Thursday, May 29, 2014

Personal Goal...Achieved!

When I booked our trip to San Francisco, I had always dreamed of walking from our home in Pacific Heights down to the Ferry Building around the wharf to Ghirardelli Square and back to the home in Pac Heights.  Now if you've never been to the city, here is a map of the route I was thinking of...

via Maps.Google.com


That route, minus shopping, meals, wandering down piers I forgot to mark, more shopping, etc is 8 miles.  Now, I did not figure that out when I first came up with that plan.  I just knew that we could comfortably walk three miles at home and be good to go and the route from our home to the Ferry Building was almost three miles.  Thankfully, I didn't calculate the rest of it or I might've talked myself out of it but I set the goal and there was never a time I didn't think we'd reach it.  Well, except when I screwed myself over the holidays by ditching physical therapy for a month or so but I trained hard, I was diligent about my PT and knew I was as ready as I was going to be for the trip.  The only major difference was we're in relatively flatter terrain and San Francisco is nothing but steep streets up or down.  You're rarely level for long.

I think staying in Carmel the first week was good training for me to round out my readiness for this SF route because there is a considerable slope to the entire town and we walked everywhere there.  On day two, the front of my legs (my weakest area) were sore and then the day after that, we walked 8 miles in Santa Cruz and I had to raise the white flag because I was done.  That night I did heavy massage on the legs and I wasn't as sore as I thought I'd be the next day.  I felt as ready as I could be for this dream of mine to come true.    Unfortunately for the Mr, he had to be dragged along for the ride walk.

After carbing up for breakfast, we headed to Clay Street which would be our main route to the Ferry Building.  This picture doesn't convey the slope at all but trust me, it was steep and I was trying to not look like a noob at the end of each block when we'd reach riders waiting for their bus.


As steep as it was going up, it was equally steep going down and that REALLY screwed with my legs.  By the time we got to Chinatown, I was worried how much it was going to throw me for the rest of the day but in the meantime, we just enjoyed strolling the empty streets before the stores opened.


By the time we reached the Financial District, both of us were feeling the pain.  We'd walked 2 miles on extreme slopes (for us...hell, for anyone) and we needed to take a break to stretch.  Luckily, the Transamerica Pyramid was the perfect stopping point to stretch our legs with various moves that probably made us look like dorks.  I hope we gave the office peeps a good show!


You have no idea how happy we were to reach our first goal...The Ferry Building at the Embarcadero.  We instantly high fived when we saw this...


We probably added another mile on just wandering the inside of the Ferry Building into each little shop or restaurant as well as the back pier area and then trying a few places like Cowgirl Creamery and Miette.


We got to sit for about thirty minutes while we were eating in the building and that helped to be off of our feet after about four miles of walking.  Then it was time to walk the wharf area.  I had to walk down Pier 7 to the faux restaurant location at the end of The Sweetest Thing.  It had a nice view to take in, then we continued to walk toward the touristy Fisherman's Wharf area.


We did a bit of window shopping and needed sunscreen because while it was still somewhat cool, we could feel the sun beating down and needed to reapply.  We walked all over the area trying to find a place that didn't sell generic looking sunscreen and ended up at a drug store, applied and went on with our day.


One thing I wanted to check out that I knew the Mr would enjoy would be this spot, Musee' Mecanique, an antique museum where you could play old video games and see antique entertainment gaming.  We spent about an hour in there.


By this time, we'd walked more than half of our route for the day.  I spotted three of those awesome foot vibration machines you see at zoos or amusement parks and we popped in our $.50 (twice!) and got some much needed relief to our barking dogs.  The Mr said wasn't sure he would be able to make it the rest of the way without them.


We continued wandering around shops and the shore then started an upward trek toward our second to last goal for the day...Ghirardelli Square.


We bought a few things there and struck up a conversation with a guy in a boutique there who was writing down some suggestions for us.  He pulled out a map and as he was writing things down, I said I knew he would tell me the truth and told him the route we walked that day and asked if that was good or is that something locals just walk all the time.  He shook his head and said "wait, you walked from Pacific Heights to the Ferry Building????"  I said "yeah, then we walked the wharf area to here and are about to walk back up to Pac Heights.  Is that good?"  He said "honey, that's f*cking INSANE!  Most people would walk half the route to the Ferry Building and then take a cab where they needed to go from there!"  So, that made me feel like I wasn't thinking I was walking some awesome route when locals did it all the time.  It really was as insane as the Mr thought it was when I suggested it.  From there, we made our way to Gough Street where we would take that all the way back home.  The red arrow shows the hill we'd need to climb and then begin our downward descent about 6-7 blocks from there.


There were some SERIOUSLY steep hills, particularly those last three blocks before the sharp crest at the top but I just took it block by block and if we'd need to give it one traffic light cycle to stop in the shade before continuing on, we did.  When we approached the Clay Street area, I began to cry a little, knowing we were in the home stretch.

When we took the FitBit off, we checked our steps for the route


We walked a little more just lollygagging for a total of 12 miles for the day.  Needless to say, when we grabbed the leftover bag of ice for the cooler and slapped our aching feet onto it in the tub, it was welcome relief and I think it made a huge difference in how we felt the next day!


