I Want to Run Up Lombard St.

Guest Blogger Eric Jorgensen

I want to run up Lombard St.

Not the normal, straight-shot parts of Lombard St. I want to run up the good part: the super-famous stretch that is as curvy as it is steep.

“Don’t talk about it. Be about it, Eric.”

Yeah I could run up the coolest street in San Francisco, the world, San Francisco by myself, but that sounds so… boring. I want friends there, too.

I live a couple blocks from the base of the Lombard Snake, and I pass it every few days. Every time I see its hairpin turns, brick-laden road and lush landscape I feel awestruck. It looks so imposing, challenging, but yet beautiful. It’s the San Francisco Mt. Everest—if Mt. Everest had tourists crawling on it, armed to the teeth with cameras, who are certainly not afraid to block traffic and seem to block it more when I honk my horn. But I digress.

I have this voice in the back of my mind telling me that I’m missing the opportunity of a lifetime by not creating a Lombard St. hill workout. It’s famous, notorious and some other profound adjective. And I live three blocks away! Why am I not taking advantage of this?

Here’s what I propose. I am going to start a hill workout on Lombard St. I don’t know when, how many up-and-downs it will be, or if it is even “legal” in the “eyes” of the “local government,” but I’m doing it! Unless it is illegal, in which case I will stay on the pedestrian path. I’m looking to you to inspire me when and how often I, or we, do this Lombard workout.

Join me. You tell me when you want to join, and I’ll come up with the workout. I’m thinking Tuesday evenings sound like a great Lombard day. I’ll make sure the local ambassadors are there, too. (This is the first they have heard of this.)

Our marathon is the one marathoners fear, because it is so very, very, hilly. Let’s train on the best and most famous hill to prepare ourselves. Not only will our legs be stronger, but our souls will feel legendary.

Or something like that.