Wildflower(less) Run at Russian Ridge

In case you can't tell, I've lost a little of my running blog mojo. Since my race, I've been having some issues with pain on the bottom of my foot by my toes that has me a little worried, so I've only been running about once a week. I've also been pretty preoccupied with the move, wrapping up the school year, and all the life stuff that's been flying at us as we wrap up our bay area life. 

Still, Ed and I did manage to get away a few weeks ago for a beautiful run up at Russian Ridge.

Fortuitously, we realized when we got there that we had no working garmin or watch, which meant our run (and our distance) was determined entirely by feel. 

I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical about this. As odd as this might sound, I've never done a trail run like this before, and it seemed very weird to not know how far I went, or even how long!  

Ends up, this is an awesome way to run. It helped me feel no guilt about walking up hills when I needed to, or stopping to take in the view. 

We ended up finding pretty well labeled trail signs, and ended up figuring out that our run was 7 miles, but by that time, that was beside the point. 

The point? Being on this gorgeous ridge, taking in the views of the bay below us, and the forests to the side, and being thankful to be outside. 

We'd hoped for lots of wildflowers, but this was about all we got. Nothing like last years, but we still appreciated the sight. 

Since there's a chance this was our last run here (typing that makes me want to plan another trip - I'm not ready to say goodbye to that trail, or anything, yet), I convinced Ed we should head up to the "peak" for a last look. 

With the fog rolling in, we headed back down the trail.

Past the lake, where we stopped to watch the water, 

And the wildlife,

Past the singletrack, where we said goodbye to the forested valley,

Stopping to take one more picture,

And soak in one more view,

On the final stretch, looking towards the Christmas Tree Farm,

And finally, flying down the singletrack downhill, enjoying our final descent. 

Once we got to our cars, we grabbed our picnic bag and headed out to horseshoe lake to continue enjoying the day. 

Lunch was nothing fancy, just sandwiches and some grapes, but the views? Made it seem pretty spectacular. 

After possibly too long (since we did have work to get back to), we finally headed back. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Ed spotted something exciting!

I've never seen a frog jumping around in the wild before (from what I can remember). Definitely one of the cutest amphibians out there :)

All in all, it was a great day to be outside.