Day 6: San Francisco with Ana

 31 May, 2022

Bike ride on San Pablo Dam Road

I was hesitating a while until I decided not to check the bike course of my race and stick to biking in Berkeley, or well, near it. So I went back to the much dreaded San Pablo Dam Road. I got nothing to lose, I checked it out with Marci on motorbike before. I had a long ride that means I had time to get there. I planned the trip with Garmin based on the route with Tristan. I went back up the same way to Inspiration Point and down to San Pablo but then instead of turning right to go to Orinda, I turned left and headed down on San Pablo.
Let's see the beast, I thought! And I went all the way until I made the random turnback point in Garmin. I mean, dangerous?? Noway. Amazing! Smooth, few broken glass remnants here or there. But NO wind, mainly immaculate road conditions - what I call a triathlete's paradise. I had the time of my life, especially on the way back, hitting such speed, slightly going over the recommended HR range my coach defined that I just could not stop. My goodness. Time of my life on that road!! Damn! I thought I wouldn't wanna move back here because I would not have a decent road section to train on. Well hell yeah!

Lunch with Ana in San Francisco

When in Berkeley, I gotta go have lunch with Ana in SF at some point to catch up. We had an amazing day together. All laid back and relaxed. I went in to Embarcadero and she came down there by car to pick me up. 

Can you get enough of these streets? Not me.

SO kind of her, especially that I changed the time of our meeting to 20 minutes later, something she was not particularly happy about. She picked me up at Hyatt Hotel and Sky, her dog immediately jumped over into my lap. So cute.

Ana's dog, Sky in my lap

 I had to take a picture with her. Little cutie! We headed over to her flat and ended up hanging out there first. It was nice to talk under normal circumstances, having not a lot going on around us like we would normally have in a café. She told me about her job search and that she would have an interview later that day at 3.30pm. She also finds it hard to find a job that would give her hands enough rest from drawing, which was the original reason why she wanted to become a project manager and that helped our roads cross back in 2017. I also told her about my new role at the company and how much I enjoyed being in it.

Lunch - the point of no return

Love the unique design of even a simple corridor leading to a back patio like this one here:

Plaque on wall at lunch place corridor

As we were waiting for our lunch to come in a restaurant, we had this conversation about the race.
"So tell me more about this race, you start at...?"
"7:15am - by jumping off the boat."
"Seriously? That early?"
"Yes but I mean, I actually need to be in SF at 5am to arrange all my stuff by the bike. Running and biking accessories etc."
"That is early!!"
"I know, " I smiled.
"And then you swim for how long?"
"I was hoping worst case scenario 1:15, best case under an hour 45-50 minutes."
"In that water? Woman, why?"
"It sounds challenging and fun at the same time, why not? I mean I met this lady who said 3 of her friends died in it."
"See what I mean? Why? Why would you do this to yourself?"
"Because it's fun!"
Haha, I am not sure I could convince her. But soon without realizing it, I have no idea how it happened, I hit the point of no return.
What is that exactly?
The food we ordered. I wasn't able to eat even half of it. The stomach block. I develop it before races. But this was way too early. 5 days in advance? We finished, well as much as I could from my lunch I did. Once we were done, Ana recommended walking a bit. Sounded nice but vomiting much nicer. I could not but I felt dizzy and started to tremble. It took me a long time before I could feel normal again.

Topdrawer
Towards the end of our walk, we found this shop called Topdrawer: a place for notebooks and pens. I am a huge fan of fountain pens. We walked in, we were looking around and I could even try out some pens. I was amazed and overwhelmed by their selection. So much that I came out like a new person. Fear and worries left behind. I was normal again. Thank God. It was too early to start to panick!

Topdrawer: the place to regain peace

Second Open water swim with Odyssey
After our lunch meeting, I went back to Oakland and then down to my last swim before the race. It was nice, we were in a more closed setting. 

Before: I was enthusiastic

I decided to jump in like I would jump from the boat. Well, the water is too shallow in this part, so I landed almost hard on my feet. Well, I still tried it out. I started the swim and soon an unepxected black item rubbed up against my body in the water. What that was - a living creature? But what kind? No excitement to follow: another swimmer, who did not want to do the whole route and turned back sooner coming out our way. I kept looking at the buoy but I missed her somehow.

After: even more so - even if it's hard to tell

I biked home feeling satisfied with a good performance for a light training. I'd like to deliver about this level during the race, as well.

Dinner with Tommy
Just when I thought, I would be left alone for dinner, Tommy told me he was free and would be happy to come down from Livermore to grab food. We decided to get Sushi. The only place open was near the university. As we got out of the car, a man was leaning against the wall but facing us and peeing all over the floor - at the same time. We decided to bring the food back to my airbnb. Once again, we managed to catch up. I was so happy to see him and hear his story, his life and how he has made it through Covid times. He also ended giving me tips like Fremont sidewalk, God's Bath, which are lesser known places to visit. Places of interest that made me want to cancel my upcoming trip to Yosemite. However, that decision I wanted to make once Csabi arrived.

That evening, I texted John, the gardener if he wanted to run with me the next day. Unforunately, he pinched some nerve on Friday. So he could not run but he offered his garden for me to join Mark's morning session. With that in mind, I had planned everything out. Run 6-7 am, strength from 7:15 at John's. What a kind offer!