April 29 — Rob the “flag guy”

Friday morning ride into the City.  Sun shooting over the horizon so much earlier now, I can safely stash my lights away for next four months.  A friendly “hi” to Sam’s grandmother as I join the bike path near the high school.  Gentle cruise through Sausalito then the climb to the bridge, keeping heart rate […]

April 23 — Thinking while running

What do people think about when they run?  Especially when they run for several hours?  Seems like you you should be able to solve world hunger, or at least a complicated quadratic equation or two.  But truth is, you often don’t think about much at all.  It has been said that long distance runners mostly […]

April 16 — Unsolved mystery

Recipes can be good or bad, their results tasty or terrible.  This particular Saturday morning recipe called for 3 hours of thigh-burning hill climbs, followed by an ice bath.  Not that different from baking a nice piece of beef for three hours, then tossing it in the freezer for a half hour.  Doubt you’ll find […]

April 9 — Conquering an old foe

It should have been a miserable run.   Steady rain forecasted, and it arrived on schedule.  My plan (ignoring the weather), was to run for three hours.  Met up with the Saturday morning crew in light drizzle.   Consensus route is the steady climb up Railroad Grade, then cut across to Mountain Home Inn.   Did my best […]

April 1 — Creatures of habit

We are creatures of habit.  We shave our face in the same sequence every morning, order the same beverage at Starbucks, and walk the same routes.   These habits are accentuated in the morning, and play out during morning runs and rides.  On my Friday morning rides into the city, I can tell whether I’ve slept […]

March 25 — my Bridge obsession

Got on my bike to ride to work as a full moon was just setting over our canyon.  Beautiful pre-sunrise ride in, leaving me with no choice but to stop several times to take pictures, generally feeding my Bridge obsession, capturing it at new angles or in different light.  If you could see my office, […]

March 24 — Morning in my pine and redwood cathedral

Morning run along Cascade and then up Tenderfoot to the Cypress Trail.  The 3.5 mile trail crosses stream beds and through endless strands of pine and redwood, and angles back into and out of the corners of Cascade Canyon.  At times, the shards of sunlight shooting through the trees were magical, the trees on fire […]

March 21 — To gadget or not to gadget?

Point, counter point.  Interesting article in the Times today about the Fitbit craze, measuring steps, sleep patterns, heart rate, etc.   There’s a fair point to be made that because of these tracking gizmos we’ve lost track of our bodies, and don’t know how to listen to them, to feel when we need to cut back, […]

March 20 — Would you like more pie?

Saturday run is planned to be long and slow, training the body to burn fat they say.   Two hours and forty minutes, climbing to the upper edge of Muir Woods, then angling over to the top of Cardiac, fog draping over the Dipsea trail running along the ridge down toward Stinson Beach.   Then reversing course […]