Out for a Hike with Sadie

Out for a Hike with Sadie

Posted on 23. Sep, 2009 by Jeff Lambert in Play & Exercise

I haven’t been running as much as I really would like to and, as such, have found I’m a little bit out of shape.  On the plus side, I’m pretty much injury free!  Well, after a third day in a row of a five mile run in the hills around my neighborhood, the 1,000 foot climbs over the distance finally did me in.  That last run yesterday totally wore my legs out and I was pretty much useless the rest of the day.  I also hadn’t been taking Sadie on my runs since it has been hot and she is out-of-shape for this long a run.  The last time I took her was the end of May and it was really hot.  I ended up having to call Ginny to pick her up at about the halfway point because she was beat and starting to go lame.  So, my plan now is to take Sadie for walks on my rest days and lug along a composition book and my camera so I can record thoughts and things to work on, get out of the house and get Sadie (and me) some exercise.

Sadie Heading Up Road Past Water Tanks

Sadie Heading Up Road Past Water Tanks

Today was the first day of this plan.  I decided to just head up the hill to the first set of water tanks and hang out there in the shade while Sadie roamed the area.  I didn’t want to go too far and I decided to stay off the trail I usually run as, for the past two days, I’ve had to ask to cross a creek that East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) crews were working on making more easy to ford.  In fact, yesterday after I asked to sneak by I told them I would head back using a different route as the day before I interrupted them twice.  That day they were nice enough to turn off the backhoe to let me pass the second time through.  Yesterday, even though my legs were spent, I decided to go down the steep single-track trail and head back up the hills to the ridge as opposed to taking the parkway back, which would have been much easier.  Going this way took me over another creek crossing where construction had already been completed.  In addition to the bridge, they also spread wood chips over quite a bit of the trail, which is nice as this is the section where I always land on my ass when it is wet as it is extremely slick.  The folks at EBRPD also are putting in a bridge over another creek where it exits from a pond and has cut a deep channel through the trail.  Think that section of trail has been detoured for about a month now while they work on it.

Sadie by the Bench at the Top of the Hill

Sadie by the Bench at the Top of the Hill

So, back to today’s walk.  As is me, once I got started I decided to go ahead and hike to the top of the hill, past both sets of water tanks, to sit on the bench that is on the hilltop and affords a great view of the Bay, well, on clear days anyway.  The hike up to the bench is about two-thirds of a mile away and the climb is 400 feet.  Today the air quality was quite a bit better than yesterday but it still was quite hazy (aka, smoggy/foggy) on the Peninsula side of the bay.  Still, it was very nice.  The temperature was just right and there was a stiff cool breeze.  Think I got up there around 11:00 or so.  Sadie had a good time.  While I sat and wrote she roamed the area around me, being very good not to go too far or out of sight.  I actually beat her in that I was still writing when she decided to lay down by my feet.  Never thought I could outlast her genetic, hound nose’s need to sniff everything.

Sadie Waiting for Me to Catch Up

Sadie Waiting for Me to Catch Up

When I finished writing I decided to not head back down the same path but to continue walking on the ridge trail, following it back down past a pond and into the upper part of our neighborhood.  From there I would just walk back down the streets to our house.  This is probably a mile and a half and is really nice.  It was so great to be able to just let Sadie roam off leash.  I didn’t see anyone else walking on this whole trek.  It was so wonderful!  I was even quite shocked to find there were some mallards swimming about in the pond. (Don’t tell my duck hunting brother.)

Sadie and I made it back home right about noon.  She collapsed on the cool, wood laminate floor after getting a drink of water and I made myself some lunch, a glorious peanut butter and banana sandwich.  Life is precious and I really enjoyed getting out with Sadie.  It reminded me of taking Harrison and Madison for walks.  Of course, today they were in school so they weren’t able to tag along and Ginny had headed over to the high school to help Harrison set up a booth to promote a video club that he started this year.  Harrison really likes making videos, while Madison is currently busy playing tennis on her school’s “A” team.

For more photographs from today’s hike check out my Flickr stream.


About the author
 Entrepreneur Jeff Lambert is the President and founder of JVHM, Inc., a software development business located in the San Francisco Bay Area but serving clients around the globe. Jeff's expertise includes application development, database design, integration and development, website design and development, blogging integration, video production, CRM systems setup, development and support and more. In his "spare" time Jeff likes to hang out with his family, run and expand his talents, abilities and understanding of the world around him.


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