Day Two: 20 miles = 40 miles for the Weekend!

Wow - what a weekend!

2 Days, 40-miles!!! I'm so happy that I made it through!

Sunday's walk was pretty epic. We started at Fort Mason in SF, walked through Crissy Field, up and over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Sausalito and other parts of Marin County, over to Tiburon. We had a leisurely lunch at Sam's in Sausalito, before catching a Ferry back to San Francisco (via Angel Island) which brought us back to the Pier 39 area (ugh) and we walked another 1.5 miles to our cars.


Sunday's 20-mile Training Walk!

I think this was my favorite training walk so far. Part of it may be because of the epic length - on Saturday, we did 20-miles, but it was two loops of 10-miles each. I think I also loved seeing Marin County - an area a hardly ever go to, and have certainly never walked around, so it was so new and different.


Walking through Crissy Field towards the Golden Gate Bridge

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge at 7:30am was just amazing. The Golden Gate Bridge is notorious for being cold and windy. This morning, it was not cold, and the wind was still. There wasn't much traffic at this hour of the day, so it wasn't very noisy. The most amazing part, though, was watching the sun rise over Alcatraz, from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was magical.


Watching the sun rise over Alcatraz, while walking across the Golden Gate Bridge at 7:00am was pure magic.


Walking across the GG Bridge


The Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Side

We made our way down to Sausalito, which was also neat to see so early in the morning, before any of the stores open. I haven't been here in years, and it was neat seeing it from a different perspective.


Sausalito

The walk to Tiboron was long, but really nice. We usually walked near the bay, so we usually had a nice view. The weather was sunny and warm, but not too bad. We were really lucky with the weather.

I arrived at Tiburon at 1:00. We had a nice leisurely lunch at Sam's before catching the 2:30 ferry back to SF. At this point, we had walked 19.6 miles, so the break felt really great.


The ferry from Tiburon to SF

The ride on the ferry was pretty great. By this time, the wind had picked up and the fog had started to roll in. The cool wind was refreshing, and we were so glad that we didn't have to make the trip back over the bridge.

Lizelle & Trina on the ferry ride back to SF


Passing along Alcatraz


The Golden Gate Bridge socked in fog

The ferry brought us back to the Pier 39 area, and I was reminded once again why I never go to this part of SF. After we dodged the tourists, we walked another 1.5 miles back to Fort Mason to our cars.

A few random things I learned this weekend:

- changing into a fresh pair of socks at the half-way point makes a huge difference!

- there's something that happens around mile 15 or 16 that makes the walk seem suddenly long. This happened to me on both days. However, I perked up after mile 18 or so on both days, after realizing that we had hit the homestretch.

- I think the hardest part of doing these training walks may be waking up so early on a weekend. (we met at 6:00am both days this weekend) Once I'm there and walking, I find I really enjoy being up so early, and love feeling so accomplished by early afternoon. Also, I love walking around parts of the city while it is so quiet.

- One of the very best part of the longer training walks (16-20 miles) are the wonderful and amazing ladies who volunteer to do route support. This weekend, we had two or three cars who drove along with us, met us at rest stops (or even before rest stops along the way!) and constantly offered us water, Gatorade, fresh fruit, candy, and even fresh, cool towels. At the rest stops, they would open their car trunks and supply us with bagels, chips, homemade deviled eggs, peanut butter, etc., to make sure we had plenty of food along the way. They were just amazing, and so very appreciated!

- I've been told I'm a fast walker. Someone asked me yesterday if I always walk quickly. I told them it's probably because my husband is a full foot taller than me, and that I'm always trying to catch up to him. ;)

- I feel very fortunate that I have not lost anyone close to me to Breast Cancer. I am doing this walk because it's something I can do, and it's a good cause to raise money for. I have met so many people in my training group who have lost loved ones, or who are in recovery or remission themselves. I walk for all of them.

This weekend was the pinnacle of the Hottie's training walks for the year. We'll be taking Labor Day Weekend off, then will have (slightly) shorter training walks (10/12/16-miles) for the next 3 weekends before the event. This is designed to let us continue training without wearing ourselves out before the event on Oct. 1-3.

I feel so great (and a little bit amazed) that I was able to make it through both days of 20-miles. I'm proud to say that I walked 40-miles this weekend. :)

Today's 20-Mile Training Walk

*Whew!*

Survived my first 20-Mile Training Walk!