I cannot believe we did it.  Well, I can because not finishing just never entered my mind.  But I couldn't help but think back to what I was facing this time last year in just trying to finish the 3 mile charity walk on Kauai and the amount of horrible pain I was in.  The next day, I was sore but it was this weird bone in my inner ankles and my left quad and it was nothing ibuprofen didn't help ease and was leaps and bounds better than last year with walking 4x the distance.  It proves to me that keeping up with my physical therapy is something I need to continue to do and I will be able to reach almost any goal I set.

What goals have you reached that you thought the year before would've been impossible?

====================
Like this post? Don't miss another one...subscribe via email or RSS feed. (Or you can follow me on Facebook )

27 comments:

  1. What a day! Not just the walking but everything we saw and took in that day was amazing. Sure we'd seen some of it before but it's different when you drive somewhere, park your car and walk across the street to a place. When you walk the entire thing you see every inch of it as it was meant to be seen at a pace that allows you to take it all in even better. I will never forget that day and I am so glad we did it. So proud of you for hitting your goal too. All I can say is thank God for those foot machines right when we needed them and also, great idea using the ice before going to bed that night. I really think that made a huge difference for the way we felt the next day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find that holds true for any place, even our home towns. We have explored places we drive all the time in the past few months and you get a whole new perspective on it. SF is the perfect place to explore on foot for as long as you can stand it. I remember looking at the hill we had yet to climb from Ghirardelli Square, the point at which we said we'd take a cab if needed, I thought "we've got this." I know you felt the same. I am so proud of us.

      Delete
  2. Looking at your pictures reminds me of the Avon Walk I did in San Fran last September! I walked a lot of the places you guys did, over the bridge into Sausalito - down that stupid access road by the bridge. Down really does hurt more than up really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew I was in for it just going 2 blocks down. Oh MAN, you are so right, down does hurt more than up!

      Delete
  3. Wow, what an awesome day! You two are amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. well you two are always full of inspiration! woo hoo! I wanted to lose some weight before an event happening this week. (started thinking about making changes about this time last year.) I'm down 45 lbs. : ) yay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind words and congrats on the weight loss! WOO HOO!

      Delete
  5. What an incredible goal! You walked almost a half marathon! Do I see one in your future? ;)

    On a side note, my husband and I went to San Fran for our honeymoon and then drove the coast to LA. We spent 2 weeks out there and had an amazing time. Loved seeing all the photos of San Fran!!!! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only if they allow 4 days to complete it! LOL

      Sounds like a great honeymoon! I would've loved to have taken the 1 down as far as it would go but the parts of it we did see were pretty fantastic!

      Delete
  6. That's fantastic! You guys are awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  7. heartfelt congratulations. You rule Mr & Mrs

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yesterday I stood in an upright position for over an hour at the phone store, getting my new iPhone 5s. I would not have been able to do that pre-weight loss, and it is something I hardly notice anymore. But it is definitely a NSV and it makes me proud!

    ReplyDelete
  9. haha that is so awesome!!! when we went to SF I wanted to go to pier 39 so we drove and I saw what looked like a wharf to me so we found parking and started to walk. I had know idea how far we were from the actual pier 39. I think my family will never forget that. It took us all day to make it there and back. I have no idea how far it was except that we didn't go anywhere the next day. Could you imagine being able to walk inclines like that everyday? I'd be in such good shape.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It can be so easy to wander that area and just lose yourself in it. After we left the Ferry Bldg, we were looking for Bay St because that was the parking lot we parked at in 2011 and it felt like it took forever to get there and we said no wonder we didn't walk to the Ferry Bldg. We probably looked at it and said "nah, too far" but the whole thing is pretty far if you wander the area! I loved walking the inclines. I think we walked them at least twice a day going down to Fillmore for dinner then trudging back up to our place but dang man, going down really SUCKED! LOL

      Delete
  10. That is some walk! I bet that ice felt good at the end of the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Girl, you have no idea! I thought it'd be too cold but we could instantly feel the inflammation going down so we must've kept our feet on there for 10-15 minutes!

      Delete
  11. Those fitbit numbers look amazing. The last time I had anything near that, and still 10,000 less than yours was my trip to Chicago. Congrats on your NSV and sharing all the cool pics with the rest of us. Walk ON!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the highest we got before that was almost 15000 steps and that was in Chicago. That is a great city to walk for sure!

      Delete
  12. I'm curious how many floors your fitbit gave you credit for. You climbed some steep hills (not that I have to tell YOU that).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have the old model so it doesn't count floors but that would be interesting to know!

      Delete
  13. Amazing walking! And it looks like you had a really fun day! My husband and I biked from the pier to the golden gate bridge (with electric bikes or we would have died) and I'd highly recommend it if you go to SF again.

    I love my fitbit, but it would have tempted me to walk an extra 418 steps to get to the 25,000 badge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was definitely a fun day! The Mr went on the bridge and said some of the bikers were nuts! LOL I don't know that this butt will ever be on a bike seat again. It's been like 20 years!

      We use it as a pedometer only so if there are badges and stuff, we've never seen them. I don't know that anything could've motivated us after that day! :-)

      Delete
  14. You guys ROCK!!!! That is seriously awesome and I'm SO PROUD OF YOU!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment! I appreciate your time! (Heads up though...disrespectful or spam comments will be deleted.)