While I Prefer Solitude....

I'll take what I can get!  I was able to sneak out the door at the same time Brian was leaving for work yesterday. He headed one way on his bike, and I headed the other way on foot, aiming for the hills behind our house.  It's not my cup o tea to start off running down a busy road, through a neighborhood, and then into the hills.  It's a bit odd to most people I talk to that I feel so much safer alone out in the hills/on the mountain than I do running where there are other people around. I'm ok with being odd...I'd happily take a run in w/a cow vs a run in w/a human.  Eventually I found the dirt and was a happy runner.  Not a bad run when my time is limited and I'm trying to get a run in before the house wakes up. I made it back home just as grandma and the kids were starting to stir.  Here's a few pictures for you- (I dont' have time to edit and make them pretty)

 Grass was glowing with the morning sun

 First bit of dirt of the day

 Looking back towards the neighborhood, not a bad spot to live! (for the record, we do not live in one of those big new houses...we are down in the bottom of the valley.)

 Hard to tell because of the lighting, but the tallest hill you see is actually the quarry by Mitchell Canyon.

 I kept climbing to the tallest place I could climb in Lime Ridge

 I didnt' see any live animals on this run (which is rare), but did see that.

 Dirt + Sun + run+ sleeping kids = happy me.

 Looking down into the Clayton Valley and our hood. Somewhere down there grandma and the kids were snoring.  Hard to tell but all that dark area in the bottom that looks like trees is....well, trees...and houses.

 I reached the top and had nowhere left to climb. This is looking towards Walnut Creek. You can see the golf course that runs along the Canal Trail down at the bottom of the hill, and Shell Ridge is coming into the picture from the left (those golden bumpy hills).

And this was looking down the back side of the hill, the way I came up. This is facing Clayton and a smidge of Concord. Diablo/the quarry/Mitchell Canyon is not pictured, but it's directly to my right.

I'm not running today because Brian and I will be heading out early tomorrow to get a good run in on the mountain. If I want to keep him within my site, I gotta have fresh legs!

Have a great weekend!