Golden Gate Park to Golden Gate Bridge

Our run, as recorded by my Garmin watch.

At 6:15 am this morning, Alex and I joined Jordi and Justin for a trip into the city. We pulled up in front of the Conservatory of Flowers just before 7 am, met the Beast, and got ourselves excited for a 20-mile run that would take us through the Golden Gate Park, along the ocean, and up and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I ran this same route with some good friends last November, but I didn't trust my fitness enough to make it all the way to the bridge and back. I turned back early, running only 15 miles that day. I told myself then that I would come back when I could make it across the bridge.

Another motivation for returning was so that I could share this run with Alex. It's a spectacular course. You start in the park, running past gardens, museums, water falls, an old school cross country course, a giant windmill, and, of all things, buffalo. Once through the park, you hit the ocean and get to marvel at surfers as you climb up past the Cliff House to the aptly named Lands End Trail. After the trail you run past expensive houses, up another hill, and through more trails before you finally get to the bridge.

This year there was a lot of fog, so the views had an added layer of mystery to them. Also, my endurance isn't quite up to par yet as my legs were really fatigued coming back through the park. I hope to keep up my training so that I won't feel quite so bad in the marathon (which covers a lot of the same ground, see map here) and so that I can continue to share this run with friends.