It was a really good day, and I was SO happy that Carol (my longtime friend, former color guard instructor, and team mate!) was able to make it. My feet are tired, but I think I'll be up and ready for another 20 tomorrow!


Today's two 10-mile loops


This is what the Golden Gate Bridge looks like at 6:00am


The Golden Gate Bridge during sunrise


10-mile Lunch Break


Here's a great group shot that we took Saturday afternoon at the top of Inspiration Point


GG Bridge from Baker Beach


We made it!

$5,000!!!!

We did it!!


Goal: $5,000.00
Achieved: $5,005.00

This morning, with the support of all of my generous sponsors, we surpassed my fund-raising goal of $5,000.00!!!

This is such a huge milestone, and I am so grateful to all of you who have contributed towards my fund-raising efforts. You are all amazing, and I am continuously humbled by your generosity.

You have all inspired me to do my very best as I continue to train for the big event, which is only 5 weeks away.

So far, I have logged in almost 100 training miles with my fellow participants, which does not include the workouts and more moderate training that I do on my own.

This weekend, I will attempt to complete my first Back-to-Back weekend: 20-miles on Saturday, followed by another 20-miles on Sunday! Wish me luck!



I just received an email from the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure informing me that I will now be presented with this $5,000 pin, which I will proudly wear during the event.

I still have 5 more weeks before the big event to continue my training and my fund-raising. There is no limit to the amount of money that we can raise to help in the fight against breast cancer.

Thank you all again for your incredible support and generosity.

You've filled my heart and you've inspired me.

I am honored to be representing all of you when I walk in October.

This is how hot it is...

This is one of the lanterns that we have in the backyard.

The candle is one of those battery operated ones.

As you can see it has completely melted, and is stuck to the base of the lantern.

That's crazy! I'll have to wait until it cools down before I'll be able to take it out.

It's Africa Hot

102 degrees in San Francisco?!

That's CRAZY!

For those of you who don't live here, here's the thing:

When you move to San Francisco, you automatically become a weather wimp.

You're uncomfortable in any temperature outside 60-75 degrees.

Any hotter than that, and we melt.

And, none of us has air conditioning.

Seriously, I don't have any friends who live in SF with air conditioning.

There are only a handful of days per year when we really need air conditioning, and this is one of them.

ugh.

hydrate.

"Holy Raccoon, Batman!"

I know that I've mentioned that we have raccoons in the backyard occasionally. They splash around in our water fountain, and leave their paw prints, I've found claw marks going up and down our fence, and they've even tried to play with our putting green flags.

I once saw a family of raccoons walk through my neighbor's front yard and climb the fence into ours. I believe they were living in our yard at the time. That was before we had our backyard landscaped. We haven't actually seen one in the flesh since then.

Until tonight....

We were eating dessert in our Dining Room which looks out into the yard and the side fence. Dick opened up the window to let the cooler air in and gasped. There, precariously perched on the side fence right by my neighbor's front door stood 5 (count 'em - FIVE) Raccoons!! Yikes!

They just stared at us as we stared at them. It was like a staring contest. I think they were trying to challenge us. Eventually, they backed off and climbed back down the other side of the fence.


The Five Masked Intruders

Wacky. I still think it's so weird to see raccoons in an urban area. I shouldn't be surprised at all, since I knew they were there, but still - kind of different to actually see them.

Originally, this blog post was going to be about the lovely, spontaneous Alfresco Dinner we had this evening with Pete. We grilled kabobs, and ate outside on the new patio furniture. We saw cute, tiny finches fly down to the water fountain, while his other little finch buddy sat nearby on the lantern.

It was all very lovely...

...until the raccoons came! ;)


kabobs on the grill


Cute little birdie #1


Cute little birdie #2

Bad Hair Day

I just noticed that Wooden Trina is having a bad hair day. I guess it can happen to anyone. ;)

2-Days, 25-Miles!

Another weekend, another 2 training walks with the Warming Hut Hotties!

My friend, Jason, was visiting this weekend. Last week, before he came out, I asked if he would be interested in joining me on a 12-mile training walk. There are few people I can think of who, when asked this question would be a) interested at all and b)physically in-shape enough to not think anything of it. Jason was all for it! He was very excited. He said that he had been planning on working out every other day while on vacation. By the time he arrived here in SF, he had already gone swimming with his old swim team in San Diego, gone swimming in the Ocean (with Dolphins!) in Santa Monica, and gone jogging in L.A. What's a 12-mile walk on top of it all? We always try to think of new Jason/Trina adventures to have when we get together, and this one fit the bill well!

