Running in the Rockies

3.3 miles in ~10:24 avg pace

I had planned a longer run for the morning, but we were in San Francisco for the week for the annual American Geophysical Union meeting. I did not investigate any routes prior to jogging out the hotel doors at o'dark hundred (6am), and needless to say this was a bit of an 'oops' on my part. I've stayed in San Fran numerous times (usually for the AGU meeting), but I still don't have a clear map of the city laid out in my head, or at least I usually don't on the first day. I love San Francisco, but like most big cities there are certain parts that I wouldn't say are dangerous, but a bit sketchy. Anyways, I started out heading a certain direction, but would inevitably decide that maybe that was looking a bit sketchy, so I would turn, run on that road for awhile, then turn again. I finally realized that since I didn't have a clear map of the city in my head, I couldn't keep doing this or else I would get seriously lost (or into a section of town that I did not care to be in). So, I finally took a street that headed back to Union square and finished up a little over 3 miles. While it was nice to see the city and kind of fun to run willy-nilly around, I went directly to the concierge and asked if they had any good running route suggestions or possibly even a map. They did- they are a nice 5 mile or longer route that followed the embarcadero.. excellent.

 Also, running in a city with stop lights that seemed to stop me at every block was annoying and the Garmin was having a very difficult time locating in the city.

5 miles in ~ 9:08 avg pace.

 The garmin was still having a difficult time locating, but the run in San Francisco this morning was much more pleasant once I hit the embarcadero (section near the piers and without stop lights- yay!). It was a nice run on a somewhat foggy morning. 

~5.35 in 9:00 avg pace in San Francisco

Another nice morning run along the embarcadero.

I gave my poster this morning and basically talked to colleagues and researchers for 4 hours straight. I got some really good feedback on some recent research that I've been doing, met a couple new people, and made a few good networking connections. I'm not a big fan of the schmoozing at conferences, but I guess it's somewhat necessary, especially if you are looking for a post-doc (like me!). After the poster session we met up with friends for lunch and decided to bail on the rest of the conference for the day. We tried to go thrift store shopping but everything was way over priced and not really all that exciting. I think I'm spoiled living near Boulder- you can find essentially brand new stuff at the stores for reasonable prices.

I decided to take a nap before dinner because I had a bit of a headache and was feeling like maybe a sore throat was coming on, although I also thought it might just be from all the talking I did at my poster session. I never take naps, but I was out cold for at least an hour. The hubby had to actually wake me up when it was time to meet our friends and his brothers for dinner (one of his brothers is also a geologist and in town for the meeting and the other one from sacramento came over for the evening). A late night of socializing ensued.