Winter Break, 2011

we are 1.5 weeks into winter break and it has flown by! We have had amazing weather!! It has been a bit on the cool side, but beautiful sunny blue skies, perfect for getting outside and enjoying this amazing area we call home. I am in a continuous state of awe and gratefulness lately of this place we call home.

We have been to the Oakland Zoo.....



The Beast and I took our herd of kids hiking in Briones, up to Briones Peak.



Above is from Briones Peak looking across the valley of Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, and Concord to Mt. Diablo......which every time I see it from afar like this I think "yeah, I ran to the top of that"...... (there are only 2 people out there who actually know how much running actually went down on the way up and they will never tell, right??)
One of the above mentioned 2 people recommended getting some hills under our legs before the 50k....this was as steep as it looks, no camera tricks here
Above, sunset at the Lafayette Reservoir.

Below, one of the most beautiful hikes we have done to date. We headed to Stinson Beach to hike the Matt Davis Trail. We started in Stinson and hiked straight up the hill away from the ocean. This trail is no joke. It is steep, the first part is switch backs w/stairs at each end. You eventually hit grass lands at the the top, and pop in and out of the woods across the ridges a few times. The reason for hiking this was that we knew it was the final section of the 30k we will be doing next month. The elevation chart basically goes straight down at the end, that is the part that runs down the Matt Davis trail. It will be a beast to hit at mile 17/18 of a tough run. There are lots of stairs, and lots of trees to go over or under, and lots of roots.....but it is so beautiful!!
The above picture is at the top of Matt Davis, looking to San Fran. If you make it bigger, you'll see the top of one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as the tops of the buildings in the city.
Like I mentioned above, we would pop in and out of the woods as we crossed the tops of the ridges, then back into the woods of the valleys....when you are going across the face of the hill, it makes for nearly a straight line of going in and out of woods.....hard to explain, but if you've hiked this you know what I'm trying to describe.
If you make the above picture bigger, you'll see that it's looking up the hill at row after row of switchbacks w/a fence along the side.
I think we crossed 4 bridges??
That's the kids on Table Top Rock....I would later learn that it is a rattle snake hang out....but not in this cool weather most likely

Coming back down the girls and I ran it. We did run out of light be the end, but got to see a stunning sunset along the way.

We did a 10 mile run in Golden Gate Park on Monday of this week. Again, amazing weather.

Above, to get 10 miles out of this run, we start at the beach, and run to the polo field and do 2 laps. Myles had fun running these dirt hills. (we head to the conservatory of flowers, back to Stowe Lake, around it, then down the the beach from there for 10)


I know I say it often, but it is such a gift to live in a place that all these amazing adventures are just waiting to be had. To be able to get out and enjoy all these beautiful places w/our family and not have to pay a dime never gets old!!

There are hundreds more pictures here on the photo site. The Matt Davis pictures are really pretty, I had a hard time picking ones to post. I am so glad we took a look at it so we know what reward awaits us those last few miles, and that we now know to save some energy for those last few miles because we will need some energy to pick our feet up. If not, there will be plenty of face plants!