Another week of daily walks during this month of The Great Walking Experiment. I will say that this second we, it was a bit harder to keep up with my walks. I have been trying to focus on my running and find that I don’t have the time to walk. Isn’t that weird to think about? I don’t have time to walk. So I have actually been trying to build in my walks to my errands to make sure that they happen. San Francisco is small enough that I can get in a good walk while also doing my errands. No car required!

Day 6 - April 7, 2008

This was a treadmill day. No walking outside besides to and from class.

Day 7 - April 8, 2008

Today was a walk around Union Square. It was a pretty simple walk that was flat for the most part. It is all around the shops and some tourist areas. You can check this walk out on Gmaps. Only 2.6 miles, but almost a good hour of outside walking time.

Later in the evening I took a quick walk around Inner Richmond. I had gone to the area with my friend, Adam, for dinner. Then we headed over to Trader Joe’s for some tasty dark chocolate. And instead of waiting for the bus on the corner, we walked down a couple more blocks to catch a different bus. It added over an extra half a mile to my daily walking.

Day 8 - April 9, 2008

Treadmill - BORING!

Day 9 - April 10, 2008

I was up very early to take my friend, Kate, to the airport. So after coming home for a nap, I headed over to Cafe Triste for an Cafe Latte. Cafe Triste is supposedly the first espresso cafe in all of the West Coast. I will tell you that it puts out a pretty mean Cafe Latte. I also walked through Chinatown and got a Black Bean Cake, which was also pretty tasty indeed. Over all, a long and leisure 3.1 mile walk.

During the afternoon, I took another quick walk up the street to Zuni for lunch with my friend, Jennifer. An extra 1.5 miles for the day.

Day 10 - April 11, 2008

Here is an example of fitting walking into my schedule. I had an early dentist appointment, so it lead to another walk around Union Square. Plus a little shopping. I don’t include the walks around the shops in my mileage for the day. I still made a 1.85 mile walk out of it.

Day 11 - April 12, 2008

Oh no! Another day on the Treadmill.

Day 12 - April 13, 2008

After my long run of 6 miles I took a late walk to Whole Foods for some weekend grocery shopping. Got all the fixin’s for miso soup and a roasted squash and apple casserole. Yummy! Almost 2.4 miles to get to the store and back at about 50 minutes (not including shopping time. A big hill going there too.

Day 13 - April 14, 2008

This was a really, really late walk. It was so late that I ended up taking the Muni back home. Yeah, the neighborhood gets a bit scary at night. It is usually when the young men come out to holler at the girls. I did get yelled at and called some pretty foul names for not saying ‘Hi’ back to a guy. Ugh! So I got my 30 minutes in and then hopped the Muni back!

The Great Walking Experiment has survived the weekend! I took tons of picture for these walks, but I narrowed them down for you. Still, this post is a bit picture heavy.

Day 3 - April 4, 2008

I really have been wanting to try walking to some places that I have never been to in the city. I will be moving away from San Francisco in about two months, so I want to get as many of the sights in as I can. Isn’t it weird that I have lived here for almost three years and there are so many things I have never seen or done? So today I headed to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies. It took me about an hour of actual walking time and the total walk was 3 miles. You can check out the route on Gmaps. I spent a lot of time taking pictures in Alamo Square, so I was gone for much longer than an hour.

On my way to Alamo Square, I past through some neighborhoods and noticed one house still decorated for Easter.

And on the way back home there was a beautiful mural on the side of the African American Arts and Cultural Center. I also noticed a mortuary. It is really odd to see one around here. There is only one cemetery in San Francisco and that is the military one located in the Presidio.

Overall, this was a pretty pleasant walk. Alamo Square is beautiful and offers a great view of downtown as well.

Day 4 - April 5, 2008

Saturday’s walk had a purpose to it. My friend Erin and I wanted to eat breakfast at Dottie’s True Blue Cafe. We heard it was excellent. I will say that it was one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. Know that there is a LONG wait on a Saturday morning (and probably most mornings) but it is worth it.

This walk was very lesiurely and included shopping in Union Square and the Farmers Market at the Ferry Plaza. The total route was 3.5 miles and took a few hours, given all of our stops! You can see the route we took on Gmaps.

