Sunrise 7:05: Big Game Countdown

There was a good layer of frost on the fence posts that line the Stanford golf course and a crunchy feel as the female Dawn Jogger made her way across the fairway in the predawn. The cool temperature may have limited the number of students camped out on the plaza in Big Game vigil. A a big countdown clock marked 33 hours to go. Hmmm, seems like both teams might just want to enjoy the party and forget the actual game...

Sunrise 7:04: Month of morning delights

The female Dawn Jogger thinks this November has been chock full of spectacular sunrises. The weather has cooperated - skies have been clear more than overcast, with just enough clouds to capture the brilliance of the rising sun. At very first blush today, the horizon was cardinal (a good omen for Stanford) but by the time she was down on the lake bed of Lagunita, colors had softened (dare we say golden?). No Big Game bonfire at the lake tonight, a tradition that ended a decade or so ago...

Sunrise 7:03: On top before sunrise

The sun hadn't come up by the time the female Dawn Jogger reached the Big Dish this morning. That didn't seem to be discouraging a group of Stanford coeds she met walking along the ridge top - a most unusual sighting as it's usually too early for the college set. The man in shorts was right on schedule coming in the Piers Lane gate...

Sunrise 7:02: Final color peak

After all the early show of fall color this year in Menlo, it appears once again to be right on schedule for peaking around Thanksgiving. Oak Avenue looked striking as the female Dawn Jogger came back from her run around the lake with Dawn Community member Judy. Much news to catch up on this Tuesday morning...

Sunrise 7:01: It's Big Game Week

There was only one Big Game when the female DJ was growing up and it was between the Cal Bears and the Stanford Indians. Now there are bigger games - the one 400 miles south is usually more meaningful as it is this year. The winner of the UCLA/USC game goes to the Rose Bowl. But Big Game fervor remains in the north, showing this morning in Cardinal red fountain on the Stanford campus. Stanford is one of the few teams that's a color...

Sunrise 7:00: Sights of the season

Come December at 1100 Hillview Drive (where the female Dawn Jogger grew up), and the house would fill up with Pyracantha. The female DJ's mom was a thrifty sort who would use "what was available" for floral decorations but made sure some kind of flowers or plants was available 365 days a year. On her afternoon walk today, the female DJ was reminded of those long ago arrangements...

Sunrise 6:59: Run up Trancos

Using the four day break to vary her routine, the female Dawn Jogger had planned to go to the coast for a run along cliffs this morning, but chores loomed so she headed instead to what was once familiar territory to the DJs and Cassie - the trails that wind around adjacent to Portola Valley Ranch. She decided to jog 'short Portola with added hill' that took her to the ridge top near Trancos Wood and provided a good view of Windy Hill to the west and Mt. Diablo (more more distant) to the East. Trails were dry but often covered thick with leaves, making for nice footing. The haul up is a bit of a climb when jogging rather than walking...

Sunrise 6:58: Arastradero outing

Given the turkey day feasting, the female Dawn Jogger thought it would be good to get in some hill work, so she went out to Arastradero where she hadn't been since the Big Dish closure last summer. She didn't start out until past 8:30, but there was still signs of a fairly heavy frost in the cooler locations (it would have been pretty in the early morning!). She paused when she came to the new trail juncture; for years the two DJs and Cassie had taken a route straight down the hill. But it was closed for area restoration, a process that now looks complete. The new trail winds around more is where they've often heard or seen coyotes. Just families on bikes this morning...

Sunrise 6:57: Happy Thanksgiving!

The female Dawn Jogger gives thanks for the awesome and ongoing support of family and friends and that, slow as she is, she can still greet the dawn daily with a jaunt around town and campus. Baby Grace will be coming to Menlo Park for her first visit...

Sunrise 6:56: Crisp and clear

A dawn around 7:00 am, clear skies and crisp temperatures made for a spectacularly pretty Wednesday Big Dish run. The female Dawn Jogger started seeing color in the sky as she made her way across the golf course and it had hit crimson by the time she hit Lake Lagunita (framing Hoover Tower nicely). The shades of color continued to change, growing less intense, as she climbed up the hill. The ridge itself seemed a good 10 degrees warmer than the lowland, welcome on a day that began with temperatures in the low 40s. The good outing was capped off by a good sighting of the 'police cows,' grazing quite close to Alpine...

Sunrise 6:54: Sprint across the fairway

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings the female Dawn Jogger has been using the predawn light to sprint across the second and part of the first hole of the Stanford golf course. It's a race against tee time (although there's a service path she can take along the first hole fairway if golfers are approaching). This morning's shot was taken just west of the second tee. She keeps thinking she'll see critters on the course...

Sunrise 6:53: Seasonal colors

The female Dawn Jogger has run down the area between the Stanford's main quad and dorms for over 15 years. But only this morning did the sun's rays hit just right so that she noticed the bright orange and red kumquat fruit. It seemed the tree had decorated itself in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The early sun was also striking Hoover Tower...

Sunrise 6:52: Foggy again

The female Dawn Jogger headed out for a quick jog around Menlo Park on a drippy, foggy morning. The uncharacteristic Sunday morning activity was prompted by a brunch date in the City with college chums followed by a trip across the Bay Bridge to see Grace. Photos will undoubtedly appear later this afternoon on the male DJ's blog...

