A Lucky Runner’s Saturday

Sat Jan 12th, I was planing to run at least 15ml in the morning, then needed to attend a Costal Trail Runs Blazer Awards ceremony held in Walnut Creek. Since Max wasn’t carpooling with me, I figured I probably could run in Pleasanton then head up to Walnut Creek via 680. Normally I would be very reluctant  to drive that far for anything, but for Max winning the First Place Overall of the Full Marathon category in 2012, I had to be there for his glorious moment even if I had to ride a horse and paddle my canoe.

So I discussed my plan with my friend Venkat, and very nice of him that not only he would run this Sat long run with me, but also let me shower and change at his home. We met at 7:20am, and found the streets were all covered by ice, thanks to the unusual cold wave hitting CA this week, which made it very slippery to run and we had to watch our feet landing very carefully. We ran along the Foothill, and there was barely any traffic on such cold Sat morning. I carried 2 GU Gel and 20oz of GU Brew in my CamelBak, and it’s so cold that I didn’t feel thirsty actually, but still faithfully sipped the electrolyte fluid every 4 miles to stay hydrated.

Our goal for today is distance, not speed or hill training, so we skipped the Pleasanton Ridge trail and just stayed on Foothill. About mile 6.5 we came upon the Sunol train station, which I never been nor does Venkat although he lives in this area. There was a “DEAD END” sign right ahead of us, and on the right the road winding upward with a sign said “No Outlet”.

My friend said “let’s go back”, but I said ” no, let’s run this way and find out what’s out there.” And surprisingly the scenery was so beautiful, with tall trees and a cute church that names exactly what it looked like — tiny and brown, a handsome winery, and the steady sound of running creek provided tranquility to our run. I found it very pleasant to run here, with the rolling hills and plenty of shades, this would be a good place for summer run I think. We turned around after we reached mile 8, but it’s clearly to us that the road could keep going up for a while; I will definitely come back for a 20ml run on this “trail scenery run on paved street”.

On our way back, there was occasionally melted ice dripping onto my head and arms, and we saw vineyards on our right which Venkat did not know about prior today. Later at night I was telling Max that it’s interesting to see how my friend is not very familiar with his neighborhood, and instead I discovered this beautiful run for him. Plus our reactions to that “No Outlet” were so different quite amused me, either he is not very adventurous or I am just too rebel 🙂

A nice 16.45ml checked, and today’s run was powered by half a bagel, a banana, two GU Gel and 20oz of GU Brew🙂

At noon during the Costal Trail event, there were raffle drawings for running gears and accessories..etc, and Max joked that “I bet you will walk away with a prize,” and I actually did, OMG!!  I won a Salomon Twin Belt, believe it or not!! After breaking the exciting  GU news to him last Tuesday, he probably thinks I am the luckiest person on earth!!  When Max walked up to accept his 1st Place Overall medal for the Full Marathon category, I was so proud of him because trails races are much tougher to compete and he placed and won enough points to be placed  and remained  on the top! What a great accomplishment, and with great honor I was sitting here sharing this exciting moment with him. And I am sure he shared the same degree of excitement on Tues when I told him about GU!!

That night I truly had a blast at Max hosted “Belated Birthday Bash” for me, and was showered with friendship, cute presents and lots of laughters!! Stan gave me a tri-berries flavored GU gel and that’s the funniest thing ever! We were playing “You think you know the birthday star” trivia game with our guests, and everyone had good laugh although it’s at my own expense:-p What surprised me the most was Max knew so much about me and won the game, totally unexpected!

A newly offered representing spot with GU, discovering a beautiful running route, winning raffle prize, awesome birthday party given by the sexiest man alive! What a lucky runner I am!!!