Today has brought with it a myriad of adventures…concluding with a run around the Bay Area to do some fact finding. First order of business: looking for a place in San Francisco proper to move into after I return from Beijing. Second: scoping out the course of the Nike Women’s Marathon to see if starting a wheelchair division of the race would be a realistic goal, considering the outrageously hilly terrain. Third and final: a stop in San Mateo to check out the track at San Mateo City College as I have heard it’s a nice, new mondo surface and could do well as training track #2 for these last few weeks before Beijing.

I left sunny, beautiful Palo Alto at about 5:00 PM, headed for Ocean Avenue in San Francisco where a reasonably priced apartment was being advertised. As I moved north on the 280, the clouds descended upon me and Betty (my car), and the temperature predictably dropped about 20 degrees. Spitting ran began to fall on the windshield. I pulled onto Ocean Ave and looked for the right building, and after finding a parking spot, got out of my car to wheel around a bit and check out the neighborhood. It was cold, dank, and dreary; the part of the city that rarely sees direct sunlight. It was interesting! But still cold. Overflowing garbage bins lined the sidewalks and the onion and tomato that once topped someone’s burger rested comfortably on the sidewalk, waiting for my wheel to smush it even farther into oblivion. The apartment was not quite what I was looking for….so.....promptly, I was moving on.

I jumped back into the car and drove a mile or so farther west, toward the great Pacific Ocean. The second half of the Nike Women’s Marathon begins in Golden Gate Park and winds its way around Lake Merced before heading back north on the Great Highway. I whistled and enjoyed the Motown/Classic Hits of 106.9 as I looped around the lake, watching the peaceful joggers and cyclists partake in their evening bit of exercise. The roads looked smooth and relatively flat, and I mentally placed a firm stamp of approval on the course for the future NWM Wheelchair Division. Thumbs up!

Betty and I jumped back onto the 280 and careened back south toward Palo Alto. I had planned to make one stop along the way at the College of San Mateo to check out the track. Word on the street has it that it’s a hard, fast surface. This is perfect for us wheelchair racing types, and, if rumors prove correct, a location that could provide a nice alternative training track to the squishier (yet lovely) Stanford track. I pulled onto campus and drove loops around the windy roads until I came upon the beautiful blue mondo perched on a hillside, overlooking the San Francisco Bay and the million-dollar homes leading down to the water. The wind was brisk and the air impeccably crisp as planes landing at San Francisco International Airport sailed by in the distance. It was perhaps the loveliest track I’ve ever seen – or – at least comparable to those in Switzerland that I raced on last May. A bit of inspiration never hurt a training session, so, I’ll be there tomorrow.

About ½ hour later I pulled into my driveway in the sunny, clean, safe, orderly suburbs of Palo Alto. Wednesday night is garbage night. All of the neighbors had placed their bins of garbage, recycling, and yard waste on the curb to be picked up the next morning. All of the bins lined up next to one another, all partially on the sidewalk, partially on the driveway. Lids closed, no garbage peeking out of the sides. Ready for prompt pick-up in the morning, according to plan. Where were the pickles and tomatoes squished into the ground? 37 minutes North, by car, via Interstate 280. Only in the San Francisco Bay Area.