Happy Birthday Ali Nahm!!! 🥳🎉🎂🎈🎊🎁 My first time doing Crosstown Trail and longest run in ages! Did much better than my test run on Tuesday. From the weather forecast, it looked like it would be cold but I stripped off the pants before taking a ride share over to Sunrise Point Pier with Emily and Sean. Then after a 0.5 mile run to get to the pier when the driver dropped us off at the wrong spot, I took off all the rest of the layers. When we got dropped off, a security guard(?) was yelling at us that we were at the wrong spot, that we were still pretty far away but we intended to do a warm up run. There was a pretty big turnout for the run. Emily said she counted 17. Overall, during the run, my legs felt alright or at least better than my first run. We set a decent pace and surprisingly I was more towards the front of the group than the back. My legs were definitely the limiting factor though as I wasn't really breathing that hard. We got to Destination Bakery ahead of time but I think we were going slower than the intended pace. I got a scone (and some pastries for Emily as they were cash only) not realizing Karoun was bringing pastries or that Shing had brought a giant donut. The scone was pretty good and Emily mentioned her tart was good despite the pastries not looking so great in the display case. The croissants looked especially sad. Karoun went to a bunch of different places picking up various pastries. The chocolate croissant from The Bernal Basket and the cake from Craftsman and Wolves were both very good. Ali's family met us at the bakery to walk part 2 to Golden Gate Park. I'm not sure but we gained about as many people at the bakery as we lost, I think? The walk (and the run) through the city was great because there were so many parts of it that I've never seen or visited before. And the weather was so perfect and the skies were so clear. Sometime along the walk my right ankle and left hip were feeling sore from the run. Later the pain dulled but it also spread to a wider area. In Forest Hill, we had to go up a pretty large flight of stairs but they weren't steep and I decided to run up them. Honestly it felt easier to run up them than to walk them. Lukas joined me and when I turned around at the top, I was surprised no one else joined us. :) The view at the top of Grandview Park was so gorgeous. It was also the windiest spot all day and a bit chilly. From their we descended in to the Sunset to find lunch. Emily had recommended going to Mini Potstickers and a bunch of us ended up going there. Everything was delicious but the Mini Pan Fried Pork Buns were my favorite. I think it's there specialty. It's the only item on the first page of the order kiosk. I got to chat with Ali's dad and found out he's a lover of military strategy games - board and video games. We all regrouped to have lunch at Mother's Meadow in the park. This is where we parted ways with Ali's family but picked up some more of Ali's friends to do the final part out to Land's End for sunset. It was along Park Presidio that my Garmin watch got down below 10% and warned me about a "low battery". I knew this was probably going to happen and brought an external battery along. The last stretch was very pretty - both the views of the bridge and the water as well as sunbeams through the trees that Ali misremembered as "Angel Dicks" instead of "Angel Boners". :) We made it to Land's End well before sunset so even though the trail ends at the visitor center, we headed down to the Sutro Baths. The wind had picked up and this was the first time since this morning when it felt cold. My legs had further shutdown and my whole quads, not just the inner quads, were sore. My inner quads weren't actually feeling any worse than before nor was I feeling them most of the time we were running or hiking. I found out Rae recently changed careers and is now an animator. We had a nice chat about that while roaming the baths. As we were getting cold, we decided to head home while they decided to hike over to Sutro Heights, presumably to catch the sunset. When I got home, getting out of the car was quite painful. I was joking earlier how any massage would feel like a Thai massage the way my legs were feeling but massage them I must. Going into today I really didn't know how I'd feel after the run. I'm glad I completed it without feeling too bad and that I was able to complete the whole thing. In the end only 7 of us from the 17 starters made it all the way to the end.