First Open Water Swim and The Marin Headlands

As part of my Triathlon training I knew I would have to conquer my deepest fear. No not that one. I am talking about the fear of trying to swim in very cold water. To be honest that has been holding me back for some time. Well I finally got a wet suit in time for team training on Saturday morning and decided I no longer had an excuse to avoid it. So with a little help from Dominic literally pushing me in I did it and .........

It wasn't so bad. In fact it wasn't bad at all. Of course the suit helps ALOT. Well now I just have to work on my technique. Fortunately one of my coaches was there paddling along side of me to give me pointers.

Afterwards Nico and I went to Santa Cruz and he and I did the Wharf to Wharf and back course. He on his bike and me running. It was cool. It was like the old days when my Cross Country coach used to follow me along on his bike with the horse whip ;).

Today we went on our weekly hike to the Marin Headlands. It was cool. Since I had never been there it was cool to explore someplace new. Even cooler was my sister came with us. I always have a good time with her.

It was actually almost a disaster since I forgot the book and we had no data service where we were so I couldn't look up the map on the Internet. However we ended up doing a 6 mile loop that was to our liking and with some great views of the Bay Area.

For our next hike we will be going to the Black Diamond Mines in the East Bay but not for two weeks. Next week I will be running the Kaiser Permanente half Marathon with my sister and the Tri Team. The plan is to do the race and have brunch afterwards at the Beach Chalet.

See you next week.

Ano Nuevo and I join the Stanford Triathlon Team

This past weekend I went on a 18 mile mountain bike ride along encompassing most of Russian Ridge, all of Skyline Ridge and most of Long Ridge. It was exhausting but great.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1864020

Last week I joined the Triathlon team at Stanford. My goal is to do a Triathlon later this year but I may do one sooner because everyone is great and it just inspiring to me. We have a pro coach and I am incorporating their workouts into my own. Also instead of over training I plan to spend that excess energy swimming and biking.

This weekend our weekly hike took us to Ano Nuevo. It was great weather and the elephant seals were out and sunbathing in the warm sun. Afterwards we went to grab some Sushi at my favorite spot in Santa Cruz (Sushi Tortoro). It was a short hike. I wanted to get back to watch the Championship Games at Caesar's.

Monday Nico and I went to Sawyer camp trail and I did 10 miles while Nico followed me on his bike. Another great day for running and some more father son bonding time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1864014

This weekend we our planning to go to the Marin Headlands for our weekly hike. This week will be about 6 miles. I am looking forward to it especially since it looks like a bunch of people will be coming.

60 Hikes within 60 Miles of SF

So this past weekend I went to Angel Island with my son and my sister. The original idea was to run a race there being held by PC Trail Runners but we got off too a late start (A little too much partying the night before). We ended up hiking all day and even having lunch on top of Mt. Livermore (the summit). Angel Island was great. My sister and I had not been there since we were kids. We hiked all over the island. There were many great spectacular views and places to picnic. There is another race there March 14th. We may end up doing that one. Below is a link to pictures I took. The ferry coming home was a little late but it turned out to be perfect timing as we were treated to a sunset behind the Golden Gate Bridge.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1783742


As for 60 hikes within 60 miles of SF. It is the title of a book by Jane Huber (of the website www.bayareahiker.com) that I bought over the holidays. One of my goals for this year will be to complete the book.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bernardojtapia/200960HikesWithin60MilesOfSF?feat=directlink
PS: I need to apologize to Amanda who I was supposed to pick up but I overslept. - Sorry:(

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & Holiday Hikes!!!

The holidays have come and gone. Over the holidays there was not much work and I wanted to stay local so I decided that Nico and I would spend the holidays finishing a goal I had started a long time ago: The Mid Peninsula Regional Open Space Preserves. Over the last couple of years I have run about half of them regularly as training runs but I had always wanted to visit the rest of them so we set out over the holidays to hike them together. So without further ado I give you: Things I have seen on my holiday hikes.

Teague Hill and the Bay Area Ridge Trail x 2
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1572960

The Sand Caves of Corte De Madera
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1587153

The Three Peeks of Fremont Older
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1600495

Christmas along the Saratoga Gap (Saratoga Gap, Sanborn, Castle Rock, and Longview Loop)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1604570

The Pond at Thornwood
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1612043

The Lookout at Henry Cowell
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1640427

The Waterfall Loop at Big Basin
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1633664

Peters Creek Loop at Portola (The Graveyard)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1640424

The views from La Honda
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1651491

Forest Loop at Sam McDonald and we say goodbye to 2008 at Ranch del Oso
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1660566

We greet the new year atop the Bay Area (Sierra Azul "The Watchotower")
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1670449

I AM the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1692492

The Night Watchman
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1692489

Nothing like wine at the finish line (Pichetti Ranch) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1708641

In accomplishing this goal I want to thank Bay Area Hiker for making it easy by providing easy access to map data and a starting point from which to plan our hikes. I actually bought her book 60 hikes within 60 miles of SF. The plan is to do one a week for the rest of the year.

http://www.bahiker.com/index.shtml

I want to thank Chrissy for coming along on a couple of hikes. I hope she will join us regularly.

Finally, my boy Dominic for being a real trooper through 10 straight days of hiking, 55 miles, shared with me the amazing experience and got to see some of the more interesting things along the way.

You can see more pictures of things we saw on our holiday hikes here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bernardojtapia/20089ThingsIVeSeenOnMyHolidaysHikes?authkey=-F26g-btxlU&feat=directlink