We woke up at 6:00am on Saturday (egads!) and got to the Warming Hut in Crissy Field at 7:00. The weather was pretty chilly - probably in the high 50s, with lots of fog, and a heavy mist.


Saturday's 12-Mile Route

The route for Saturday's walk was pretty terrific! We walked along a really nice trail within the Presidio that has some really nice and interesting art/nature installations.


Cool art installations in the Presidio

After leaving the Presidio, we walked through Laurel Heights (one of Jason's old neighborhoods), through the Richmond, and into Golden Gate Park. We walked around Stow Lake (which Jason had never seen before) and made our way to our rest stop at Andronico's Market on Irving and Funston.

After our break, we walked up Parnassus, passed UCSF, then climbed some steep stairs to Tank Hill. I'd never been to Tank Hill before, so that was pretty cool. We took some photos at the top - you can see how it was still pretty foggy.


Trina & Jason on top of Tank Hill


Some of the Warming Hut Hotties!

We walked down to Twin Peaks Blvd, down to 17th Street, onto Ord, and UP the Vulcan Stairway! This is just a few blocks from my house. I've always loved the Vulcan stairs - they are a good climb, and so beautiful!

After we conquered the Vulcan Stairs, we found our way to Masonic, then to Presidio Ave, back into the Presidio, then to Crissy Field.

As we walked along the path in Crissy Field, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, we couldn't resist another photo to commemorate our day's journey.


wrapping up the walk in Crissy Field

We finished the walk at Noon - right on time. Jason and I decided early on that we were going to celebrate the completion of our walk by having lunch at both of our favorite Chinese Restaurant - U-Lee's in Russian Hill.


Jason, celebrating with Potstickers at U-Lee

Sunday morning: I woke up again at 6:00, while Jason slept in. :)

Sunday's walk was also fantastic, and so different from our walk the day before.


Sunday's 13-Mile Route

If Saturday's walk was about walking through neighborhoods and finding spots you've never seen before, then Sunday's walk was about seeing San Francisco landmarks, and seeing them in a whole new way!

We started off by walking through Crissy Field towards the Marina Green. We passed Fort Mason, the pick-up Safeway, and Aquatic Park. We walked by Ghiradelli Square and along a short span of Fisherman's Wharf. There was something so peaceful about walking around this area so early in the morning. Usually, these areas are packed with tourists, and frankly, are areas that I avoid and never go to. It was nice to see them early in the morning, before anyone else was out.


Treasure Island and The Bay Bridge


Ghiradelli Square at 8:00am

After a quick potty break at the gorgeous Argonaut Hotel, (best bathroom stop ever!) we continued our walk through Telegraph Hill! It was here that one of my new Hottie friends gave me a new nickname: Hurricane Trina. The group that I'm walking with noticed quickly that I tend to take hills and stairs at a fairly quick pace. I'm not trying to race, or show-off - really! It's just that I like to continue my momentum that I've had, and really need to keep it going while I go up hill. Otherwise, I may never make it! :)

We walked up, up, up Telegraph Hill, making our way up to Coit Tower. Again, it was refreshing seeing it early in the morning, before it's open, with very few cars in the parking lot.


Coit Tower


A great Art Deco Building on Telegraph Hill

We continued by walking down, down, down the Filbert Stairs down to Sansome.


Coming down the steep Telegraph Hill Steps

We turned onto the Embarcadero, walking to our rest stop destination: The Ferry Building.


The Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero


The Ferry Building

This was the mid-way rest stop - we were almost half-way through our walk here, and most people like to get a little snack during their break. Well, seeing as we were at the Ferry Building, there were lots of goodies to choose from! I confess, I caved and had a chocolate croissant from the Acme Bread Company. (although the cheese-wheels were very popular amongst our group - I may have to try one next time!)


Inside the Ferry Building

We left the Ferry Building, and walked over to Broadway. We were getting ready to climb up the steep part of Broadway, when one of the Hotties pointed out the Kearny Stairs that she climbs up 3 times a week during her lunch break. Never one to pass up a stair opportunity three of us veered away from the group to go up and down the Kearny Stairs, then caught up with the group at the top of the Broadway stairs. *phew*


The Transamerica Pyramid

The rest of the walk took us through Chinatown, Nob Hill, Pac Heights, Presidio Heights, then back into the Presidio, and eventually back to Crissy Field.

