The final days of the walk were… interesting.

Saturday started with the Lollipop Run.  We brought out the wall in all its 21-foot glory.  Two friends came with their mothers to write their own goals on the wall.  The mothers both wrote goals about doing more yoga, but the real fun came when one girl wrote that she was going to cut back to one soda a day.  Her mother laughed: “I’ll believe it when I see it!”

The event was fantastic.  It pairs young girls with adult mentors as running buddies.  So imagine a 5k race with adults all cheering on their girls as they run together.  It had such an amazing energy.

While running the 5k, I was exhausted and wanted to stop loads of times, but each time I kept myself going to be a good example for the girls around me – including the girl who just stopped running ~3 minutes into the race and refused to move… Her buddy was 2-3 strides away when she realized that she was running solo.  As I passed, the buddy was pulling the girl’s arm trying to get her to move again!

I was featured as an inspirational speaker.  I shared our story, and how impressed I was with everyone who ran.  From what I saw, the program is doing a fantastic job of getting these girls excited about setting healthy goals (that one girl who stopped mid-race aside).  It was such a pleasure being involved, and it was a great last event before wrapping up the Walk.

Great morning.  Terrible evening.

San Francisco and cars do not mix.

First, as we were leaving the Lollipop Run, a woman in a beat-up old pick-up truck scraped against our car.  She was on her cell phone completely absorbed in her conversation, ran into our car, and without pausing casually rolled down her window to push in her side view mirror so she could keep driving.  All without even pausing her phone conversation.  It was ridiculous.  She drove away straddling two lanes, and all the surrounding drivers gave her a wide berth.

There’s only minimal damage to the car (just cosmetic aka no denting), but we were still pretty shaken up.  Here we were just hours from wrapping up the walk, and our ride home was being endangered!  Oh, how little we knew at that time…

Fast forward through an hour and a half of looking for parking, and we found a spot along Van Ness.  It was perfect.  It was between a little red car and a driveway.  The driveway had DO NOT PARK HERE painted on the sidewalk, but we could fit when we nosed up to the car in front of us.  No problem, right?

So very wrong.

While we were away, a Jeep Cherokee came and illegally parked in the driveway trapping our vehicle in place.  We had all of a foot clearance between the little red car and the Jeep, and to make matters worse, we were on the 101 portion of Van Ness and Lombard (aka where the giant freeway goes through the city and just after it turns around a corner, so there is tons of traffic coming a high speeds that can’t see cars attempting to get out as they round the corner… yay!)

What I learned: If people illegally park and block you in, there is nothing you can do.  311/traffic and parking/police/aaa – nothing.  Someone actually suggested playing the “Bumper Dance of Doom” and just bouncing back and forth until you’re out.  We tried a bit, but the prospect of solid oncoming traffic made us pause.  So we waited, and waited, and waited.

Ultimately, by 8pm we decided to call it, and opting for a last bit of extravagance, I used my last hotel points to get a room a Hyatt 7 blocks away.  It was worth the splurge.  We rested.  Ma had visions of being stuck in the city for days.  I had visions of putting out a craigslist ad for huge men to help lift the car out of the way.  And we both kept saying, it will be better in the morning.

It wasn’t.  The car was still trapped.  On the bright side though, it was a lot less busy at 7 am on a Sunday.  The traffic was sparse and with an amazing amount of luck, I was able to unwedge our car.

Add in a Mother’s Day brunch to celebrate the end of the walk, and we were on the road again for the last time.  500+ miles by foot, and we nearly got stuck in the city because of our car.

I will write a more detailed update soon, but it’s been an amazing journey, and this weekend was an eventful send-off to say the least!

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible and good luck to all of the 8,000+ students who we’ve met along this journey.  The next steps are up to you!

Last school day ever at Sullivan Middle School in Fairfield.

That’s it.  That’s all.  Today was our last classroom workshops of the walk.

