Wildcard Run (Mount Olympus Mashup, 3.5 miles)-09/05/19

From Coach Toby.....

Mashups combine a little bit of everything – trails, pavement, flats and of course a wildcard favorite, hills. As a full body workout, the training benefits of these kinds of short runs are tremendous. In addition, they allow us to practice and develop skill and confidence in running different types of terrains.

Tonight's run is a 3.5 mile (total distance) “loop” including a beautiful forest jaunt through the city’s “Interior Greenbelt”, and a short stop at Mount Olympus, a less known San Francisco hill and according to SF Parks and Recreation, the city’s geographic center.

Please note that our warmup will be included as part of tonight's run!

We’ll wind things down on the flat Panhandle on the return to the stadium.

Ignore your speed tonight and enjoy the views. Yes, we’ll be running some trails, but road shoes will do just fine.

Course Map:

Here’s the route. We’ll get some directional chalk markings down for you, but please do review:

https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/2169378391

Course Directions:

-Exiting the stadium’s west entrance, turn left.
-Left on Frederick St.
-Right onto Willard St (just in front of Kezar Stadium entrance)
-Head up Willard St (enjoy the climb)
-Right onto Belmont St.
-Left onto Edgewood St.
-Edgewood dead-ends at the forest’s edge. Proceed into the forest on Edgewood Trail
-Proceed to intersection with Historic Trail
-Left onto Historic Trail and proceed down through the forest all the way to Stanyan St
-Left onto Stanyan St and then a quick right onto 17th St
-Running on the left side of 17th St, run up towards and then cross Clayton St is a busy traffic controlled intersection
-Immediately after crossing Clayton St, turn left onto staircase (Monument Way – this may or may not be marked with a sign)
-At top of staircase, turn left onto Upper Terrace
-Run around Upper Terrace (it’s a loop)
-Climb up the steps to the Top of Mount Olympus. You are now in the middle of SF. Literally!
-Exit back onto street and complete the loop back to and down the staircase
-Right onto 17th St
-Right onto Clayton St
-Take Clayton St to Oak St and cross over into the Panhandle
-Left onto Panhandle pedestrian path
-At end of Panhandle, left onto Stanyan St, then quick right to cross Stanyan St. into Golden Gate Park
-Run on the paved path along Kezar Drive back to Kezar Stadium. Watch for cyclists here
-Mashup complete!