With a guilty heart and sweaty torso, I must confess my infidelity. We’ve had a special connection since that first morning years ago when we met for a sunrise run. Our relationship was never exclusive — I’ve gotten hot and sweaty with many other roads and routes around the world — but it was you, and only you, I’d visit for a sunrise run along a bay.
Until a few days ago.
I’ve been here in San Francisco, as you know, and I began feeling an intense urge to lace on my running shoes at dawn the day after I arrived. I made my way to the Embaradero, exploring its shape and contours as the sun emerged from San Francisco Bay and rose by the Bay Bridge.
I did it again a few days later.
The Embarcadero is nothing like you, my dear Bayshore. Do not be jealous of its fame or its Ferry Terminal. While it is pretty, you can’t ignore its dirty past as an industrial port, teeming with seamen. You, Bayshore, have been Tampa’s beautiful Boulevard of Dreams since your first balustrade was built over 100 years ago.
It’s not eau, it’s me.
I shall return to you soon, sweet Bayshore. I know that my experiences here in San Francisco won’t change our relationship because we have a special bond built over many years and miles. Also, you’re a sidewalk and don’t have feelings.
Saturday Run
Stopping on the way to admire the Salesforce Tower.In 2004, the government sold the naming rights to the Bay Bridge. The public never took to the new name, the Chili’s Baby Back Baby Back Baby Back Bay Bridge, and the naming rights deal ended in 2009.Please, please, please let there be Dalmatians wearing life jackets.An actor rehearsing for the local production of Starlight Express. Or just someone out skating. Either explanation is equally plausible. A last look at the Bay Bridge before heading back to the hotel. Hey, these captions can’t all be funny. Stop complaining.
Saturday Run by the Numbers
The route.
Distance: 2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Temperature: 46°F (8°C)
Coffee shops popped into on way back to hotel: 1 (Peet’s)
Wednesday Run
Gandhi stands watch outside the Ferry Terminal. (It’s not really Gandhi. It’s a statue. In case you were confused. And you really shouldn’t have been. If you thought this was really Gandhi, you might want to seek out a vision or healthcare professional.)This is a western gull. Like all birds, it is a descendent of dinosaurs. This must be true because I saw it in a movie.Another photo of that gull — but I’m not seeing any scrawny T. rex arms, stegosaurus plating, or triceratops horns. Could Sam Neill and Steven Spielberg have been lying to us?Maybe I’m descended from dinosaurs. Not birds. Look at me! Like a T. rex, I often lack the strength to open pickle jars. Plus, I look down on mammals. Not all mammals. But more than I did before the last election.But, I mean, maybe it is birds and not me who descended from dinosaurs. Dinosaurs didn’t invent bridges, cell phone photography, or the candied yam latte — and birds, to my knowledge, have invented none of those things either. Humans did. I gotta give this more thought.
Watch this video. It’s not very long. I’m still pondering the dinosaur stuff.OK, here’s what I think: Birds descended from dinosaurs, and humans descended from something else, giving us the intelligence and opposable thumbs required to invent the aforementioned candied yam latte.
Wednesday Run by the Numbers
This is a slider image. Not to be confused with a scratch ‘n’ sniff sticker.
Distance: 2.3 miles (736 rods)
Temperature: 42°F (278°K)
Dinosaurs seen: Zero
Dinosaur descendants seen: I’m still figuring that out.