Sunday's walk seemed a lot longer than 12 miles to many of us. It could be because it was the second day of walking, or because the sun was out and the temperature was warmer, or it could be because the actual route was longer than 12-miles!:) When we returned to the Warming Hut, several Hotties checked their pedometers and GPS devices. The mileage logged on Sunday varied from 12.5 miles to 13.6. I'm going with the 13.6. ;)

One more note: I wore my new pair of Ecco Biom walking shoes for the first time this weekend. I had tried to break them in over the past few weeks, but this was the first time I had taken them out on a long walk. I was concerned that I might have problems with blisters, or that my muscles might have problems walking in them at length. Happy to say that they were great to me all weekend long. No problems whatsoever! I'm much relieved, as these will be my main training shoes which I also plan to wear for the event.

What a great weekend of great walking!

Next weekend is the biggie: 20-miles back-to-back. 20-miles each on Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to go and give it my best shot! It'll be pretty awesome if I can do 40 miles in 2 days!

This concludes what very well may be the longest blog post I've ever written.

Thanks for reading!

"Filling in for the role of Trina's Husband..."

Jason!!

Dick left early this morning for a fun-filled weekend in Vegas with Martin.

Lucky for me, the always-effervescent Jason is in town for a visit this weekend! He'll be staying with me all weekend!

I drove Dick to the airport early this morning, came home, then picked up Jason.

First stop: Bakery Tartine for a couple of morning buns, and a chocolate croissant to share.

As good timing would have it, Jason's flight leaves Sunday afternoon, just as I will be at the airport to pick Dick back up. :)

No, this is not okay

Don't mess with City-Dwellers and their parking spots!

Dick and I love our house, but the one big thing that it's missing is a garage. No garage, no parking.

Street parking isn't too bad - we did that for several years, but we certainly can have problems when the neighborhood is busy on weekends, and evenings.

We lucked out (really) and found a garage space to rent a couple of years ago. It's true that we pay a lot of money for it, but since it's a small, tight spot that only a small car like a MINI can fit in, we were lucky and pay much less than the average garage rental in our neighborhood.

The garage has worked out really well for us, and we have a good relationship with our landlord.

Earlier this year, the landlord of the building decided to rent out 2 of his apartments as vacation rentals. Luckily, this didn't affect us at all, as the rental units did not come with parking, so we were able to keep our spot.

I think that our landlord and his wife are on vacation at the moment.

Wednesday, I found a note on my windshield from someone renting one of the units. She asked she could park in the garage Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the daytime, and left her phone number. I didn't find this note until late Wednesday afternoon, and was out late that night, so I didn't call her until yesterday morning. I left her a voice message saying that no, it wouldn't be okay, since I would need to get in and out of my spot throughout the day. (I gave her the benefit of the doubt, figuring that she was assuming that I work away from home, and that my car would be out all day.)

Yesterday afternoon, I found this note on my car.


No, this is not okay.

When I got this note, there wasn't any other car parked in the garage, so it kind of wasn't an issue, although I certainly didn't like it (the landlord's car is in there, and also had the same note left on it).

I had to take Dick to the airport early this morning. We had a hunch that there might be another car in the garage this morning, blocking my car. We knew it would be early, and that we wouldn't have time to deal with it, so we took Dick's car instead.

When I came back at 8:15, I checked the garage, and here's what I found.


this is really not okay

Turned out we were right to take Dick's car this morning, or this would've been a mess.

So, I took these photos, and just emailed them to our garage landlord.
I'm assuming that this was not an arrangement that they made with him, as I don't think he would have approved, and if he did, he certainly would have let me know.

I'm going out now, and need to take my car to pick up a friend. I'm guessing a phone call will have to be made.

Not happy having to deal with this.

UPDATE

So, I went back out to the garage at 9:00. I had an appointment I had to get to. Sure enough, the car was still parked there. I was plenty upset about this already, and had to call the two numbers left on the note.

Well, wouldn't you know it - neither person picked up, and I had to leave voice mail messages.

So, I called one of the other numbers left on the note. That person answered, but said she was not the owner of the car in the garage, didn't know the people, and didn't know how to get a hold of them.

I was FURIOUS.

Lucky for me, (and they don't need to know this) Dick is out of town, and I was able to use his car (after I walked back home, switched keys, wrote an angry email to my landlord).

This is infuriating!

Two Angry Little Asian Girls

My Sis just came over for lunch.

Apparently, we both decided to wear our "Angry Little Asian Girl" shirts today!!

Funny!

