Mov-ember!

Challenges this month will be a few. The days continue to get shorter, and shorter still after Day Light Savings takes effect. Colder temperatures will insist I stay indoors, a notion I will need to ignore and go outside anyway! I traveled for work for a week and a half. And I got sick (booooooo to whoever hand this off to me).

I am hopeful I can overcome these hurdles and continue progressing and maintaining. I am feeling better every run, stronger, faster. On travel, I'll be in San Francisco, right on Fisherman's Wharf - there's plenty of places to run right out the front door in either direction on the San Francisco Bay Trail.

But I digress! That's last week, here's the last several weeks:

Tuesday Nov 1 - 3 miles walking, 1.43 running
Wednesday Nov 2 - 1.92 walking, 1.09 running
Thursday Nov 3 - 1.74 walking, 1.4 running
Friday Nov 4 - Sunday Nov 6 - A slovenly waste of nothingness
Monday Nov 7 - 2.52 walking, 2.05 running
Tuesday Nov 8 - 4.68 Running

Wednesday Nov 9 - Friday 11 - Traveled on Wednesday, worked early to late Thursday and Friday, plus sick!
Saturday Nov 12 - Walked 2.37, Ran 1.13
Great run in Los Gatos with Daniel, my cousin. He knew of some great trails right by Testarosa Winery. Great views, nice trails. Beautiful day for it.
Sunday Nov 13 - Walked 2.65
Monday Nov 14 - Walked 1.89
Tuesday Nov 15 - Walked 1.71
Wednesday Nov 16 - Walked 3.75, Ran 2

Thursday Nov 17 - Walked 3.63, Ran 1.8

While in San Francisco I got the City Pass and on Sunday went to the California Academy of Sciences, and took a boat tour with Blue and Gold Fleet from Pier 39. The following day took the Muni Cable Car to work and went to the Aquarium of the Bay in the evening. I wanted to also go to the Exploratorium but ran out of time to get down there.

I really enjoyed the Californian Academy of Sciences - the planetarium show was very engaging, the Earthquake house, the aquarium, and the green roof were all very cool exhibits.

The Blue and Gold Fleet boat ride was great, especially the timing. I went on the last ride of the evening - sunny on the way out, and the sun set just as the boat was going under the Golden Gate, then the Super Moon was coming up over Alcatraz as the boat was coming back into port.

The Muni Cable Car wasn't a bad option for a commute - though Uber is faster, the view was way better as the Cable Car goes up over some hills. The operators are all very good at their jobs, for a task that takes a lot of skill and practice.

The Aquarium of the Bay was smaller than I envisioned, but in that small space they crammed a lot of decent exhibits. The aquarium tunnels were very cool, being able to see fish in all directions was awesome.

Crispy, Crunchy, Dash thru Autumn

Another wonderful autumn week, full of chills and thrills - and some ghouls and goblins. I always say, run like death is chasing you. Ok, I've never said that, and death would've caught me long ago. More like run like a crippled ground hog with a bad attitude is thinking about eventually starting pursuit.

Tuesday Oct 25th -  2.8 walking, 1.3 running
Wednesday Oct 26th - 1.3 walking, 1.4 running
Thursday Oct 27th - 1.6 walking, 2.1 running
Friday Oct 28th - Trail Run!
Route 9 Keys Gap crossing of the AT SoBo

This turned out to be a great part of the AT to run. Forgiving, in that it's not too rocky or rooty. Most of the inclines and declines are shallow enough that you can keep running up them without getting really winded.
I ran up over the high hill beyond the David Lesser Shelter cut-off, onto Buzzard Rocks and down the hill beyond that. I was running to 4 miles, then turning around and heading back.
I have noticed that it takes me a solid 3 miles to warm up; the first 3 are torturous, my shins just really hurt and it's really a mental battle to keep pushing. Once I'm warm though I don't want to stop, I'm able to pace myself and not get my heart rate up too high.

Sunday Oct 30th - 1 walking, 1.8 running

Monday Oct 31st - A nice cool day, I decided to try the W&OD. The main multi-use path is blacktop, but right next to it the is a dirt/gravel path that is perfect for trail running. The other nice part of the parallel path, beyond staying out of the bikers way, is that it gains and loses elevation way more than the blacktop path. I appreciate an incline and decline occasionally! 

Google Fit

MapMyRun (by Under Armour)

I'm testing different apps side-by-side. I'll write another post on my finding and review several before publishing my findings.