Saturday, March 7, 2009

Happy Birthday, Chris

Dear Chris,

Like someone said on the Evite, it is hard to think that you turned 30! ;-) After Chuck's 60th celebration on the trails, thank you for setting this one up. Happy Birthday to you, then, and to Brooke. Like you said, with mine 6 days ago, that made a 3-in-1 celebration run.
It was a wonderful run with a perfect weather. Even the trails were in quasi perfect conditions despite the rain of these past weeks. I love this are, it is really the paradise of trail and ultra running. From the Enid W. Pearson the Arastradero Preserve to the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, through Foothills Park and Los Trancos Open Space Preserve, what a trip across the best that the Peninsula has to offer to hikers and runners: creeks, hills, trees and luxurious vegetation, wildlife, grassy meadows, 360-degree views over the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, San Jose, the West and East sides of the Bay Area, Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo. And bright blue skies today to top that! See the map that you conveniently prepared for us, online.
However, these wonders would not be worth as much if they were not shared with friends, and surely you had many friends around you this morning and this evening to celebrate your milestone! Charles, Dennis, Brooke, Lee (and Winnie who missed the group picture), Chuck, Linda, Noel, Matt, Bill, Joe, Steve, Lina, My, Anil, Ernesto, I and Joe.
As a gift, here is a photo album capturing some views of this gorgious day on the Peninsula trails (more than 200 pictures!) Make sure to click on Slideshow. Great memories which will last longer than Agnès' madeleines!
Please thank "Run Director" and Aid Station #1-2-4 Captain, Chuck, as well as Bill, Aid Station #3 Captain, for me. They were instrumental in making such a long run a success! And helped me getting these 30.3 miles (let's round that up to 50K, right?) in, a great recovery run after Napa, and great training run before Way Too Cool.
See you (and Chuck!) for many more years on the trail, Chris!

Sincerely,

Jean.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Superbe évasion pour moi dans ce lieu paradisiaque!
Merci, Jean
Maman

Jean Pommier said...

I was going to mention birds as part of the wildlife I saw on Saturday (jack rabbits, deers, rabbits, coyote), but I didn't see a fraction of what Steve was able to capture with his camera, going back to Arastradero Park on Sunday. Take a look at his photo album; birdlife is another wonder of the Peninsula, although you have to slow down to appreciate it if you run! Thanks for sharing, Steve!

Jean.

Drs. Cynthia and David said...

I am excited about this route too, and think it should be made into an official event or FatAss. David and I did a similar route recently (Fern Loop and Costanoan Trail as marked on the Palo Alto Open Space map for the "Bay to Ridge Trail" instead of staying on Los Trancos trail), but continued over Black Mtn, came down through Rhus Ridge and tried to find our way back via Altamont and Los Altos Hills trails. It worked pretty well, but we were working on a route that is not an out and back. Routing it via the creek part of Los Trancos Trail in Foothills is spectacular and fun (and a little scary when going downhill). Here's the official map showing the trail from the bay: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/media/reports/1217551217.pdf

It would be fun to start at the Bay and do the whole thing (or end there)!

Cynthia

Drs. Cynthia and David said...

here's the link again (it got cut off) http://www.paloaltoonline.com/ media/reports/1217551217.pdf