I woke up really early around 5 am or so to make a little breakfast, walk the dog, and get the quintana roo ready for a ride. Tim came over around 6 am, and we threw both of our bikes on top of my car and headed to Marin! We had plans to bike from Stinson Beach up to the summit of Mt. Tam and then back down again. We did this ride back when we moved out, and I remember it being the hottest day, and the climb being so endless and hard. I wasn't in the greatest shape then, but I was still really nervous about today's ride.
We got to the parking lot, readied our bikes, and set off! I was really nervous, but then when we started biking all my worries kind of blew away and I started enjoying the moment. The climb was really beautiful and we were watching the sun rise. The fog was starting to recede, so when you got a glimpse of the water from a break in the trees, you could see more and more each time. It was really picturesque. I guess I am in much better shape now, because we were tearing up the mountain! Tim didn't have to wait for me nearly as much as usual, and I felt amazing the entire ride! Before I knew it, we were at the top, enjoying the view. I felt incredibly capable, and had a huge high from the ride. Then we rode down, and part of the downhill was on this smooth, well paved, swoopy road with lots of switchbacks and it was tremendously exciting. It ended up being a wonderful ride, and it reminded me how much I love biking when you don't have to stop at a stop sign every 15 meters.
When we got back to the car, we packed up, and headed straight to in and out to eat lunch! Our stomachs were rumbling, and the in n out really hit the spot.
When I got home, I showered quickly, and met Pam. We had plans to walk to the farmers market with Navi, and then pass Navi off to our friends Scott and Meg, who miss her. We'd go swim for an hour, then meet them back at the park and take Navi back! We meandered across the city, and it was a beautiful day; perfect weather for a long walk. I hadn't seen Meg or Scott for a long time, so it was nice to catch up. Megan seemed a little down, though, so after Pam and I went swimming, I headed over to Trader Joes to get some flowers. I didn't want to give her a whole bouquet, because that's kind of weird...so I took two or three of the flowers out, tied them with a ribbon, and then made Pam hide the rest of the flowers in her backpack. She laughed herself silly at my request, but she did it. I gave her the flowers to take home as payment for hiding them. Meg seemed to really like the flowers, and I think it made her day a little better (although I think Navi had taken care of that herself by, well, being Navi!). Then I had this craving for ice cream, and I wanted ici! I figured that college kind of ran south on a diagonal facing west, so if we just went due west, we'd hit college near ici eventually. I really should have learned my lesson from when I walked this with Whitney, but I guess I didn't. It was a lot farther than I thought. We were so tired. When we got there, we didn't even want ici anymore. We ended up getting some chocolate croissants from La Farrine instead, which was delicious...but we were so hungry it wasn't enough! We ended up having to stop and eat dinner at an Indian restaurant to rest up and get the strength to walk home. When we got home, Pam hopped on her bike and headed to her place, and I looked up what we'd walked that day. Turns out we'd trekked 9 miles around the city. So I had a tremendous day! I biked 25 miles or so with more than 3000 vertical feet of climbing, swam for an hour, and walked 9 miles. Needless to say, I was exhausted, and passed right out.
