16 Miles

Okay, that was fun! 16.10 miles in 3:57:07 at an average pace of 14:41 minutes per mile. Here's the course map and the stats, and if you tap on the photo above you'll see a few more photos from my walking adventure.

I took BART over to the city and began walking from the Ferry Building at 8:00 a.m. My route took me down the Embarcadero, past Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, the Cannery, and Ghiradelli Square. Later on the return loop this stretch would be packed with tourists forcing me to walk between the parked cars and traffic but this early in the morning the streets were all but empty which made for a really lovely walk.

After skirting around the bay near Aquatic Park it was up the hill, and I do mean H-I-L-L, overlooking Fort Mason and then down around the Fort to the Marina area and a long stretch that provided a perfect San Francisco landscape of docked sailboats in the foreground with the Golden Bridge topped with fog in the horizon. The only downer on this leg of the route was the smell. . .and it wasn't me! Seriously, I don't know if it was sewage lines or rotting steamy fish at the water's edge but it was nasty and lasted far longer than one could hold their breath. I know because I tried. Oh, how I tried.

Next up was Crissy Field where I opted to stay near the water's edge rather than on the main road which resulted in several stops to empty the random pebbles that crept into my shoes from the graveled pathway. However, with my brand-new and might I add amazing elastic shoe laces I just slipped them off and on in seconds without needing to stumble around with the laces. I'm buying them for all my running shoes. I walked past the road leading up to the Golden Gate Bridge and on to Fort Point that's immediately under the bridge and then looped back to head up the hill. Again, for the sake of accuracy it's necessary to emphasis the hill was a H-I-L-L.

The fog was still holding tight and the breeze had a chill crossing over the GGBridge but by the time I reached the reststop on the Marin County side I was warm enough to discard the extra layer of teeshirt I had on, eat half of a cheese sandwich and loop back for the Ferry Building, a ride on BART and home.

I was pleased by how strong I felt through the first 13 miles and then "the evil twins" (toes next to the big toes) started into their old behaviors and for the last three miles the foremost thought occupying my mind was "ow!" but now that they've been pampered and their blister caps removed, all is well. I feel fine. . .grrrreat in fact! Perhaps that's because I'm laying flat on the couch with the laptop on my stomach and an iced espresso and the remote within reach.

I'm just sore enough that walking an 18-mile LSD next Friday sounds a little overwhelming but good enough that walking an 18-mile LSD next Friday sounds very possible.