I say “classroom”, but today was actually in a multipurpose room with stage, kitchen and cafeteria.  Even when the 100+ kids were quiet, it was loud.

The teachers’ side conversations didn’t help.  They expected their kids to be quiet and respectful, but for several periods, they apparently didn’t qualify.  There was even a funny moment in third period, where I paused for the noise to settle down only to realize that the teachers were the chief offenders!

That being said, the kids were FANTASTIC.  They were so enthusiastic and thoughtful.  We found out later that Fairfield suffers from a lot of gang activity, but these kids were some of the most polite and thoughtful people we’ve encountered on the Walk.

We knew it was going to be a good day when a girl held open the door for us when she saw me and my mom coming with our cart of supplies.  Then later, a boy said thank you when I held the door for him.  Plus, there was the girl who saw that I had trash in my hand and offered to throw it away for me, and the slew of kids lined up and waited patiently to add their healthy goals to the wellness wall.  There were so many who wanted to write their goals that the pages are stuffed now (even after adding an extra sheet)!

This was a great day for wrapping up the workshops, and despite whatever difficulties we’ve had along the way, I am confident that we have had a positive effect on these students.

Walking the Golden Gate Bridge & San Francisco – 10 miles! (8 miles + 2 miles)

When I was 10, we walked the Golden Gate Bridge on a school trip.  My memories of that trip are hazy at best, but I do remember dragging my feet along this bridge that would never end…

Oh, how my perspective has changed since!

The Golden Gate bridge is 1.7 miles long.  For the kid who would barely try during every PE class, this seemed an eternity.  Today was totally different. After logging 500+ miles over the last several months (plus the thrill of being days away from the end of the walk), we breezed across the bridge.  It was awesome.

Miles walked: 526 | Miles to go: All bonus from here!

Estero Trail at Drake’s Bay, Point Reyes – 6 miles.

The trailhead is in the middle of no where.  There’s a tiny sign that directs you down a long, one-lane road.  Not one-lane like each direction gets one lane, but one lane as in if there’s a car coming in the other direction, one of you is going in the ditch.

We didn’t meet any other cars.

In fact, when we arrived at the end of this road, we were the only car in the grassy parking area.  On top of that, the wind was strong enough that our car was rocking well after we stopped the engine!!!  We debated whether we should just turn tail and drive away at that point, but we made it all the way out there so we better get some walking out of it!

Just as we were layering on our jackets, a guy in a Prius drove up, parked, paused and swiftly drove away.

Once on the trail, the wind was no better.  There were portions (particularly in the cow-filled lowlands) where I’d lift my foot to take a step and get pushed sideways by the wind to along a completely different trajectory.  I’m not a small girl.  Wind should not be doing that.

It was only until ~3 miles into the trail that we got our excuse to turn back.  The sandstone path was completely mired in mud.  At first we tried hop-skipping our way through, but over each muddy turn, a wider/muddier section would appear.  We saw our excuse to turn tail and head back to the trailhead… this time battling into the wind…

Miles walked: 516 | Miles to go: All bonus from here!

Walking day on Bear Valley Trail at Point Reyes – 13 miles!!!

Today was awesome:

- We walked our longest distance yet (a cool 13.3 miles!)

- The trail was perfect (flat, dirt, stunning and with free parking!)

- The route was gorgeous (first all rain forest-y through the forest then Christmas tree-filled and finally popping out on the cliffs to Arch Rock with stunning ocean views overlooking secluded untouched beaches below)

Go to Point Reyes.  Just go.  You won’t regret it.

Miles walked: 510 | Miles to go: All bonus from here!

PS:

We have exciting news!  We’ll be sneaking in another 5k race this weekend!  It’s run by a fantastic program called Girls on the Run – “educating girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.”

I can’t praise the program enough, and I’m very excited to be a part of the Lollipop Run on Saturday.  The women at Girls on the Run have been fantastic, and they’re incorporating us and our Wellness Wall into their event.  Such a great cause and so happy to be involved!

