Epic Run #2 (3ish Miles) Cheat Sheet

Follow chalk markings indicating 'E' with arrows on paved roads. Follow flour arrows on trail segments.

-Launch from Mountain Lake Park.

-Turn RIGHT once you crest the hill (.35 miles approx).

-Follow paved path uphill towards Presidio Golf Course. (.65 miles approx)

-Run through Golf Course via path until you run into Washington(.7 miles approx)

-Cross Washington and head towards Amatury Loop.

-Take a LEFT on Bay Area Ridge Trail at Amatury Loop.

-Cross Park Blvd on Bay Area Ridge Trail. (.78 miles approx)

-At Rob Hill Campground follow Access Road to Washington Blvd.(1.25 miles approx)

-Follow Trail Left on Washington Blvd. Turn left at crosswalk to Immigrant Point Overlook.

-At Immigrant Point Overlook take steps down to Lincoln Blvd/Battery to Bluffs Trail (1.6 miles approx)
-Look for chalk 'E' and arrow indicating you should turn around.

Epic Run #2 (3ish miles) Course Map & Description

We'll get things rolling with an easy 1/2 mile warmup run through Arguello Gate and head towards Mountain Lake Park. We'll do some range of motion drills before starting the run.

Here's a link to the course map....

Epic Run #2 (3ish miles) Course Map

Here's a description of said course...

Follow chalk markings indicating 'E' with arrows on paved roads. Follow flour arrows on trail segments.

-Launch from Mountain Lake Park.

-Turn RIGHT once you crest the hill (.35 miles approx).

-Follow paved path uphill towards Presidio Golf Course. (.65 miles approx)

-Run through Golf Course via path until you run into Washington(.7 miles approx)

-Cross Washington and head towards Amatury Loop.

-Take a LEFT on Bay Area Ridge Trail at Amatury Loop.

-Cross Park Blvd on Bay Area Ridge Trail. (.78 miles approx)

-At Rob Hill Campground follow Access Road to Washington Blvd.(1.25 miles approx)

-Follow Trail Left on Washington Blvd. Turn left at crosswalk to Immigrant Point Overlook.

-At Immigrant Point Overlook take steps down to Lincoln Blvd/Battery to Bluffs Trail (1.6 miles approx)
-Look for chalk 'E' and arrow indicating you should turn around.

Epic Run #2 (6ish miles) Course Map & Description

We'll get things rolling with an easy 1/2 mile warmup run through Arguello Gate and head towards Mountain Lake Park. We'll do some range of motion drills before starting the run.

Here's a link to the course map....

Epic Run #2 (6ish miles) Course Map

Here's a description of said course...

Follow chalk markings indicating 'E' with arrows on paved roads. Follow flour arrows on trail segments.

-Launch from Mountain Lake Park.

-Turn RIGHT once you crest the hill (.35 miles approx).

-Follow paved path uphill towards Presidio Golf Course. (.65 miles approx)

-Run through Golf Course via path until you run into Washington(.7 miles approx)

-Cross Washington and head towards Amatury Loop.

-Take a LEFT on Bay Area Ridge Trail at Amatury Loop.

-Cross Park Blvd on Bay Area Ridge Trail. (.78 miles approx)

-At Rob Hill Campground follow Access Road to Washington Blvd.(1.25 miles approx)

-Follow Trail Left on Washington Blvd. Turn left at crosswalk to Immigrant Point Overlook.

-At Immigrant Point Overlook take steps down to Lincoln Blvd/Battery to Bluffs Trail (1.6 miles approx)

-Cross Lincoln Blvd. Join Battery to Bluffs Trail and follow trail

-Continue onto California Coastal Trail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. (2.6 miles approx)

-Re-Join Battery East Trail (paved pedestrian path).

-Follow paved path to intersection of Lincoln/Long Ave. Look for stop signs.

-Continue on paved path through intersection to Crissy Field Overlook. Look for the 'E' with an arrow directing you to turnaround! (3.17 miles approx)

I run because I am a rule breaker..

I look both ways before crossing the street. I yield to pedestrians. I drive at a reasonable speed. Generally speaking, I follow the rules.

I pay my bills. I pay my taxes. I drive on the right side of the road. I stop at red lights. I avoid breaking the law.

I don't mind following most rules and obeying most laws provided they make sense and generally prevent society from devolving into complete chaos.

But, there's a part of me that yearns to break all of them. It's not that I want to cause problems and chaos. However, there's a part of me that questions everything. There's a part of me that accepts nothing on face value.

If you accept everything as it is, how can you change anything? How can you make anything better? How can you move forward?

Rules often seem to be about what you can't do. Rules are often about limits and I'm not a big fan of placing limits on things.

Sometimes you have to question the rules. Sometimes you have to challenge the rules. Sometimes you even have to break the rules.

It was once believed that it was humanly impossible to run a mile in under four minutes. Fortunately, Roger Bannister had the good sense to challenge this rule and found it to be bunk.

For a long time, it was believed that women were simply too fragile to run, let alone handle the demands of the marathon. It took the bold rule breaking of Kathrine Switzer at the Boston Marathon to prove this rule was bunk too.

Running is a wonderful way to break the rules. The act itself is an act of defiance. Each stride you take defies the law of gravity. Humans weren't designed to fly, but for a brief moment we do. If you want to be a rebel, run.

When you roll through town in a car or on a bike, you have to follow the designated path. The runner need not follow a designated path. Runners can blaze their own path, trail, or journey. There is no right side of the road when you run.

There's no speed limit with running. In fact, running slow is often frowned upon. Whereas running fast is glorified. If you have a penchant for breaking the speed limit, running might be your thing.