Besides a wonderful breakfast, the walk was also great. We traveled through some of the more touristy areas, so the sidewalks were pretty crowded. I always enjoy a walk through the Farmers Market and the Ferry Plaza. And on busy days like this, you might get lucky and hear some great street entertainment!

Day 5 - April 6, 2008

This was more of an iconic walk. Erin joined me again as we walked our way through the Japanese Tea Gardens and then through Golden Gate Park to grab some lunch. The total walk was about 2.6 miles according to Gmaps. Once again, this was a slow going walk, so I am not even going to try and estimate the time!

When walking through places like this, I realize that I am really going to miss San Francisco.

Welcome to the first two days of The Great Walking Experiment! As I mentioned in my Goal Setting for April post, I am trying out a 30-day walking experiment as originally discussed by Steph over at Back in Skinny Jeans. The goal is to walk 30 minutes a day for 30 days and see what comes of it! Although I am not sure how many walks I will post, I figured I can give you my first two days to see what this experiment entails.

Day 1 - April 2, 2008

On April 2, 2008, the first day of TGWE, I walked about 42 minutes and a total of 2.7 miles. I have plotted my route on Gmaps Pedometer, if you want to see more details on this specific route.

I want to begin by telling you that I live in a bad neighborhood. It is called the Tenderloin, or more affectionately, the ‘Loin. No matter what you call it, it is not the place you want to wonder into at night. There are shootings and muggings and stabbings, drugs and prostitution. During the day time this is kept at a minimum, but is still apparent. Now that I have painted that lovely picture of my neighborhood, I also want to tell you that there are beautiful neighborhoods all around me. For the Day 1 walk, I chose to head to Nob Hill and Russian Hill. Not the most beautiful neighborhood in San Francisco, but much better than the ‘Loin. The greatest thing about this area are the views. You can see Alcatraz and Coit Tower. On top of it, the “Crookedest Street in the World” is found in the area. I stopped my walk about a block short of the Crooked Street, as I knew I would not be able to take the stairs up and down Crooked Street after tackling all the hills from the ‘Loin to Nob and Russian Hill.

The highlight of my day was actually seeing a father and son playing some badminton on the sidewalk. I always take joy in seeing family members having fun with each other.

Overall, this was a great sweaty and heart-pounding walk. The massive hills that I had to climb left my buns, thighs and calves sore the next day. The views from the tops of those hills were also worth the walk. The only con: having to deal with ignorant men’s catcalls and remarks while in the ‘Loin. Once I got out of the ‘Loin such rudeness was non-existent.

Day 2 - April 3, 2008

Today I decided to treat myself to some Blue Bottle Coffee in Hayes Valley. This walk was a bit longer at 2.78 miles and 50 minutes, mainly because I slowed down at more points to take pictures and I had the coffee stop. There seems to always be a line whenever I go to Blue Bottle Coffee. I have also tracked this walk on Gmaps Pedometer, in case you were interested.

I started my walk in an almost opposite direction so that I could get s few hills in and make sure I had at least 2.5 miles in my walk. That meant walking through the ‘Loin, but more specifically the Little Saigon area of the ‘Loin. This is not as bad as the area right by my house. Then I wandered over to Jefferson Square, which is a little park in the area. I walked through it park a bit, but there was a lot of broken glass, so I hopped out of there and on to get my coffee.

Finally arrive at Blue Bottle Coffee, I ordered my Cafe au Lait and heading back past Citizen Cake and the Performing Arts Parking Garage, back up the hill and over to my starting point. It was a beautiful morning!

Something around 300,000 people without power AND they have cut off Marin County from San Francisco. Highway 101 is closed from the Golden Gate Bride until Sonoma County. To think I was complaining about my leaky windows and walls!

Yes, those are cups to collect water and towels to soak up what doesn’t make it into the cups. Crazy, huh?

This Photo Friday is on ‘The City’. There are many things that stand out to me about living in the city. There seems to be more traffic, more public transportation, more people in general… and usually less greenery. But one thing there is definitly more of is homeless individuals. These sunny sleepers were right across the street where I live.