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sierra · Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 304

While my plans to run down in Big Sur had to be changed due to wildfires, I did run the bay this morning. It was a typical cool and foggy morning here in Monterey, so I picked red to stand out. I ran down from my dad's house to Asilomar Beach, along the coast to Lover's Point, and back up through Pacific Grove to my dad's. It felt good to run in some cool weather again. Tomorrow I plan to run along the bike path out to Fisherman's Warf and back. There also is the middle school track across the street, which I'm going to attempt some speed work on one of these days.

Perry2 · Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 252

I looked up Monterey on the map, and it looks to be on the coast south of San Jose? For the California-geographically-challenged of us, which bay is it there that you ran?

I'm sure you are sad to miss the lightening storms and humidity here.

sierra · Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 304

Sorry! Yes, Monterey Bay.

We did have two days of really warm weather here and while we were in Big Sur, there was a storm. Because the surface temperature was so warm, the water evaporated before it hit. There was still lightening and it started a fire just down the coast from where we were staying. Andy had been setting up a tent on this huge back porch of a house my family was renting for the weekend. He took everything down for the storm and saw the smoke from when the fire started. We called 911 to report it, but they already knew about it. We spent the rest of the day watching the smoke grow larger and having more and more helicopters come in to try and put it out. While we were sleeping on the back porch that night (under the stars-AWESOME!), the fire crested over the mountain. It looked amazing and scary in the dark-the ridge was a blaze of orange and red. We had to evacuate the next day.

Today is a typical day here. It's 60 and overcast. The kids were in the water today (water temp-50), but in dry suits (at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for an adventure program). I plan to run at the track tonight. It's going to be really hard to come back!

Perry2 · Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 252

That's pretty exciting - I've never been close to a fire like that, or had to evacuate. Hope the house is ok.

sierra · Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 304

I started last night's track workout in long sleeves and warm-up pants! The track isn't marked, so all of my intervals were estimated. There were a few other people walking all bundled up. The track sits up enough on the hill that you can see down to the ocean.

Today we spent part of the day hiking in the Pinnacles. The temp wasn't too hot, so the kids did real well. We weren't able to go through some of the caves that the park has because of bats with babies. It would have been fun to run, but the trail was also kind of dangerous in spots. If you slip, you'd go right over the edge.

Tonight is an easy run. I still haven't decided which way to go. I would like to run the trails that the local CC team uses (which go into Pebble Beach), but I might save that for Saturday. Plus, fire or not, I have to get back down to Big Sur, park at the Bixby Bridge, and run the Coast Highway.

sierra · Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 304

Back in MD, not enjoying the heat and humidity!

Because of poor air quality, I never did get to run my Big Sur run. I did run from Asilomar Beach to Lover's Point, down the bike path just past Fishermen's Warf, back to Lover's Point, and up through PG to my dad's house. There were lots of cyclists out. The bike path has a hard dirt path next to it where people are supposed to walk and jog on. Most ignored this. Even though it was still early, I had to weave in and out of walkers while trying to watch out for cyclists. It was still a great run and I got the one thing there I never get here while running by our bay- the smell of the ocean!

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