Archived entries for san francisco
Sunset on Mt Tam. 8.31.11
There’s one just like this nearly every day.
Like the Cavemen Did
In October I joined United Barbell, a new crossfit gym in SOMA that’s conveniently located in the same building as Kicker Studio. It’s run by two awesome women named Jenny & Olivia, and the people there genuinely rock. Shortly after I started they began a 30-day Paleo challenge, designed to get their athletes into the habit of eating like cavemen did: eliminating all grains, dairy, sugar and processed food in favor of lean meats, vegetables, eggs, seeds and nuts. Seemed like an impossibly strict regimen, but I always do better with elimination than moderation so I took the challenge, along with a dozen or so other gym members.
As advertised, eating Paleo wasn’t really as hard as it sounded. Apart from missing alcohol and occasional chocolate I managed to get used to a life of omelets, salads, and almonds and found myself cooking at home much more frequently, which was a necessary benefit of eating next to nothing commercially prepared. While it got monotonous in the middle and pretty tiresome by the end, I managed to go 30 days without cheating from the Paleo regime, and low and behold won the UB Challenge!
Six weeks later I’m still living like a caveman, apart from enjoying a meal a week that includes my long-lost carbs. If all goes well I’ll keep this up through the holidays and cement it as a general way of living in the new year. Turns out it’s not impossible, and nearly easy with enough planning. Proves that 30 days of anything can create a habit. I wonder how many more days it’ll take to turn into a lifestyle?
Do you have a useful skill in a tangible situation?
Tapped with one finger on an iPhone. Please forgive any typos.
my new neighbor
Tapped with one finger on an iPhone. Please forgive any typos.
Bay to Breakers
Or, yet another reason for San Franciscans to don costumes.
Yesterday, Ben, Erika and I ran in San Francisco’s 98th annual Bay to Breakers race. B2B is a 12K (7.5 mile) run from the San Francisco Bay to Ocean Beach. It’s known for being a party disguised as a race.
Highlights include crazy costumes, a tortilla toss, a school of salmon who wear fish hats and run upstream from finish to start, centipede groups of 13 who compete in a connected line, giant floats lots and lots of naked runners. It’s unlike any other race I’ve ever done, and I’ve only seen the costumes that passed me on their way to the start.
I tried to get back to a suitable spectating location once I finished the race, but the roads were so packed (80,000 runners + crowds) that I couldn’t get close. Next year I’ll run in costume, I swear.
Erika brought flowers for Ben and I to carry since
we were under dressed (as runners).
Erika, on the other hand, was well dressed in her
Burning Man BumbleBee dress.
Token naked guy photo, because, well… there
are a lot of them. And they all carry bags.
There were a lot of Elvii at the race – this one
finished up just in front of me.
Slow Start to Cycling
I finally dug my road bike out from under its blanket this morning, and found it much worse for wear after being exposed to the California air for 2 months. Since I moved to the Treehouse, I’ve kepy my bike on my front porch, covered by a Brookstone bike tarp that’s supposed to be weather proof. It’s not, however, rust, corrosion, or spider proof — my poor bike was covered in spiderwebs (and actual spiders)! Not to mention the front tire was out of true and the rear break was stuck. It was not a happy bike.
Took me the anticipated hour or so to run around and collect all the kit I’d packed away before I moved – cycling gloves, plastic sunglasses, sunscreen, cycling shoes, etc. I did some token bike maintenance before leaving the house – waxed the (dirty) bicycle chain, put air in the tires, and tried to right the wheel. I was an hour late to meet my cycling partner for the day. Luckily, she’s patient.
Soon after I arrived at her house I realized I forgot the most important accessory — the helmet. Sad to say, it’s not the first time (first time this year, though!). So we aborted plans for riding into Marin (no Golden Gate bridge for me) and instead made our way to Sports Basement at Crissy Field. The ride there was somewhat daunting, as I realized I was traveling wicked speed down hills with no break, no helmet, and a wheel that was all out of whack. Oh, and I couldn’t get my shoe to lock properly onto my pedals, to add to the fun. I ended up walking most of the humongous hill between us and the store, for fear of slipping out of the pedals or falling over without a helmet, but the downhills were scarier without proper brakes. Whee!
We made it to the store in one piece, and Rachel sat outside for 30 min or so while they trued my wheel and greased my brakes and I bought a new spare helmet (which she made me leave at her house for the next time I forget it!). We’d finally gotten back on the road and about 500 yards from the store when I realized my left cleat was actually crooked, explaining why I couldn’t get it to lock into the pedal at all anymore. Stopped in the grass to check it out — it was hanging on with one screw, and missing the lip that holds it in place. Good to know! So back to Sports Authority we went… (to be continued)