It’s truly amazing when you realize you just completed a pretty tough workout, but it didn’t seem like work or training because it was so fun, or so beautiful, or so social. When was the last time that happened to you? It happened to me this weekend after doing the sunrise Mt. Tam hike/run with two friends. Yes, I try to keep my daily workouts fun and social — biking 30 miles to work with a group of guys, sweaty spin class with my fabulous co-workers, trail running with a much-needed Equator coffee afterwards, long bike ride with Bovine Bakery in-between, or a Masters swim class with fellow triathletes (OK, these are the least fun!), but a run, bike, or swim sesh still almost always feels like training.
This past Saturday I woke up at 5:00am to run/hike to the top of Mt. Tam to catch the sunrise over the Bay area with Jenny and Jamie. It was a 9-mile round trip, 2300+ ft elevation gain adventure and though it was a difficult workout, it was the most fun non-workout workout I’ve ever had! We laughed, we chit-chatted, we ran, we hiked, we stopped to take in the beauty that was around us, I almost rolled my ankle (note: must hit up SFRC for trail running shoes soon!!), and we met some new, hilarious people at the top. Once we got to the East Summit, it was about 7:30am and the sun was just peaking through the horizon. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life. You can see the entire Bay area (ok, some of it was blanketed with rolling fog), the bridges, the hills, the stillness and majestic beauty of this place. I had to pinch myself. Is this reality??
The other cool thing was getting to know new people. I was lucky to meet Jamie, the founder of Fit Approach and Sweat Guru (launched this week!) She’s also a plant-based athlete, and has been doing ultra marathons for 8 years(!) She’s a total badass, such a sweetheart, and I’m so glad I got to meet her. Check out SweatGuru.com and help her grow her amazing new business!
With the next 10+ months of Ironman training, I hope to incorporate more of these workouts-that-don’t-feel-like-workouts into my routine. Keep things fun and social!!
Thanks everyone. Swim. Bike. Run. Eat Plants.
Where's The Tofu? 
Had THE BEST time! And thanks for the SweatGuru / Fit Approach shout-out. Excited for our next sunrise tam summit!
Loved this workout-nonworkout post. I am so grateful to feel like most of my training consists of amazing times with friends being active. Can’t wait for our next trip up Tam together. Love you ladies and thanks for the San Francisco Running Company shout-out. Again, so lucky to be a part of this amazing trail running community here in the Bay Area.
Thank YOU for organizing and bringing us together. 9th Mt. Tam summit with a victory lap around the corner. You rock!
Did I use the words “love” and “amazing” enough? Can I emphasize how much I LOVED this AMAZING run we did 🙂