Training Day - East Bay style 11+ miles

Well, I rallied enough to go to breakfast with Patti at the Bayside. It is amazing what a little food can do... Not that I was in top form, far from it, but I was in drivable condition. We headed off to the East Bay to meet up with Dana and train in his neck of the woods.

We followed our directions and found his bright blue Corvette, sitting under the shade of a tree with a very convenient extra spot right next to it, just waiting for us. I suspected Dana shooed away other cars saving it for us, and when I asked him about it, my suspicions were confirmed.

With Dana in the lead we headed off toward Morada on the Lafayette-Morada trail.

This section of the trail took us up hill a little ways. There were all kinds of people using the trail. Walkers, runners and a lot of very very polite bike riders. They stood in sharp comparison to the rude, entitled riders we often find in Marin, who truly believe they own every road they ride on.

I still remember along the Mill Valley "Multi use" trail how some of them swore at the Breast Cancer 3 day walkers for being in the way. Here on this path you heard a polite "On your left" and then "Thank you" as they safely passed.

Along the way a par course appeared. Patti, who LOVES to cross train, couldn't resist trying a few of the exercises. I opted only to do the "stretching ones."

But Patti, is is WAY more gun-ho than I am. Dana, well Dana watched figuring he was doing enough exercise walking this long walk on what was turning out to be a beautiful but HOT day.

One really fine thing about this trail is the shade you find along your way. That plus an occasional breeze made the walk nearly perfect.

Word has it, I am competitive. Well, I suppose I am, and I really do like proof when I win... the next couple of pictures show you who can touch their toes better!

Take that!

At the end of this section we were in a park. Dana said if you continued on you would be in town and in parking lots. That didn't sound very interesting so I didn't mind turning around to head the other direction to Lafayette.

Since we were walking by the par course again...guess who couldn't help herself?

Yup Patti the jock!

We were walking by Saint Mary's college along the way. I try to take a photo of the iconic building...but.... trees were in the way.

This little estate sat on a giant parcel. There were several great properties that we passed, this was one of them.

Along the way we stopped at the Community Center for a little pitstop. I see this blond girl who looked pretty familiar. She looks at me and says...."Cathy?!" "What are you doing here." Then it clicked. It was an old client of mine who had moved to Walnut Creek a couple of years ago. She had been running for 10 miles and was pretty hot and sweaty. The water fountain wasn't really working so we got a bottle of water for her out of the beverage machine. She said recognized me by my eyes. Dana thought I had on sunglasses so he thought that was a little odd. I told him what was odd was him thinking I was wearing sunglasses!

It's a small world! We also ran into Dana's office neighbor David.

He suggested a place for us to go and eat in Lafayette called CHOW. It was good suggestion. By the time we go there, it was HOT and we were HOT! The waitress recommended Watermelon refreshers...GOOD suggestion. They were light and bright , the proper color of pink!

It looked like a popular place. There was also a small market there.

After finishing our Thai Chicken salads off we went to head back to the cars.

When we hit the road Dana noticed the sign for the "NERD for RENT"

The way back took us through a couple of neighborhoods with smaller houses.

White picket fences and roses.....

In a park there was a wedding being set up.

We were so glad to have some shade....

Can you see any sweat?! Trust me its was there.

The neighborhoods here do remind me a lot of Los Altos. Ranch style houses rule...

But this may have been my favorite house. It was very East Coast style...and shady!

This is a more typical home.

Just in case we were going to forget.... This is the weekend of the fourth.

Earlier in the walk we came across two young girls with a lemonade stand. "Free lemonade!" they called. I saw their sign and the 50 cents a glass was crossed out. We stopped and got a glass and we "tipped" them a dollar each. They said Thank YOU! and then wished us a Happy Fourth of July. Made me smile to see those girls... they will grow up to be bike riders who say "On your left!" and "Thank you!"

When we neared the end of our walk Dana looked up and stepped quickly to the side. There was a very healthy looking squirrel in the tree above. I asked him what was wrong and he said "That's all I need is a rabid squirrel falling down my shirt" I think he has a rabid squirrel phobia!

Patti and I were so HAPPY that Dana agreed that we could stop into the Lafayette house his family owns to take a dip! IT WAS HEAVEN

We'll be back tomorrow... spend more time.

I don't think a dip in the pool ever felt so good.

We promised as long as we could go for a dip afterwards we would be more than happy to train in the East Bay!

Now I'm off to recoup from last night and today's walk. When we left Dana we suggested he take a nice nap. That sounds pretty good to me too. After all it's party time tomorrow. I have to get in shape!