Title: November 16, 2019 – Tennessee Valley and Andrea’s 50K Run
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's
Hike Info:
Type:
Hiking
Trail:
Tennessee
Valley Trail
Destination:
Tennessee
Beach
Start
Time: 10:45
End
Time: 12:23
Travel
Time: 1:38 (2.09
mph)
Moving
Time: 1:21 (2.52
mph)
Elevation
Rise: 566'
Descent: 338‘
Maximum
Elevation: 246'
1Because
if the
overcast sky-fog, the GPS
took about ⅓
of a mile to sync.
Today
we are going to try to
sandwich in a hike between rooting for Andrea on her 50k run, that is
31 miles. We stayed the night in San Francisco in the Marina
District. The hotel is the Cow
Hollow Inn. it is a bit nicer than our usual haunts but I think
this is what things go for in San Francisco.
Andrea
got up before 5. A while after she left, she realized she forgot her
hydration drink, so I gathered it up and took it downstairs for her.
Then fell asleep.
 |
| Lawrence and Sherri hiking |
I
am the last to get up, not the last to wakeup. We
have a granola breakfast, made our sandwiches and are off to CrissyField. We were told last night that it was OK to park in the
Sports Basements parking lot, but that was not true. We end up
parking about a third of a mile away-which we should not complain
about. Then it is find where to pick up our shuttle pass and wait
for the shuttle.
The
length of time we wait for the shuttle is about right. Somebody said
we had waited over an hour for it. But when we got to the drop off
point, it became evident that taking the shuttle was well worth it.
Parking stretched on both sides of the road to Tennessee Valley
Trailhead for over a mile. I do not know if this is normal or not,
just glad someone else is driving.
 |
| Ocean and Rock |
Lawrence,
Sherri and I decide that since we have 3+ hours of waiting for
Andrea, we would take a 4 mile walk to Tennessee
Beach. On the map it does not look hard. The trail is a dirt
road. Many
of the runners pass us by and we applaud them.
Obviously,
since we are going down to the beach, we are on a downward trend,
generally gentle that is. The word generally hides a bit of terrain.
I am feeling a great deal of empathy for the runners. When the road
goes up, it goes up sharply. Talking to Andrea later and some other
people the whole area is like that. steep uphills, making this a very
challenging course.
But
for us, the couple of steep uphills are more of a break from a steady
downhill. The road leads us through a nice valley-probably prettier
in the Spring, still pleasant enough now. Berry plants-don’t ask me
what kind, line the road, with other brush here and there. But the
hills are mostly dried grasses. We see a lagoon close to the beach.
 |
| Lawrence, Sherri and Gary |
Tennessee
Beach is not a beach where you would be sun bathing or swimming at,
at least not today. While the surf is not rough, there are signs
which indicate that there are rip tides present. As far as sun
bathing, the sand is nice, but we are missing a requirement of sun
bathing-the sun. But it is a beautiful area just to stop and gaze.
There are cliffs on both sides of the beach which gives an impression
of coming out of cavern-even though the Tennessee Valley is pretty
open.
A
group is to the south of us, next to a cliff. A group of young
females come along and we exchange taking photo’s for each other.
We spent about 20 minutes there-me resting somewhat. Then it is back
up the road to the trail head.
 |
| Tennessee Valley |
 |
| Lawrence and Sherri Snake hunting |
About a third of a mile up, we decide to take the lower trail up the Valley. This is a single track trail, rather than a road. Pleasant to walk along, rather than a road. As we walk along, with me being in front, I stop. There is a small snake on the trail. It disappears in the grass beside the trail. Fortunately, it appears to be something like a racer, than something which rattles. Shortly afterwards, a second snake appears, but only I saw it. We travel on. I look back, and Lawrence and Sherri stopped to look at something else-another snake.
From
here on forward, we rejoin the road and make our way to the trail
head. Runners from both the marathon and 50K courses were passing us
in both directions. Also there are some orange runner’s bibs now
appearing on the track-we found out that they are 50 milers.
 |
| Andrea Coming Into the Tennessee Valley Trail Head Aid Station |
 |
| Watermelon and Goodies |
There
we stop at the trail head at a picnic table. Two wives of a couple 50
milers are at a picnic bench and we join them. We have an hour to
wait for Andrea to come up. So we have lunch and talk with the
ladies. Andrea sent a text saying she was about 10-15 minutes behind
her schedule-not bad considering the terrain she has had to traverse.
I go down the road about 50 yards to meet her. After waiting a few
minutes Andrea comes up and she gets cheered into the aid area.
There
Lawrence and Sherri feed her watermelon and energy foods and drinks.
After five minutes, she is ready to go again. We see her off and she
charges up a hill. Looks like she will be finishing strong for the
next 8-9 miles. We get packed up and race to catch a shuttle-the
shuttle just started when we reached it, but it became aware of us
and stopped.
 |
| Andrea Recharged to Charge Up the Hill |
A
pleasant ride back to San Francisco, across the Golden Gate. The fog
looks like it is starting to come in. When we get back to Crissy
Fields. Here we wait for Andrea, about an hour. But that fog is
coming in and the temperature drops. We start getting covered and
warm. I get a bonus point when I realize that in most other long
distance races, there is foil warmers for the runners. But I do not
see any around. I realize in my standard hiking bag, I have an
emergency blanket. So I get it out and give it to Sherri. Lawrence
and I walk up the way to meet Andrea. Lawrence stops and I go up
about a quarter mile.
 |
| Crissy Field |
 |
| Final Leg of 50K Run |
 |
| Andrea and her Medal |
Andrea
comes into view behind some walkers and sees me. After 30+ miles, she
still has energy enough to wave and smile. She flashes by me the way
to the finish line. When I get back to her, she is smiling and
enjoying that she has finished the difficult 50K. After getting a bit
rested, it is time to get some restorative fluids. So off we go to
the beer garden. We spent about an hour there, at a table with a guy
from Palo Alto named Tom. Enjoyable time. Andrea goes off and gets a
burrito.
We
wait for Andrea, then go off to try to find her. She is by the
burrito truck. A runner has passed out and first aid has just arrived
when we saw her. Sounded like he suffered from low blood sugar. When
Andrea finally got her burrito, the runner was recovering and fluids
were being added to him.
After
this, we go back to the hotel. Andrea gets a shower and we go out for
pizza at Amici’s. Then
Lawrence and Andrea go back to their place. Sherri and I spend some
time just relaxing before going to sleep-a long day.
Extra Photo's
 |
| Fog rolling into Tennessee Valley |
 |
| Sherri and Lawrence Hiking |
 |
| Lawrence and Gary |
 |
| Lagoon and Ocean |
 |
| Sherri and Lawrence gazing at the ocean |
 |
| Lawrence the Ocean Guy |
 |
| Close to the Trail Head |
No comments:
Post a Comment