WILL RUN FOR BEER

Yesterday was just one of those days in San Francisco.

Met my friend Patti and her brother, John, for a 10-miler along the SF waterfront. She's run marathons and halfs. We run together a lot. He's a relatively new distance runner, with his immediate sights set on a half marathon next month, and then, who knows?

The weather could NOT have been better. A little chill, no wind, overcast skies at the beginning. It didn't take long, though, to begin to clear. Started near the Coast Guard Station near Fort Point, and headed east and south toward SF's iconic Ferry Building, exactly five miles away.

I may have run this course a hundred times over the years, and it's still one of my favourites. I love the fact that people travel from all over the world to suck in this scenery and I can run here any day. What was fun about yesterday's trek was that, despite living in the area for years, John had not seen this part of The City from this angle.

Chrissy Fields was packed with runners and cyclists, Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero were teeming with the afore-alluded-to tourists, transforming much of our route into an obstacle course. This obstacle course came, however, with the smells of steaming crab, the Boudin sourdough bakery, and caramel popcorn, making navigation more pleasure than pain. Once we hit the Ferry Building, we did a 180 with thoughts of the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Ale that was cooling in the trunk of my car.

Patti is used to my Galloway run/walk thing, but I wasn't sure how John would take it. He's more of a run-straight-through guy, I think. I let him know at the beginning if I was too slow for him, he and his sister were more than welcome to forge ahead. That didn't happen. Turns out my run/walk pace was a bit faster than he's used to. Imagine that! My speed, considered "fast" by someone. Despite the "blistering" pace I set for us all, we made it, in fine fettle.

The Cherry Wheat slid down well. Cheers.

Gotta run!