August 9 - 6th hike - Windy Hill

This post and this week's training is dedicated to all those who have donated since the last post:

Emily B, Clover H., Anna L., Nicole P, Shannon R., and Beth M.

This weekend's hike was the first of 3 mentor-led hikes (led by my mentor, Bowman) at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. These are supposed to be a bit more low-key, and we can invite friends and family to come to these. The other hikes are more tightly run by the team leaders, we have assigned groups, etc.

Above is a view we had when walking back toward the trailhead on the way back.

In the morning it was unexpectedly very cold and foggy (as well as at least a bit windy). Luckily I did have a long-sleeved shirt with me.

These are all pictures from my phone since the batteries on my regular digital camera had run out.

Here's Bob and Stacey, who were in my hiking group this week, posing with the view.

A lot of the trail was more wooded than this, and cooler.

Near the end of the trail we met up with Bowman and Yvonne, and sat on a bench to talk for a bit. Ironically, there was a huge plaque on the bench that said "Bob's Bench" even though Bob had missed it - since he and Stacey had walked back to the trailhead already.

I love my boots!

Also in this picture is the tip of a hiking pole, and the corner of Bowman's boot in upper right. We were talking about Mt Diablo, which we could see in the distance. Bowman has taken his Scout troop up there three times, he said.

This is the Windy Hill sign, at the end of the hike. At the beginning of the hike, this was shrouded in chilly fog. Hard to believe the extreme change!

While we were talking at the trailhead, this guy rode in on a trail from the side, on his horse!

He looks the picture of your traditional Californian cowboy, hat, feather in hat, horse eating the grass, etc -- but if you could look closer here, you'd see he also has a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear! Horseman of 2008!

Right after the hike I drove over to Heidi Roizen's house in Atherton - she is one of my gracious donors and gave me several free copies of her CD - SkinnySongs, for our team, plus a few shirts. Thanks Heidi! (Heidi and I were matched up briefly in 1996 by the Stanford alumni mentor program - she also has a bachelor's degree in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis from Stanford, and also a Stanford MBA, which I don't have). Check out her bio, she is one of the early female entrepreneurs and CEOs of the Valley, and recently also a VC.

The last time I was at her house was 12 years ago as a student coming over to hang out for our mentorship talk. I wonder how I got there before? Did I ride my bike? The house still looks awesome of course.

But I wasn't tired yet! So I drove up to Corte Madera to go to a book event for my friend Shannon Rosa's (and Jennifer Byde Myers') project - Can I Sit With You: The Stormy Social Seas of the Schoolyard. Please check out the link - the main idea is that they have self-published an awesome book, a collection of stories that adults have submitted, about their experiences socially in elementary and junior high school.

The basic gist is for parents and other adults to be able to say - we got through it (for the most part). To help kids feel like they're not alone (and to clue parents into the kinds of things that happen). Both Shannon and Jen were very passionate about this as they spoke (see above). All of this benefits the Redwood City Special Education PTA.

Lea Hernandez, who did the cover for their book, was there, and so I got to meet her too, as well as hear Michael's story from the book read again, and to hear Judy and Amanda's stories in person for the first time.

They were nice enough to invite me out for Thai food with them afterward, so I drove down to San Francisco and ate dinner (unfortunately still in my Hike for Discovery jersey, although I had showered after the hike at least).

I guess all that might be more focused if it were on my LiveJournal instead of here.

I guess it shows that while the hike was a little less strenuous this week, I must be doing better with the training if I was able to run around all these places, and not feel too tired until after dinner!