Running provides the opportunity every day to break the rules and challenge your limits. This isn't to say breaking the rules and challenging your limits will always succeed.

But, it's the only way I know of to move forward. I run because I am a rule breaker...

I run because the gods demand it...

I identify as agnostic, but I believe there is some entity (perhaps multiple entities) more powerful than me. Whether or not said entity influences my life in any significant way, I don't know. But, I like to think this is the case.

There was the time I was running and desperate for water. I could think of nothing else. Upon cresting a hill, a bottle of water lay on the ground in front of me. This could have been dumb luck, but it felt like divine intervention.

More than 44 miles into my first (and likely only) 50 miler, I was drowning in fatigue and pain. Uncertain about how far I could go, I somehow found myself able to stay afloat and run the last few miles. I suspect something larger than me was at work this day.

On a good day with my runners, I often say the running gods smiled on us. While there may not be any running gods that influence my runs or races, it's reassuring to delude oneself into thinking there might be.

Gods can be fickle, though. There have been days when I should have run brilliantly, but for reasons I can't comprehend, the stars didn't align. The gods simply didn't smile that day. Perhaps I failed them somehow.

Each time I put on my shoes and head out the door, I make an offering to them. It's my hope that my consistent and conscientious offerings will elicit a positive response more often than not.

I battle mightily through the last interval of a track workout hoping they will reward me on the day I need their help most. I push through a steep incline clinging to the idea that they will allow me the strength to do the same the next time I toe the line.

I run through torrential rain and stout headwinds with the hope they may help provide the weather I need on the day I need it. I surge towards the finish line running on fumes hoping that my efforts will not go unnoticed.

I've pushed myself perilously close to the limits of what my body can support. I've staggered across the finish line lightheaded, dizzy, and barely coherent. I can only hope this pleases them.

I've made my offerings on treadmills, trails, tracks, roads, and paths. Some may accuse me of being a zealot and they wouldn't be entirely wrong. I can only hope that my zealotry will pay dividends.

I have no way of knowing for sure if it will. My efforts are a leap of faith. But, I like to think that those who take the leap are rewarded more than those who choose not to. I run because the gods demand it..

I run because I want more life..

The advent of botox, plastic surgery, and other forms of cosmetic enhancement suggest that youth is something many desperately want to cling to. There are also age defying creams and lotions. You can also take advantage of cryogenics and seemingly live forever.

In the not too distant future, gene therapy may allow us to drink from the fountain of youth and never age. They say youth is wasted on the young and perhaps this is true as you rarely see the young ardently trying to cling to their youth in the same way that the 'youth challenged' do.

There are things I enjoyed about being younger, but there are plenty of things I experienced in my younger years that I have no interest in revisiting or prolonging. Becoming youth challenged isn't the end of the world.

As my youth becomes more challenged with each passing day, I've come to realize that receding (or disappearing) hair doesn't bother me. Nor do the more abundant wrinkles I see in the mirror. The idea of not being around eventually doesn't even necessarily bother me that much.

What bothers me most about getting older is life seems to move faster and faster. I know this isn't really the case, but perception is nine-tenths of the law. I perceive life to move much faster than it once did.

The breakneck pace of youth challenged life all but guarantees I will shuffle off this mortal coil with more than a few things left undone. This is admittedly a big bummer.

There is one way I know of to slow things down, though. Running slows the aging process. In effect, running grants more life.

At the end of the day, I don't give a shit about being young forever. What matters to me is having enough life to at least do 'most' of the things I would like to do. I figure running on a regular basis is buying me a few more years.

This means time to write a book. This means time to produce another event. This means time to make a few more people happy. It also means a few more opportunities to run.

I run because I want more life.

I run because I am a wanderer...

My family moved numerous times when I was a kid. Sometimes it was just thirty minutes away. Sometimes it was halfway across the country.

These moves were accompanied by new phone numbers, new schools, and new friends. I never particularly enjoyed these moves. They were never easy. They were always stressful.

Independent of our numerous moves, we took countless family road trips across the country. From Kansas to Connecticut and back. We drove my sister from Kansas to Los Angeles and back after dropping her off for college.

While we weren't gypsies, our existence seemed at least quasi-nomadic. It seemed we never stayed anywhere for long. Roots were never allowed to grow too deep.

Sometimes I'd wonder if my father was actually a secret government agent. Perhaps his 'real' job was the reason why we had to move so often.

By the time I got to high school I started to identify as a nomad. I never really expected to stay in one place for very long. Very little seemed permanent or stable to me.

I traveled so much that it almost seemed unnatural to not be traveling. If I stayed in one place for too long, I'd get antsy. Wanderlust took hold.

Traveling during high school was no easy feat as I rarely had money, a car, or any real means of going anywhere.

Fortunately, there was one mode of travel at my disposal that I could always count on. While my journeys were never terribly long, they were long enough to scratch the itch. The lust to wander lessened.

I'd travel down back roads I didn't know and stumble onto things I hadn't seen before. I ran down rocky trails startling deer as they meandered through the woods.

I rarely had a real destination in mind when I traveled.  I was never really sure where I was going. But, that doesn't mean my travels were aimless.

I was always looking for something new, something novel, or something to inspire the next journey. While part of me yearned to have a home that felt stable and permanent, I came to realize that the road had in many respects become my home.

My home became an enormous, expansive place filled with micro-climates, interesting people, and surprises. Even if I traveled the same path every day, it was never the same path twice.

Every day I have an opportunity to expand my home and fill it with novel experiences, memories, and journeys. I run because I am a wanderer...