Walking day – San Rafael (12 miles)

First things first – today is the last Monday of the Walk!  We are officially on our one week count-down!

We have four “extra” walking days this week after that school cancelled, so Ma and I spent our first “extra” day walking the coast of San Pedro Bay in San Rafael (pronounced Ra-fell by locals).

This area is very popular among bikers.  It’s part of the Bay Trail – an 500-mile interconnected trail system that covers the shores of the San Francisco and connecting bays.  If I had known about this earlier, perhaps this would have been the SF Bay Wellness Walk instead…

At China Camp State Park, we ascended into the hills above the shoreline (incidentally following Shoreline Trail for the majority of our time there).  Even on a Monday, the trail was busy, and there was the added trouble of bikes and hikers sharing a sometimes narrow path.  That being said, everyone was very friendly today which always makes the day go that much better.

Miles walked: 497 | Miles to go: 3

I think we can manage 3 miles of walking over the next week…

Walking day around Pacifica (4.5 miles) and the western shore of San Francisco (4.6 miles).

In Pacifica, we walked the shore out to Mussel Rock Park.  This is apparently a hot spot for experienced paragliders and hang gliders.  There were all of these little flat clearings spread out along the volcanic rock path and signs with “Pilot Rules.”  At first, we thought it was for mini electric planes, but then we saw guys hauling giant backpacks and folding “wings” into backseats of cars.  Among those in the know, apparently Mussel Rock is called “the dump” and there have been some pretty hairy accidents there because of the extreme terrain.

This is actually where the San Andreas Fault enters the SF peninsula and (for a bit of trivia) is also the closest place to the epicenter of the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco.

Speaking of San Francisco, we got our first taste of it today!  We walked 4.5 miles along the Great Highway between the SF Zoo and Golden Gate Park.  I tried convincing Ma that we should walk our miles inside of the Zoo, but she would have none of that talk…….

Miles walked: 485 | Miles to go: 15

Sweeney Ridge – 11 miles.

Today we hiked to the place where the San Francisco Bay was discovered.  Most bays are discovered by boat (not surprisingly), but the SF Bay was actually first seen by land.  The Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola overshot Monterey Bay, laid anchor near Pacifica and hiked to the 1,200-foot summit at Sweeney Ridge.  From Sweeney Ridge, the bay stretched out below him to the east (luckily on a non-foggy day!)

The mouth of the bay is tiny (narrow enough for the iconic Golden Gate Bridge), so it doesn’t look like much from the ocean.  From there though, it expands out all the way down to San Jose and covers an area bigger than Rhode Island!

Today we enjoyed views of the bay, San Andreas Lake (that I mentioned yesterday) and the ocean.  Add in wildflowers, wild strawberries and eucalyptus groves and it was a pretty awesome hike.  Plus, our timing was perfect: just as we were finishing our last couple of miles, the wind picked up and the fog started rolling in over the mountains.  You could literally watch it creeping across the sky!!

Day well spent.

Miles walked: 476 | Miles to go: 24

Walking day on the Crystal Springs Trail – 12 miles.

We spent all of today’s walking on the Crystal Springs Trail along the Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo.  The reservoir is a giant lake along the San Andreas fault (which is apparently named after San Andreas Lake just north of here).  The reservoir is massive and surrounded by wilderness.  I say wilderness because no unauthorized personnel are allowed anywhere near the water and adjacent forests.  The closest you can come is along this trail, which features a constant barbed wire fence along the reservoir’s side.

Perhaps I’ve spent too much time watching ocean waves lately, but the still serene water was captivating.  The water is wide and deep, and there are these bizarre white lines running across the surface of the water (presumably in line with the fault but no idea why or how).

Very cool place.  Plus we saw a hawk up close with a striped tail!  It flew onto a branch not 10 feet from us and sat as Ma and I gawked at it.  Definitely better than the coyote encounter last week!

Miles walked: 465 | Miles to go: 35