November 9, 2014
Finally, I got my friend Heather to run with me today, yippee! It was a little impromptu and of course both of us forgot one thing or another. We were supposed to meet at the Pan Toll parking area, but several scout troops were there and took up many of the parking spots. Of course it was a weekend, so it could have been much worse. I found one after a little patience (and my senior discount), and poor Heather had to back track down to Bootjack parking area to find a parking spot. I ran down the trail to meet her, but was quickly down to a slow walk, having found myself behind one of the scout troops. After a few more logistical faux pas, we were finally on the Matt Davis Trail. After a mile or so, the trail intersects with the Coastal Trail up to the right, and we continued our run towards Bolinas Fairfax Road, otherwise known to most of us cyclists in Marin as BoFax. It is approximately 6.5 miles form Pan Toll to BoFax, our “Turnaround Point”.
It was a sunny day at our altitude on Mt. Tam, but the morning fog had yet to burn off below us on the coast. We were in the sun most of the day, and we each only had one 20 ounce bottle of water, so we needed to make it last.
One very cool stone bench was on point overlooking Bolinas Bay below us. Great spot for a few photo ops for both of us, since we hadn’t seen each other in several months. Back on the trail, we found that this was as far as most people had gone recently, as the trail was growing over a bit for the remainder of our route. Some portions of the trial fell away from the hillside in spots making for slow going until regaining terra firma. Within a half-mile from BoFax, the trail became wooded once again, with a little bushwhacking needed to continue. Finally at BoFax, time to take a little breather, enjoy the redwoods surrounding us. We scouted out one of our next runs, from BoFax along Bolinas Ridge to the trailhead on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. near Olema. Should be about 11.5 miles from point to point, a mostly flat single-track so we can keep a good pace, Heather leading the way of course.
Now time to head back, Heather was in touch with hubby, also an ultra runner who was on his own run that day. Trying to cut some time from our return so they could meet that afternoon, we took to the road along Ridgeline Blvd. The weekend did have more traffic than we wanted but it would be a little faster for this stretch of the trail back. Dropping off the road and back onto the trail now, the afternoon sun was beating down on us on the exposed hillside. Heather was off like a cannon-shot, and I did my best to stay close. She was kind enough to stop for me every 100 yards or so, taking pictures of me in my prime running form (HA!)
Finally back to Pan Toll and our cars, it was time for a guarded hug of our sweaty T-shirts and vows to meet up another day.
tahoemarmot 