PS: Not actually angry. ;)

16-Mile Training Walk

The 16-Mile Training Walk Route!

Wow! Another great training walk with the Warming Hut Hotties!

We did a 16-Mile training walk yesterday, which was GREAT! I'd like to pat myself the shoulder for my own personal accomplishment of making it through yesterday, but the truth is most of the women that I walked with yesterday had also done a 20-mile training walk the day before! WOW! (I didn't know if I was ready for a 20-mile walk yet, so I opted to stick to the 16)

We met at the Warming Hut in Crissy Field at 6:30am (oh, my!) and left promptly at 6:45. It's been very chilly and foggy the last few weeks in SF, which, for me makes optimum walking weather. :) The 3-day SF event is the first weekend of October, which is usually our Indian Summer, so I'm mentally trying to prepare myself with the knowledge that it'll be much hotter then.

The route that we took yesterday was really great. We started in Crissy Field on a trail in the Presidio that goes underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Neat way to start the day!

This is what the Golden Gate Bridge looks like at 7:00am ;)

We walked through the Presidio, onto Lincoln Blvd. We had a great view of Baker Beach.


View of the Pacific Ocean from above Baker Beach

We took Lincoln Ave to El Camino Del Mar, through the Sea Cliff neighborhood. I love seeing these beautiful houses! Lincoln Ave passes through the Lincoln Park Golf Course - a course that Dick, Andy and I played last year.



View of the Golden Gate Bridge and Lincoln Park Golf Course

At the top of Lincoln Ave is The Legion of Honor - where Dick and I got married. :)


The CA Palace of the Legion of Honor

We found that the trails on the other side of the Legion of Honor had been blocked off, due to construction of a nearby parking lot. That didn't stop the Hotties, though! We found our way around the fences and made our way through to the other end.


Rebellious Hotties!

We took the trail onto Point Lobos Ave, which turned left onto the Great Highway.

At this point, we passed by the Cliff House. It was probably around 8:30 or so by this time, and we could smell them cooking breakfast/brunch. It was hard not to stop!


The Cliff House - calling me with promises of Bloody Marys and Pop-Overs!

I had mentioned in my previous post how very impressed I am with the organization of the Warming Hot Hotties. Not only do they meet every weekend to train together, with pre-planned routes with rest stops, but on longer walks (like this 16-mile walk, and the 20-mile walk the day before) they also plan to have route support along the way. They have a volunteer (another walker, or someone who does route support for the actual event) drive the route in a car, meeting us along the way and at all designated stops. The car is stocked with snacks, water and gatorade, and will pick up walkers along the route if they are unable to finish.


Some of the snacks provided by Susan - Route Support Extraordinaire!

After a bathroom break at the Beach Chalet (again with the delicious-smelling breakfast food!) we walked along the Great Highway, along the Pacific Ocean for about two miles.

We turned left on Taraval, and walked another couple of miles until we reached our next break stop.

After our break, we continued down Taraval, and passed this great set of stairs! Apparently, the stairs were not part of our actual route (which I didn't realize until after) but we decided to add them to our training walk! I've realized during these training walks that I have an unusual love of stairs and hills. Now mind you, I didn't walk 20-miles the day before, so I had more enthusiasm (and energy) than most of the other walks. I also realize that I probably won't enjoy stairs and hills as much after day 1, 2 or 3 of the event! Anyhow, I did love these stairs yesterday! They were really pretty, and had a great view at the top!


View of the stairs from the bottom


View of the stairs from the top!

We made our way into Golden Gate Park, and took our final break at Stow Lake. It's always so pretty there. :)

We turned onto JFK Drive, walked through the park a little more then eventually made our way to 25th Ave, and back onto Lincoln Drive - which is quite long, and uphill in this direction!

I had been warned by other walkers last week that your body really starts to feel the effects of a walk around mile 14 or 15. It was true! My legs and feet were starting to get tired once we were back in the Presidio. It wasn't so bad, although I did notice the beginnings of a blister on one of my heals. I put some mole skin (great stuff) on it at the last break, which helped a lot. The blister never got any worse. Phew!

We made our way back under the Golden Gate Bridge, and arrived back at the Warming Hut around 1:00. I was a little sore and stiff after walking 16-miles, but not too bad. I think it's also time to retire my trusty old walking shoes, and break out the new ones (that I've been trying to break in) for the next walk.

Next weekend: another 2-day, 12-Mile back-to-back weekend!


I made it!! A little wind-blown, and tired after finishing my first 16-mile training walk!