The Panhandle of Golden Gate Park
Last week I was in San Francisco for a few days for work. I used to live in the Bay Area (still miss CA like crazy), so I was happy to be given an opportunity to go back to my old stomping grounds and to see a few friends. Thanks to jet lag and a relatively light morning schedule, I was able to get some lovely runs in. After a half marathon, I like to take a few days to a week off depending upon how spent my legs feel. While my legs are desperately grateful for the rest days, I do find that getting back into running is hard after a long break. I discovered that for me either a short fast speed work or a long slow run are the ideal work out to get me and my legs back into running.
This time I opted for a long slow run in Golden Gate Park. Golden Gate Park is over a 1,000 acres of urban oasis, much like New York’s Central Park. San Franciscans, like many New Yorkers, lack their own personal outdoor space in the form of a yard, so Golden Gate Park serves as the city’s backyard.
While I know it’ll seem like heresy to say this, but in my opinion, Golden Gate Park beats Central Park hands down. Not only is it 20% larger, but the Golden Gate Park has some incredible features (see guide here), such as museums, musical concourse (free swing dancing on Sundays), botanical gardens, lakes, and several miles of trails. I have many fond memories of hanging out in the park with my friends. I couldn’t wait to go back.
I ran from where I was staying in the Mission District in San Francisco to the park. Once I was in the park, I spontaneously decided to run on the smaller trails that were off the main path. I had been to the park several times, but I had never gone “off the beaten path.”
I’m so glad I did. First of all, I love trail running. While the run wasn’t a 100% on trails, I did as much as I could on trails. What always amazes me about the Bay Area is how quickly you feel that you can disappear into Nature. Although I was always less than a quarter mile to the closest street no matter where you are in the park, it’s very easy to feel as if the city is miles away. Trees and brushes hide much of the city streets from you and at times, it absolutely impossible to see any streets at all. Aside from some noise pollution, I would have thought that I was miles away from civilization.
I took the run quite easy and slow. I had a big grin on my face as I ran along and stopped whenever I saw something that caught my fancy. Then I took photos. I slowly ran up hills. The purpose of this run was to just enjoy myself and not worry about hitting any particular pace. I had my Garmin because I wanted to know what my exact route was since I was meandering through.
I ran 11.1 miles in 2:17:35. The run was slightly longer than I had originally anticipated (got lost in the park), but I greatly enjoyed myself. I rewarded myself with a tea steamer called Honey Monkey from Cafe Sophie (tea latte with honey).
Obviously Golden Gate Park is a must see for anyone visiting San Francisco. SF is a wonderful running city; there are so many great routes with GGP being just one of them.
Trail running in Golden Gate Park
More trail running in Golden Gate Park
Bison!
Route in Golden Gate Park
These are hills!
That looks like a pretty great run… bison?!
Yes, there’s a pasture of bison in the park. You wonder if you’re in a city or the wild Wild West.
I’ve been to quite a few places this past year but San Francisco has topped them all. My husband and I absolutely loved it there and we LOVED this park 🙂 We talk about that trip often.
It’s hard not to love SF. I wish I could go back more often.
I loved living in San Francisco and I miss it like crazy even though I love Oregon. When I go back I have to either run GG Park or the Embarcadero from Mission Street through Fort Mason and onto the bridge. Two completely different runs but each exceptional for different reasons! Glad you were able to get back to the City and feel its special vibration beneath your feet.
I ran from Fort Mason to the bridge – that’s my next post. The views are spectacular.
Love Golden Gate Park! I’m running 16 miles there next weekend.
Good luck! It’s such a great place to run.
Beautiful! I will definitely be going back to do some trail running down there again!
Isn’t it? I had no idea those trails were there until this trip. So many hidden secrets . . .
GGP is the best — and even better in the fog! Looks like quite a fun little run you had. 🙂
I did. It was so much fun (and a bit wistful) to run by and through different places in the park where I hung out with my friends. It brought back so many memories.
Awesome! I’ve never run in San Fran, but I love the city! Looks like a great park! BTW, I’ve had some decent tacos in the Mission District.
Mission is fantastic for Mexican food. I didn’t have any tacos (I know, sacrilege), but I brought back burritos because those could survive a several-hour plane ride.
I used to love running in the park when I lived in SF, all the way to the beach. Miss CA too…
It’s so large and there are so many different options that you don’t have to always run the same path. Running in Central Park is good, but it can get a little boring if you run it all the time.
What a beautiful place to get lost. 🙂 I’ve never been to Golden Gate Park, but I have been to SF and it’s one of my favorite places ever. (I miss CA too.)
We all miss CA! We need to form a support group or something.
I think running in the Bay Area is just plain awesome. Even though I lived on the other side of the Bay in Berkeley, I had a different wonderful park where I fell in love with trail running. There I truly lost myself in nature minutes away from my apartment.
OMG! I am so so jelly! I went to SF only once, about 4.5 years ago, and I fell in loveeee! Thankfully, I live in, what I call it, Canadian version of SF, Montreal. Your pictures, however, brought back great memories. I feel super bad that I wasn’t into running back than, the Golden Gate park was (and I am sure, is) spectacular!!!
xoxo
Olena
I love Montreal. It’s a wonderful vibrant city. So full of life. Vancouver is also like a mini SF.
Gorgeous run!
Yes, it is. There are other places in SF with spectacular views.