Running Commentary

Here's one of the trees along the Ohlone Greenway. I get drunk running under about fifty of these on my pre-dawn runs these day. They squeeze my heart, and I feel joy. I've been working a lot and not finding much time to post. I'm still loving my camera phone and am putting together a Flicker site. I'll let you know when it's ready for viewing. Going to Reno this weekend for family, for running, and for taking more bad photos. Yay!

...it’s the (lack of) humidity. But the memory of the salubrious sunshine is already fading. Oh, sigh. We spent two-and-a-half days in Phoenix, making our annual pilgrimage to the shrine of spring baseball. The A’s won one, lost two—but really, scores are (almost) beside the point at Spring Training. Our motel was just across the street from Papago Park , which means I was able to run at daybreak for two days in a row. Or two days running, if you will. I might have been a lizard in a previous incarnation—that’s how much I love the desert. The creature I was earlier in this life, of course, was a child of the high Nevada desert. The years I spent in Florida in the 70s were punctuated by occasional trips back to Nevada during which I was soaked up that bone-deep essence of “home” that I’ve never found anywhere other than in the desert. Anyway, the Phoenix runs were great, bringing plenty of rabbit and quail sightings. Did you know Papago Park is home to both cottontails and jackrabb...

Note to self: Camera phone has a reeeeally wide lens. Put something that has an interesting texture in the foreground. Panoramic landscapes are not ideal camera phone subjects. I did the long run Saturday. I’d hoped for 19 miles, but a 10- to 15-mph wind on the last half of the trip reduced me to toast. I feel it was a good exercise in endurance (as in “endurance” athlete) and so am not worrying too much about the actual distance. The course I chose ran from Coyote Hills Regional Park east, on the Alameda Creek Trail . I ran 8.75 miles out—to Mission Blvd in Fremont—and 8.75 miles back. Thank heavens I had left a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my car. Not much else could have provided strong enough incentive to fight through that wind. The day was beautiful, I have to say, laid out in brilliant colors against the emerald velvet of the surrounding hills. The wind scoured off any hint of pollution. Blossoms perfumed the air, raptors sailed and dove above. A little closer to the asp...