I love hiking. I haven’t been in a while, but I’ve resolved to try and hike every Sunday. It’ll be good for my training, too. Starting tomorrow (after a very long hiatus), my rigorous running schedule will commence. I’ve got my eye on the California International Marathon in Sacramento to qualify for Boston. I don’t want to run every day so I’m thinking Tuesdays, Thursdays, long runs on Saturdays, then Sunday hikes. That sounds good to me. Check back in a month and see how I’m doing.
I went hiking with my friend Vicky who organized it, her husband, their dog Maddy, and three of their friends. The trail head was exactly twenty minutes from my house, across the Golden Gate Bridge, first exit, Marin Headlands. This was the day after Steph’s wedding. I was a real trooper for making it early in the morning; I figured I could always nap after the hike. Plus, I kept thinking of the treats. Vicky said she’d bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Faye was going to bring her popular chocolate chip and pecan cookies. PB&J, cookies…my absolute faves. I was licking my lips all the way to the trail head.
I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life and I’ve never been to this place. There’s this cute little beach right across the bridge. The hike we did was the Coastal Trail and Hill 88 Loop. It’s an old military site with bunkers sprinkled here and there. That’s not really my cup of tea, but the views are tip top. There’s great diversity in flora, too. We also saw raptors or hawks. I don’t know ornithology, forgive me. And the beach. I’m definitely going back to that beach. After we were done with the hike–about three and a half hours later–we had a little picnic on the beach with more PB&J and cookies.
Vicky’s and Brian’s dog Maddy is super cute. She’s this small thing who loves to play ball and lead the hike. What’s funny is that Maddy took a liking to me. Hiking along, I consistently found her traipsing right next to my feet; I was fearful I’d accidentally step on her. All of us speculated that she liked me because I’m short and close to the ground. The whole eye-to-eye contact thing. She was probably thinking, “Ooh, someone who’s more my size.”
Check out the hike. It’s a good one, a good workout, too. Uphill half-way through, then downhill on the way back.
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