Off to San Francisco for the weekend! I’m staying with my old high school friend Mike and we’re doing the Bay to Breakers 12K on Sunday, which should be a lot of fun. Chris says there are lots of hills in San Francisco, and has been training on hills a lot for the race. Me? Well, Central Park has a few small hills, but I’ve been doing most of my running on the West Side Highway now which is flat, flat, flat. It might be a bit of a rude awakening, but I hear that the Vermont City Marathon gets kind of hilly, so I’ll consider it preparation for that. Nothing like starting your hills trianing seven days before the marathon, right?
Last night, Mike called to firm up my arrival plans, and he mentioned that we will have to get some kind of costumes together, as apparently that is the thing to do for this race. He also mentioned that a lot of people run it naked, which I promptly vetoed. However, I found it interesting that my first thought was not that I don’t want people to see me naked, but that the bouncing and lack of support would slow me down. I have such a runner mentality! Anyway, I was kind of glad to hear that people run it naked, because I stayed in touch via e-mail with a runner I met at the Providence Half (yes, yes, race report coming eventually), and in his last e-mail to me he said, “Hopefully you will be fully clothed for the Bay to Breakers.” He definitely didn’t seem like a pervert, but that comment struck me as very odd. Now it all makes sense!
I’m on the flight right now, which is my favorite airline: JetBlue! My manager spent the cab ride over here trying to convince me that JetBlue has lots of problems, but I pointed out that they always rectify them in a more than generous way (case in point: how they gave me a voucher when I had an itty-bitty complain that didn’t matter). In general, I’m super impressed with their service. If anyone from JetBlue is reading this – Karen Sharp is a fantastic member of your staff, and provides fabulous customer service. (For regular readers, Karen Sharp is the manager who called me and gave me tons of info after my original questions). My only downside to this flight is that it’s 6 hours, and that I have someone next to me in the middle seat (standby passenger – originally it was empty). But JetBlue has the most space of any airplane in coach class, so I’m still totally comfortable, and the best part is the in-seat televisions. I plan to catch up on my Top Chef and Grey’s Anatomy during the flight.
Oh, one other downside. My manager and I have kind of a competition going to see who can travel to the best places each weekend. I was psyched because I finally thought I had him beat… until he booked a last minute flight to Barcelona! Jerk. Hopefully I’ll get to alternational travel soon, but for now I’m thrilled with Cali.
Happy Thursday everyone!
I’m completely jealous. SF is one of our favorite cities to visit. Be sure and look out and wave as you fly over Kansas. Crazy that there’s a six hour flight domestically. We’re spoiled being right in the middle so it’s a relatively short flight wherever we go.
Good luck this weekend!
I’ll be at B2B, too – maybe I’ll see you there! (amongst the thousands and thousands of runners and walkers) As a six-time participant, yes, there are naked people running – many times though, it’s bad naked. And yes, almost everyone dresses up! I’m trying to think of a costume that I can run in too… normally, I’m just drunkenly cruising with the rest of the walkers.
What exactly do you do for work? And how did you get the job? Your life sounds so exciting!
You are such a high flyer. I love San Francisco. Been there a few times myself. Think of us Texans when you fly over our state.
I’ve got a wine answer for you: Its like anything. When you do something a lot, you know what you like and what you dont. (I dont keep an excel spreadsheet _ funny comment). When I first started, four or so years ago, I would keep the cork from the bottle and it would help me remember. now, i have enough wine over the years that there is usually one bottle im familiar with on most restaurants i go to.
Have a blast!! I have to pay for our tickets tonight to fly to SFO in Rocktober for the Nike marathon. I LOVE San Fran (I was born near there in a little burg called Castro Valley). Have a great run, an wonderful meal and some excellent wine!
If you’re wondering for the future, some San Fran lyrics:
– I left my heart in San Francisco
– When you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair
I’m sure there are others but those are the first ones that come to mind.
There’s also “Fake Tales of San Francisco” by Arctic Monkeys–always a fan favorite.
Yeah, I am really looking forward to B2B. I will be the guy that’s not naked and not wearing a costume. I am so boring, huh? Although I will have my camera on me so I am hoping for some nice shots.
Just a cide thought ehre but hasn’t the Rice-A-Roni company completely boxed themselves into a corner by being the “San Fransisco treat”. Gonna be awfully hard to pick up and move the headquarters.
…blatantly stole from a movie.
Good luck at the race! Run well and drink well.
Oooooooo GOOD LUCK CHICA!!! ;D ;D Yeah SF and the hills. I don’t know about running all of that BUT the scenercy will totally make up for it ;D ;D
Topher, I’ve never been west almost at all (except for Texas, every state I’ve visited has touched the Atlantic), so I was very eagerly looking out my window the whole way. The middle states looked very farm-y (lots of squares that I assume are different crops) while the Rockies were snow-covered and gorgeous. I definitely want to make more trips out here!
Audrey and Chris, I’m going to be with a group of four guys and we’re trying to figure out costumes still. I think we’ve decided to walk/drink though. Any idea how strict they are? How well do we have to hide our alcohol?
Jen, I work as a strategy and management consultant. I applied for jobs in consulting in my senior year of college and started in July after I graduated.
Kevin, didn’t go over Texas. However, someone on your blog pointed me to corkd.com which I’m currently checking out.
Andrea, believe me, I had PLENTY of wine last night! Look for more details in an upcoming post.
Road Warrior, no flowers in my hair, but my post when I come back will probably be something about I left my heart in San Francisco (not because I’ve fallen in love here but just because it sounds like a good departure lyric).
Nitmos, that’s hilarious. What movie?
Viper and Marcy – thank you! Will let you know how it goes. And Marcy, I’m now thinking about skipping the Freihofer’s but we’ll see…