detour from Vicente to the west end of Stern Grove, around Pine Lake and back. I told everyone the story of the AIDS Marathon getting kicked out of Stern Grove last year (for making too much noise while running past a wedding), and warned everyone about the very steep path at the back entrance to the Grove (when they saw it, our first-year runners exclaimed, "You said it was steep, but I didn't think it would be that steep!").

After the run, we headed up past the Cliff House to Louis' diner to have a late lunch overlooking the old Sutro Baths and out over the ocean. The weather had cleared up and it was a beautiful day, blue skies and puffy white clouds over a clear blue sea. It was fun to sit and relax with the "girls" for a while, to chat without having to concentrate on keeping the pace and watching the trails. And, we presented our soon-to-be-married runner Leigh with a gift certificate for a dinner at Green's for a wedding present.