Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Angel Island Run

This weekend I did a wonderful run on Angel Island down in the San Francisco Bay. It was one of the runs organized by Pacific Coast Trail Runs, whose motto “Runs that aren’t races in beautiful places” certainly was true for this event. The weather left a little to be desired – it was absolutely teaming down with rain as we waited to board the ferry out to the island, and there were times on the first lap of the island when it just seemed like a bad idea to run in such conditions, but after a while it turned out to be just fine – a little muddy, but great running weather.

Angel Island is a beautiful place with stunning views of San Francisco, the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges, Alcatraz, and Marin County. It was the “Ellis Island of the West Coast” in that it was the processing place for immigrants coming into the country from the east and it has been a military base from Spanish times up until quite recently. Now it is a California State Park, and the Ranger’s house there is perhaps in one of the most beautiful settings you could ever imagine. I wonder how you get a posting to that position?

What a contrast to be running along secluded wooded trails one minute and then every now and again coming into the open and seeing these breathtaking views of the bay and city. Even on a grey day like this last weekend it was impressive. The run was 25km so we got to do 3 laps around the island (each one at different levels). Very nice indeed and highy recommended. The folks at Pacific Coast Trail Runs put on a good event.

No comments: