Pacifica Run With Other Runners

Toshi organized a fun point to point run in hills above pacifica saturday.  Claire, Scott, Marc, Toshi and I took to the trails and had a great day.  First we met up at the Grey Whale Cove parking lot and then hopped in Toshi's car and drove up to some place near a Lutheran Church on Highway 1.  We then proceeded to climb up out of Pacifica on a trail behind the church.  It was a foggy morning, but still really nice for running.

Starting out from Toshi's car.

Climbing up out of Pacifica from the "Church"

Foggy Morning.

Toshi got hungry.

 We got a reminder that we were not the only meat eaters around...

Photo credit: Marc Laveson

The hills were really nice.

 I had had limited exposure to these coastal hills.  Oddly enough, my first trail race ever was here, a 21 km race that just killed me, but other than the two times that I have raced here I have not explored the area much.  This was a great treat to be able to get to see more of the area and the trails that Toshi brought us on were great.

Toshi is very photogenic.

At top of Mount Montara.  Trail Runners showing their "battle scars"

 We did a lot of off-roading, meaning that we didn't necessarily stay on the established trails.  This was sometimes because of the logistical issues with connecting the trails on this run, but sometimes it was because we just wanted to go explore something.  By the time we got to the top of Mount Montara we had already accrued some good damage from the local shrubbery.

A little off-roading action.

Photo credit: Marc Laveson

If you look really close, you can see runners among the brush...

 At one point during the run, Toshi took us down a really steep and technical trail through the shrubs.  We had a blast cruising down the trail, hopping rocks, slipping and sliding, and feeling the adrenaline of the experience.  Climbing back up was not as fun.

The fog lifted, and it turned into an awesome day!

 The fog got us on the early part of the run, but then it lifted and the sun was shining, and it turned into an awesome day to be running by the coast.

Descending through a Eucalyptus Grove.

Pretty gnarly trail.

I guess this is Mount Pedro at 1969 ft?  Don't really know what to make of these markers.

Photo Credit: Marc Laveson

Where we came from.

A bunch of trail runners soaking up some rays...

 From the grassy knoll pictured above, we had a short, but steep descent back to the cars.  Toshi was showing off his exuberance by doing summersaults up and down the hill.  It was pretty funny.

Perfect end to a perfect day.

After a great trail run we met up at a local cafe and had some breakfast burritos.  19.something miles of a lot of beautiful trails, scrambling, joking around, blood and sweat: perfect.

Here is a compilation of video clips that I got: