(ENG) The Fog City Run: the map, places and history

The Fog City Run ... 5K up and down through The Street of San Francisco ... follow me!

Meeting point: The Blue Light in Union Street @ Buchanan street.

Ready .. Steady ... Go!  

One block down Buchanan St we get to Green St. with its Victorian houses until we turn in Divisadero St. Here we can admire one of the most typical and beautiful San Francisco’s landscapes: the sea in the distance, at the foot of the hill. We, however, will turn left, leaving this beautiful vision behind us while enthusiastically heading towards the first steep climb ... luckily only one block before turning right onto Vallejo St where we are back on a relaxing flat road.

At the end of Vallejo St we find one of San Francisco best known attractions: the Lyon street steps, 288 steps with four different connecting sets connecting Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow.

From the bottom you cannot see the top, which seems to be a good thing, since just seeing the top of the first climb (two flights of 62 steps each) is daunting enough.

The start of Lyon Street steps is half way between Green St and Vallejo St in front of “Princess Diaries” house (a 2001 movie starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway).

Further up, there is the home of Dianne Feinstein, Us Senator and the only female mayor of San Francisco .... maybe I should add her to my contacts ...

Continuing past the Lyon Street Steps to Pacific Ave, we reach the top of the hill: where we can see from the ocean to Mount Diablo; from Tiburon to San Bruno Mountain.

We are now in the prestigious Pacific Heights neighborhood where the majesty of the mansions perfectly fits with the magnificent views on the city.

After a short stretch along Pacific Ave we enter now the Presidio, a park located on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area.

Our race is now more relaxed and easy-paced, running on flat paved trails winding through the trees and tidy townhouses.

The Presidio was originally a Spanish fortified location built in 1777 which fell under Mexican rule Mexico for 24 years before becoming a U.S. military base in 1848.

The building was actually just wood and bricks fort that could not withstand the weather and repeated earthquakes, so that the only remains of that era is just some cannons. Since 1995 the Presidio was eventually converted to a public park.

Did you know...? The Presidio is also the location of the homonymous movie starring Sean Connery.

The park is characterized by many wooded areas, green hills and beautiful vistas overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

We will run along the south-eastern corner of the park before exiting through the Lombard Gate, one of the historic gates of the Presidio built in late 1800s (around 1895).

We are now back on the Streets of San Francisco and precisely Filbert St. Our minds straight to the finish line, we run back to: The Blue Light ... where a well-deserved "complimentary beer" is waiting for us!

"Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived."

Dean Karnazes - American ultramarathon runner 

Curious about the project behind the Fog City Run? here's why!

* Sources: wikipedia, SFGate.com, presidio.gov