CA races and training (and dogs)

Some of our wanderings around the Bay Area lately... we're having a good time exploring and visiting Kip.

Terraloco puts on some interesting events that we'll do whenever possible.  The latest was the Mission Artscape, running around the Mission District to find murals and answer questions about them.  It was a blast, and I even managed to edge out John and Kip for the win for once.

Pre-race photo with all the participants:

The following day we did our first BAOC orienteering event in the woods, and it turned out to be a doozy.  We ran around Tilden Park above Berkeley, encountering steep hillsides, slippery eucalyptus leaves, deep woods, open fields, amazing views, and a bit of poison oak.  I wasn't sure what I'd gotten myself into, but at least my nav was decent until I got sloppy near the end.  For me it wasn't so much racing as figuring out how to get up, down, and sideways on the steep slopes, but John and I both had a good time out there.  An interesting introduction to orienteering around these parts.

Last weekend we happened upon a Pet Expo, the highlight being a costume contest.  The cuteness level of this blog takes a sharp upward turn with these puppies.

An adorable clown, with a guitar-toting "rocker" looking on:

Mr Pimp won 2nd place, he was very cool about the whole thing:

And our winner the Minion - most hysterical when he waddled around, this pooch was totally into the role:

OK, back to pretty scenery and our less-adorable mugs...

We drove north of San Francisco to go roaming around Mount Tam.  The roads driving in were completely socked in with fog.  Happily, the top of the mountain rose above the clouds.  Love the view of the "white sea" with Mount Diablo in the distance:

Top of Tam:

Kip hanging around, being a rebel:

We didn't find a way into the fire tower, but we sure enjoyed the snack break and the views:

Looking south where the city is supposed to be:

A few fun trails and a nice long downhill run later, one last stint with the camera.  Muir Woods is awesome, after all.  Love the big trees.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.

John considering some trail work:

It has been a fun January in CA so far!