I find myself in San Francisco again this week and when planning my trip, booked an AirBnB in Lower Haight so I'd be closer to Golden Gate park and Presidio. The intent behind this decision was to see what it's like to "live" in another 'hood in San Francisco, but more importantly I had the idea that one of my runs would take me the full length of Golden Gate park so I could wet my feet in the sea and run back again and another would take me through the Presidio, across Golden Gate bridge, up to Marin Headlands (for the obligatory snap of Golden Gate bridge with San Francisco in the background) and back again.

Yesterday I ticked off the "run the lengths of Golden Gate park, touch the ocean and run back" run and this morning I tried the Marin Headlands run.

I woke this morning to the common sight of fog over San Francisco, but as the sun came up, it soon started to burn off so I headed off feeling quite confident it would be all clear by the time I got to Marin Headlands. I was also feeling great after 9 hours of sleep - I hope this is the sleep that broke the jet lag.

All was good until I got to the edge of Golden Gate bridge… the footpath was closed until 10:30am for the Mermaid Series 10 mile race that was taking place. I thought, "Oooo, maybe they're allowing pedestrians to use the west side of the bridge during the race" - this side is normally only open to cyclists… nope. I got to the west side and was told… "NOPE! Wait until the race is finished at 10:30 or use the shuttle to cross and walk back." I got to the bridge just after 8:30 and there was no way I was going to wait 2 hours. I also decided against using the shuttle to cross and run back as it was still very foggy and didn't look like it would be clearing any time soon.

Instead, I ran the Coastal trail back towards Golden Gate park. Lovely trail and I'm sure the sights would have been brilliant had it not been for the fog. All I could see were trees, fog and the path. I did hear a lot of boats on their horns as they entered the bay which was quite unusual for me. I also ran past some pretty swish looking houses (some with astroturf front lawns) and got to run a route I'd only planned doing some other time.

So whilst I'm a little disappointed I couldn't go the Marin Headlands today, I'm happy I still had a good run on the Coastal Trail and also slightly pleased I didn't make the effort as I suspect all I would have seen was white. If anything, I'm more annoyed with myself for not thinking to lookup to see if there were any races in the city whilst I'm here - I may have been able to enter this one on the day.

Ooooo, I've just had an idea… maybe next time I'm over I'll catch the shuttle or ferry across to Sausalito, spend the morning or afternoon running the trails of the Marin Headlands and then catch the shuttle or ferry back.

Right, time for a shower as I'm really starting to smell now.