The weekend
I spent this weekend unlike most in Isla Vista. I had signed up for Relay for Life which took place on Friday. This is a big deal over here and they take place across the whole country. The event involves a 24 hour relay of a track, which someone from each team must be walking round continuously. I had aimed to raise $100 for the American Cancer Society and managed to exceed this thanks to all of the generous people that kindly donated, my total was $135. The event was a big success and the grand total raised was $72 000! FANTASTIC. We themed our campsite ‘Best of British’ and decorated it with Union Jacks, a life size Queen Elizabeth II, croquet lawn, Pimms and many cakes. It was a very fun yet exhausting 24h as i only managed an hours sleep. As a result I spent much of Saturday catching up on sleep.
In the afternoon me and a few of the guys had a bbq before heading to the Excursion club party with Jamie’s friends from the UK. as always fancy dress was required, this time the theme was Noah’s non denominational arc. I managed to put together a DIY zebra costume in time. A good night all in all. On sunday morning I went to church with Lindsay and then after a few hours work attended the excursion club’s ropes class where I learnt to billet (Bucket List check) and put up a hammock. As the sun was setting I joined a game of volleyball by on DP with Ellen, Bronnie, Bryna, Caroline and some others. I hadn’t played in years and was very rusty but it was so much fun. Rediscovering things is great!
Bucket List Check: See a Whale
Cinco de Mayo Sunrise at Knapp’s Castle
La Jolla Half Marathon
We all finished in under 2 hours and all achieved PBs, great effort all round! My time was 1:46:33, dead chuffed with my time. The weather was overcast for the race which was actually beneficial as it would have been a little too hot otherwise. We awoke at 4am (thanks to Immie for waking us up!) to get the bus from La Jolla to the start. It was a chilly morning and I was eager to get going, instead we had to wait 1h 30 for the run to begin. The course was incredible, starting at Del Mar we looped round to the coast and after 2 small hills we crossed the bridge by the ocean to climb 420’ to the top of Torrey Pines Reserve. The profile plateaued for a around 2 miles before descending. It was at this point, around mile 9, that I was still feeling fresh so I took a risk and aimed for 8 minute miles for the rest of the course. It paid off, my average pace was 8:08 and had plenty left in the tank for a sprint finish that was only impeded by the final hill - the downhill was as tricky as the uphill. After reconvening with the others we grabbed as much free food in sight and then headed back to the hostel for a shower and lunch at Ocean Beach. All in all a fantastic end to a great weekend.
Filling in the gaps
Alarm goes off. It’s 6am. Running shoes on and we begin our first run together as a 3 and our last run before the half marathon. From the hostel we run to Ocean Beach and back, an easy 3 miles with a hill for good measure. Ankle and hamstring were niggling but I’m hoping they’ll be ok by tomorrow.
Upon return to the hostel, I was happy to find the Arsenal game was on TV, the first game I have watched in a while. It was still only 9 by the time we had showered and eaten a delicious breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. This left plenty of time to check out the UCSD campus, stroll the beach at Torrey Pines State Park and see the Torrey Pines & chapparal vegetation. Torrey Pines are the rarest trees in the USA and can only be found in San Diego and Santa Rosa Island.
Visiting this area allowed us to scout out the route for tomorrow’s run, in particular the long 420 ft climb. Having collected our race t shirts and bought our energy gels we were in high spirits and looking forward to the atmosphere.
We returned to La Jolla to eat lunch at the Burger Lounge, a small, very popular restaurant with a fantastically simple menu. I had a quinoa burger which was excellent.
This has been a very relaxing weekend so far and I’ve had the chance to see some of the places I missed out on last time I visited the city. San Diego’s numerous beaches and bay I feel are its best attributes. It really is an awesome place to live. Spending the afternoon at the hostel we didn’t do too much other than catch up on some work, not wanting to exhaust ourselves. In the evening we carb loaded on a feast of spag bol and garlic bread which will hopefully get us through the run.
Off to bed. Rising at 4am to catch the bus to the start so I need all the precious hours of sleep I can get.
On the road again…again
I feel like I am definitely making the most of this quarter. Since Spring Break, every weekend has been eventful, from Deltopia to Cycling through Big Sur, to Coachella and now this weekend in San Diego. Because of this the week days have been chaotic as I try to fit in all my study to reward all these weekend adventures. This has been a skill I’ve wanted to practice this year in anticipation of many more mini adventures in my last year if uni.
So I find myself back in San Diego after having already visited it in January. This time I’m with Luke and Immie to run the half marathon in La Jolla on Sunday. Preparation has been less than ideal. Not wishing to make excuses, I have not trained as much as I would liked to and managed to catch a cold this week having come back from a dehydrating weekend in the desert.
We drove down to San Diego today, a much quicker route than the slow AMTRAK I took last time. Driving allowed us to stop along route in Orange County, somewhere I had not yet visited. We grabbed lunch at Laguna Beach after a short walk along the beach. Lonely Planet came up trumps again and suggested a fantastic veggie joint called ‘The Stand’. The extensive appetizing menu made deciding very difficult. I settled on the humus and guacamole sandwich, it certainly didn’t dissapoint. The service was excellent and the food delicious. Afterwards we carried on towards San Diego. We hit traffic outside LA and San Diego but other than that the drive was pretty clear.
Photo-bombed by a baby
Last time I was in SD I stayed in the HI Hostel downtown but this time round we have Immie’s car so we elected for the hostel in Point Loma which has car parking. It is a pleasant hostel with a well equipped kitchen and welcoming living room abundant with comfy sofas. Unlike the other hostel it is set in a suburban area, which has a nice relaxed feel to it and gives more of a sense of what it would be like to live in San Diego. With the sun just about still shining we headed to Ocean beach which aptly characterises SoCal. BBQs on the beach, surfers riding the crashing waves, dog walkers everywhere and a fantastic sunset. with the remainder of sunlight we drove down Point Loma for a view of the city and to watch the sun drop into the sea.
First Festival
Going to Coachella this weekend. Its going to be hot!!
Excited to see the likes of Radiohead, Bon Iver, Arctic Monkeys, Madness, Pulp, Black Keys, Justice, Mazzy Star, Beirut
