Home Sweet Home

Yesterday I drove home to Lafayette to spend a little time with my parents. Initially, I thought I would arrive around 4:00 PM in time to chat a little and then stay for dinner. As I got up in the morning I knew I wanted to fit in an hour long walk. It came to mind that I should drive out to Lafayette early and get my walk done there. It had been some time since I had been on "the trail," as we call it. The trail is the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail. It's about 7.5 miles long starting at Olympic Blvd in Lafayette, continuing along St. Mary's Road in Moraga. I don't know how long it has been in existence, but it has been there as long as I can remember. My first memories of the trail go way back. My parents were big into running from the time I was 8 or 9 years old, into my mid teens. They would run the trail all the time. In 7th grade, my sister and I used to ride our bikes from home, down Pleasant Hill Road, to Stanley Junior High School, which was just past the one mile marker on the trail. I was introduced to running on the trail in 8th grade. Mr. Boucher, my 8th grade science teacher, led us on trail runs as the Stanley Junior High School cross-country team. It was not much of a "team" really, other than participating in after school sports. I switched over to cross-country after being smacked incredibly hard in the face with a soccer ball on the first day of soccer season. Yup, that's all it took, I wasn't aggressive enough for soccer anyway. Mr. Boucher challenged us to running around 5 miles each day after school. I remember running comfortably, usually chatting with a classmate along the way. I was not a competitive runner at that time in any way, shape, or form. It was something to do to gain points for my block "S." 

I've always loved the trail, it just feels like home to me. It's so peaceful and pleasant walking or running on the trail. There are a lot of cyclists as well these days. I've driven to the trail to run it or walk it many times since moving back to the Bay Area. The same houses are still there, Stanley Junior High is still there, although beautifully renovated and little like the school I attended. Those trail mile-markers get repainted from time to time. Someone must have remeasured the distance over the years, since the mile-markers aren't quite in the same spots I remember from my childhood. Yesterday was about 85 degrees, bright and sunny. Hot, but not too hot, I thought. I sprayed on the sunblock and had a very enjoyable 4 mile walk which took me a little over an hour. I have to admit, I ran for a few minutes at the end. I had to. I was keeping to the dirt path the whole walk, just along side of the paved trail, to stay on a softer surface. Near the end of the trail, I decided I needed to test out my Nike Free shoes outside of walking. Hey, it wasn't any further than running to the bus stop! Well, that is how I justified it anyway... I got to the end of the trail, turned around and ran back 100 yards, then turned around again. This happened a couple of times and I decided it was probably best to stop. One of the nicest things about my walk was just being outside! I realized how few hot, sunny days we get in the city. I love SF, but I appreciated the 'burbs of the East Bay so much yesterday. The sights and the smells are so comforting and familiar. It's just home sweet home. : )