Running Adventures Over The Golden Gate

I don’t know what exactly inspired me to run so long yesterday. Maybe it was the daunting realization that marathon Sunday was less than two months away. Maybe it was the sight of all the runners and bikers already out on the boardwalk at half past five in the morning. Or maybe it was the intimidation of running in a foreign place under mysterious skies on unfamiliar roads and trails that made me run further than I’ve yet run this year. Whatever the cause, I’m grateful because it made for the most incredible running adventure I’ve had in a very very long time.

It all started when I unexpectedly woke up at 5am on conference day. Because lectures didn’t start until 8:30am and I hadn’t had a good run in a couple of days, I decided to lace up the shoes and run over to The Embarcadero. My plan was for a short 3 mile run to Pier 39 to bid good morning to the sea lions that commonly play and frolick in the docks nearby. The sun had barely pierced the horizon by the time I started my run, but already there was bunches of runners out on the walkways. The weather was unseasonably cool the past few days since my arrival, and coupled with the dense fog covering much of San Francisco, the early morning breeze blowing off the ocean front made the early morning downright frigid. Still, I was quite content to know that I was running miles while the city was still mostly asleep.

By I reached the pier where I had intended to stop, the wind had died down and the dawning sun was shimmering specks of light on the water. It was still rather cool, but having warmed up sufficiently in the previous miles, I felt rather comfortable. Just as I was about to stop, I saw a large running group of 10 or so pressing onward in front of me and decided to follow. Since I hadn’t planned to run further than the pier, I thought I’d run with the group to see where they were headed so I wouldn’t get lost. Unfortunately for me, after about another block and a half, they made a U turn and started running back. I didn’t know what to do, but since I was still feeling somewhat fresh, I decided to continue running onward…at least until the end of the Embarcadero.

I ran through Fisherman’s Wharf, which brought me to the end of the Embarcadero; through Jefferson Street, through a park on Marina Boulevard, then along a trail next to a beach, then onto the Presidio. Eight miles later, I arrived at the northern tip of the San Francisco Bay. For all intents and purposes, this should really have been the end of my run, since the beachfront trail ended there. I took a mini-break at that point to assess my scenic run and enjoy the view. I was about to head back when I saw a car climb up a really steep hill on my right hand side. I didn’t know where that car was headed or where the path led, but because I had been running on a flat path the entire way up to this point, I felt I needed to run up the hill just to give my hamstrings and quadriceps a little workout.

The hill climb was a little strenuous and difficult. I was about to complain and turn back when I scaled the crest of the hill, made a sharp right hand turn and literally felt my jaw drop in amazement, because right in front of me, less than 100 feet away, was the majestic structure known as the Golden Gate Bridge! I must have stood there for a good 5 minutes just staring and saying “Wow!” I have driven past the bridge on a previous trip, but had never seen it up close on foot before. And even though I had already run 9 miles, and had struggled up a steep hill to get there, I knew I just had to run across. So I did.

Let me tell you…running across the Golden Gate Bridge was definitely one of the most thrilling runs of my life. On the one hand, I was awed by the incredible views all around me. Because the pedestrian walkway sits right to the right of the road and next to the edge of the bridge, it offers a panoramic view of all the surrounding land and water down below. However, once I got beyond being blown away by the scenery, my feet became quite numb from the altitude. Yes, unbeknownst to me up to this point, one can actually develop a fear of heights from running across a bridge (even if it is one of the tallest suspension bridges in the world). And the more I tried not to acknowledge the fact that I was a wuss, and should enjoy the awesome view as much as possible, the more my fear became a paranoia. At times, I even imagined that any minute I’d see Magneto rising out of the water, and use his mutant powers to transport this bridge over to Alcatraz (an Xmen III reference for those who never saw the movie). Also, not only was the bridge massively tall, it was extraordinary long too. It literally took me more than ten minutes to cross it, which is quite a long period of time when you’re sure you’re somehow going to end up falling over the railing!

Once I made it over the bridge and into the safety of the Marin County Visitor’s Center, I paused a bit to enjoy the cool breeze and the incredible scenery before psyching myself up to run back over to San Francisco. I’ll admit I had to close my eyes for part of the way back to calm the nerves. Eventually, I made it back over, down the hill and onto the running path for the trip back.

By the time I made it back to my hotel, what had originally started as a 3 mile easy run to greet the sea lions became a 20 mile amazing journey through three different parks, four different boulevards, four different subclimates, and one majestic bridge that became both a thrill and a terror both at the same time.