Freedom of the Hills

California Dreamin’ June 27, 2010

     Last 2 months in US has been an interesting experience…It was very rewarding from outdoors perspective. I started running again!
Thanks to Vijay who inspired me by asking me to join him in Bay-to-Breakers, I not only registered for it, but went on registering for two more runs – trail runs! I and my roommate – Tushar started to run near our apartment. Daily 3 mile runs around the Golden Gate Cemetery! As a practice we even ran the full length of Golden Gate bridge on a Saturday morning. It was such an awesome experience to run above the ocean in the wind and fog.

     Bay-to-Breakers is a quintessential San Francisco tradition. This 12 km run begins at Bay and ends in Ocean. On 16th May 2010, the 99th year of the run, I and Vijay joined 65,000 people for the largest foot race on this planet. That morning was cold and breezy. There were thousands of people cheering on the sidelines. Amidst the flying tortillas we started the run. For the first couple of miles we could hardly run on the roads as it was full of people running, walking in all sort of weird costumes and some without any! The climb up the Hayes hill was killing but after that it was just keeping up the pace. I finished the race in 70 mins, improved my timing by 5 mins. The best part was munching hot samosas after the race in that cold morning!
Bay-to-Breakers was just a beginning.

     The next week, Tushar and I ran the first trail run of our lives – Pacific Coast Trail Run at Big Basin Redwoods Park. The course was 10 km long and with an elevation gain of over 1000 ft. The trail passed through giant Redwood trees and included two hills. This was a sharp contrast to previous week’s run that only about 100 people were running 10k. By the time I reached the top of first hill, I was panting and puffing… Then came the downhill, and I just took off… almost unstoppable! The second hill was brutal…. I couldn’t run that… I had to hike. Thankfully it was still cool in the forest. The second downhill was really steep and the trail was narrow and uneven. I was running at breakneck speed and any slip means tumbling 100 ft to a stream below. It took me 70 minutes to finish this race in 12th place!

     A week later, I was back at Big Basin Redwoods forest. This time not for a run but for a long hike… 26-mile hike, alone. I took the Skyline-to-Sea trail which is 13 miles one way and ends in Pacific Ocean. It was 7:40 AM when I started the trek. I was the only one walking in the trail on that cold dark morning. The forest was silent and creepy. I had packed a bagel for breakfast and few theplas for lunch. My legs were still sore by the last weeks run. As I was walking, I saw a couple of lizard like creatures moving slowly on the trail. I had never seen such ‘lizards’. Only later I got to know that they were California newts! These cute little newts secrete a deadly neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which is hundred times more toxic than cyanide! After couple of hours of nonstop walk, I met first people on bikes. By around 11 AM, I reached the Waddell beach. I took a 15 min break here before heading back.
     Now it was a tough climb from sea level to 1100 ft and sun was high up in the sky. Though there was lot of shade, it was long hike back. It’s been a while I hiked such long distances in a day. The last was on the Sakleshpur trek-on-track in 2002! In the return trek, I met many hikers, trail runners and mountain bikers. My had a muscle pull in my right leg which made the hike painful. I reduced the speed but moved on… By around 1 PM I took a break for a quick lunch. It was a long walk before I reached the Parking lot at 3:05PM. The park headquarters was full of people as it was a long weekend. I headed to a store nearby for a refreshing energy drink and stopped to shop for souvenirs.

     The next weekend, I was at Joshua Tree National Park, camping with Sean and Tushar. Here’s the link to pictures of Joshua Tree NP.

     As I was winding my US trip, Tushar suggested that we do one more run. While I was searching, I came across a 7k trail run in Marin headlands organized by XTerra and registered for it. However in the end, Tushar backed out. But this time Birendra and Ravi from my office joined me. So on my last weekend in US, we were at Marin Headlands. It was a warm morning with sun blazing and no shade anywhere. The trail was steep and full of gravel which made running difficult. Added to that was the heat and strong ocean winds. This was by far the toughest run for me. Even though it was 7k, I was able to finish it in 46 mins. I was so surprised when I was called to receive a medal for securing 3rd place in my age group! It was one heck of an experience!!

Glossary

• Newt – Amphibian belonging to Salamander family.
• Samosa – Fried snack stuffed with spicy potato filling.
• Thepla – Spicy flatbread containing fenugreek leaves. A speciality food of Gujarat.

Check out the California pictures in Picassa album.