Lost in Transportation

During these last few months of training, each week we had our Saturday group workout at a different location. Each week, we followed the directions our head coach Valerie gave us. Each week, we got lost. For some reason, the girl is not able to give clear, concise directions. I don't know if she uses mapquest, yahoo maps, or her own hazy memory, but it never fails.

The directions usually start out fine...get on the freeway, exit here, turn right at the bottom of the off ramp. But then it starts to go south...drive .4 miles, pass the white building, turn left at the red Ford pick up, go up the hill, go down the hill and park in the parking lot with the cars. It's true.

Our first track workout was at a middle school on MacArthur Blvd. where the street was lined with schools that had no signs or addresses. We walked around like zombies until we found it. That was also the case with the Golden Bear stadium in Berkeley. The track was on top of a hill, up 3 flights of stairs and surrounded by trees. Were we given a heads up on what to look for? Of course not! We had to get a student to take us to it. Oh, and Berkeley High School is on Allston Way, but the directions we were given ended at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. How do you get to Allston from MLK? We were told to "look for the stadium lights." Oh ok. We somehow stumbled upon it, but we couldn't find parking so we just went home.

When we did our run at Inspiration Point, the directions told us to take Grizzly Peak until it became Wildcat Canyon. Four miles later, we were to turn right into the parking lot. Well, four miles after the road became Wildcat Canyon, we saw a sign saying "Inspiration Point" with an arrow pointing in a direction in which the road didn't go. There was a small road to the right, but it was blocked off. So, we continued on...just in case. A few miles later, we found the ACTUAL Inspiration Point and parked in the lot on the LEFT.

For our Briones ride, our directions told us to turn right on Bear Creek Rd and park in the lot before the flashing red light hanging from a pole above the road. So we drove and drove and drove. Then we saw a pole, with NO flashing red light on it. But, since we were now used to Valerie's directions, Lee and I just looked at each other with a look that said; That was probably the pole that was SUPPOSED to have a flashing red light. Typical. We better turn around.

Another common problem is that the streets we're supposed to turn on, don't have street signs. That's what happened TWICE on our way to Lake Merced a couple weeks ago. We also seem to have a lot of sessions up in the hills, were the roads are winding and keep switching names. There's always like 10 forks in the road and we're never really told which way to go. It's like one long Robert Frost poem.

These are just a few examples of course. This actually all started the very first night when we took BART to the Oakland See Jane Run store for the introductory meeting. After getting off the train, we turned right instead of left. DANG! Since then, the only things that have saved us are Lee's basic knowledge of Oakland and San Francisco and my basic knowledge of Berekely. When we were "confused" we just kind of relied on what we remembered about the area and eventually figured out where to go.

So now that we are only four days until the triathlon, I'm already thinking to myself: I need to make sure I get the directions NOW! Better not count on Valerie on the big day! It's a good thing both Lee and I know Sac like the back of our hands!