Will Run for Chocolate

What in the world is a 15K and why is that a thing? It seems like in the running world, you can have any sort of distance and runners from all over will make there way to run it...especially if it involves medals and chocolate.

Two of my favorite things.

This past weekend, friends S and P and I got together to run the San Francisco Hot Chocolate 15k. It was a lot of fun and different from most of the other runs I have done. I don't do a ton of "fun runs" but this is one that everyone should try...where else are you going to find marshmallows along the route?

I realized early on that a 15K is no joke. It really is only 3 miles less than a half marathon, so I don't know what I was thinking when I figured I didn't need to train for it (silly me) and I was doing real well for the first 6 miles....but after that. Knee pain and foot pain hit.

I struggled through the last few miles, but as soon as I saw that finish line, I was pretty excited. I was the last of my group to come in, but it was so much fun getting to see them and grabbing all the delicious chocolate that awaited us!

I will admit, that so much sweets is not the best way to recover from a race, but for the few tastes that I could get down, I was in heaven!

Into the Woods

Over the holidays, my mom and I went to go see the movie, "Wild" and while I thought it to be a semi-decent movie (or the female version of Tom Hanks' Cast Away) it did get me thinking about how much I would like to become one with nature again. Reese Witherspoon, playing Cheryl Strayed, made that long walk across the West Coast look incredibly easy. I left the movie thinking to myself, "Yes. Yes I could do that. And one day I will do that."  By myself even.

Take that Cheryl Strayed.

I figured that if I was going to make good on my newest venture, I better start training. Cue: a quick trip to Big Sur. 

The weather down there has been absolutely gorgeous, so I woke up early, packed my car and headed out to the unknown (or the incredibly well traveled path, but whatever). 

I'm so glad that I left early because it was really busy by the time I got down there; however I could not have gone down there on a better day. It was sunny, blue skies, with just enough clouds to make the sky interesting and 80 degrees. I have live in the Bay area for over six years now, but I rarely go down there. I can't believe I've been missing out on this beautiful place. The shoreline and cliffs were just amazing. It really reminded me of my time in Ireland. Minus the rain.

Before I went down there, I had a little bit of a plan as to what I wanted to do. Hiking (won't become Strayed by just driving around), visiting beaches, and getting to see a little bit of the state that I haven't been to yet. Turns out the January tends to be the time when everything is getting renovated. The one downside to it not being tourist season. So a few of  the places I wanted to go to were not opened. Sadly. 

Oh well, just another reason to go back down there someday.

I have picked a hike out that I had read about online. Near Big Sur. The reviewer had said that it was an easy hike; something anyone can do.

So I figured it was the perfect one for me to start my new adventure on.

I was wrong. The hike wasn't well marked. It was in a beautiful part of the woods. Redwood trees were all over and the smell of the clean outdoors was amazing.

 But after about a half-hour of walking around, I felt a little bit lost.

And I began to have visions in my head of getting lost in the woods and ending up on the evening news. All I had was small bag of goldfish and a bottle water (I had actually packed more for the hike, but to be honest, I ate it on the drive down.)

So, I threw in the towel a bit earlier than I had expected. But it did give me the time to go check out another beach or two. I went to a national Park that was surrounded by the shoreline. There were a ton of whales around. I couldn't really see the actual whale, however, I did see a lot of the water plumes that they have, bursting from the horizon.

Nature is so cool.

Verdict: No, I do not think I could walk the entire Pacific Crest Trail by myself. I like the outdoors. But not that much.