Hiking The Concrete Jungle

Yesterday was quite the adventure.  A few months ago a girlfriend and I bought Groupons for Hiking Yoga, and since they were about to expire, we set out to actually use them.  Hiking Yoga is a new way to experience yoga.  Basically you speed walk through a city (they have various locations), and stop along the way, usually somewhere with an awesome view of something, and do a few poses.  For my first one, I went to the SF Embarcadero location, meeting at the Ferry Building.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was super excited for my first yoga experience, despite the super early Saturday morning wake up call.

Walking to the Ferry Building

The Farmer's Market was in full swing, and I spotted the Hayes Street Grill booth with a sign for crab cake sandwiches and oyster po boys.  Instantly knew what I was having for lunch.

After checking in, we took off at a quick clip down to a little park outside of the Embarcadero Center.  I roam around that area all the time and had no idea it was there.  It was pretty cool.  This was our first stop to do some yoga.  Have I mentioned I have never done yoga before?  ;)  Anyway, we did a few stretching and poses for a couple of minutes, then took off again towards Broadway.  We strolled through another park (yet another one I didn't know existed), and headed towards Coit Tower.  I knew hills were coming, it is San Francisco after all, but wow.  The first hill we hit made me feel as though I was mountain climbing.  At some point I felt like I was going to kiss the sidewalk, it was that steep.  It also felt like it was never going to end.  And of course I would have loved to see someone attempt to run up that hill.  Once we got to the top, all winded and ready to collapse, it was time for yoga.  I was actually pretty proud of myself for being able to hold poses, I didn't feel like the loser newbie I thought I was.

This continued for the entire hike, which lasted about 70 minutes.  The last 20 minutes were spent doing yoga in the courtyard of Grace Cathedral.  In a nutshell, it was awesome.  And I definitely plan on doing this again.

Top of the first extreme hill

More stairs

Top of 2nd set of stairs, and view from the 2nd yoga stop.  Absolutely beautiful.

Another hidden park

 I felt great afterwards, and my legs are hurting in places I didn't even know existed today.  I didn't get a long run in, but my adventure took me away from my boys for longer than I expected and I needed to get home.  But that crab cake sandwich sure did happen.  And it was awesome.

Of course I added bacon

I've never seen the rocket door open.  With someone climbing in.  Twas a cool sight.

So after sitting in traffic for a bit and picking up food for the boys, I was finally home.  Took a shower, and lil man napped with me for 4 hours.  That almost NEVER happens, but it was great.  Now it's time to get productive and clean my tornado of a house.  Happy Sunday!