Sunrise 6:51: Fall comes to campus

After running the Dish on Saturday mornings, the female Dawn Jogger heads back home using a variety of routes. This morning she chose to cut across campus by Roble Hall and then across Roble Field. Roble is where she remembers meeting friends who went to Stanford. It's one of the oldest dorm on campus (constructed in 1918) and is at is prettiest in the fall. Quite a warm morning for mid-November...

Sunrise 6:50: Color in Menlo Park

The Dawn Joggers neighborhood is filled with liquid amber trees - most planted when the houses were built in the early 50s. They reliably put on a great display of fall color, and usually peak at Thanksgiving. They'll do so this year, but only because Thanksgiving is "early" (yes, of course it's always the 4th Thursday of November). Thanks to the DJs' great gardening crew, the mess of having liquid ambers - not only the fall leaves but the spiny round fruit that gets dropped in the summer - doesn't impact them much, so they can just enjoy the color. It's all the different hues that make them so appealing...

Sunrise 6:49: All about contrails

The subject of contrails - what they are and how the get there - was one of the topics of discussion on the KFOG Morning Show this morning, which the female Dawn Jogger was listening to as she circled Lake Lagunita. (Water is still being pumped into the lake and a few good rains could mean a real lake this year.) When you jog at dawn, seeing contrails isn't unusual and they can be quite pretty in pink as the sun rises. The female DJ agreed with the KFOG crew that there did some like more than usual this morning. From the callers, evidently there are folks who think that contrails are gases released into the atmosphere to affect mind control. A bit unclear on what they're trying to make us think and the idea seems far-fetched to the female DJ. A science teacher phoned in with the reminder that contrails are formed from water vapor (acted on by airplanes). The male DJ says the explanation is more complex than that. Sometimes running at dawn makes you think of things you had no intention of thinking about...

Sunrise 6:48: What a difference a week makes

Today was as bright and clear as last Wednesday was foggy. So the female Dawn Jogger decided to talk a very similar picture from the same vantage point. She's still a bit puzzled why these Wednesday Dish runs are so compelling...

Sunrise 6:47: Across Roble field

The female Dawn Jogger sensed it was going to be a pretty sunrise as she jogged along the "bad path" adjacent to the still-under-construction practice golf course. So she tried to pick up her pace. Her reward was the first blush of sun across Roble field and behind the old gym. Another early rising payoff...

Sunrise 6:46: Back to the farm

As much as she enjoyed the sights of northwest Ohio, the female Dawn Jogger was glad to be back to her regular run She was greeted by a terrific sunrise. The sky was various shades of pinks in every direction, east and west. It was particularly pretty looking west over the golf course but annoying power lines prevented a good shot. The one here looks east over the practice golf course...

Sunrise 7:10: Ever present Cuyahoga

Two things you can't escape in the Cleveland area - the Cuyahoga River and grey skies (at least in November). But today the Dawn Joggers head home to the Bay Area. It's been a good trip, a journey of many memories. And way too much very good food (last night at Lola's). Who would have thought...

Sunrise 7:08: Along the Ohio & Erie Canal

Over the years on their visits Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, the Dawn Joggers have enjoyed walking or jogging along the Ohio & Erie Canal towpath trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. So while the male DJ wrapped up his Board of Visitors meeting this morning, the female DJ headed to Peninsula, Ohio where there's an entrance to the towpath near lock 29 (pictured). She headed south to Hunt Farm, a round trip distance of just over six miles, a distance she really needed after last night's delicious dinner at Downtown 140 (considered one of the best restaurants in the state). Fall color had come and gone along the towpath with the forest taking on an early winter appearance. But temperatures were mild and the usual weekend cyclists were largely absence. She just missed seeing the tourist train with its colorful locomotive spotted on earlier visits...

Sunrise 7:06: Jog through the Academy

The female Dawn Jogger is in Hudson, Ohio, where the male DJ is attending the Board of Visitors meeting of Western Reserve Academy, which he attended. Hudson remains a gem of a cute town even with it's Disneyfied new downtown shopping area (the female DJ will stick the original Main Street later this afternoon). And the Academy is a great place to jog, using the cross country course and a number of scenic loops around the playing fields and historic buildings. It was founded as a college and an academy in 1826 by David Hudson of Yale. The college became involved with the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement 28 years before the Civil War began and was the home of the third observatory in the U.S. (and now the second oldest). Today, the Academy is a coed prep school, and the female DJ caught the students going into chapel. It's an activity that the male DJ remembers well during his era when the school was just boys...

Sunrise 6:42: Off to Hudson

Another predawn departure headed for the cold Midwest and the male Dawn Jogger's Board of Visitors meeting at Western Reserve Academy. Big adventure for the DJs...

Sunrise 6:41: Very foggy Dish

It didn't matter what time the sun came up this morning. It was so foggy that the Big Dish was invisible until the female Dawn Jogger got within 50 yards. Kind of fun and atmospheric...

Sunrise 6:40: Water, no ducks

The female Dawn Jogger had noticed last Saturday that there was water coming into Lake Lagunita from other reservoirs. By this morning there was enough to make ducks happy, translating to two good sized ponds. A couple of days good rain and the lake could think about filling up. It's been two years, so it's due...

Sunrise 6:39: Special baby edition

Under the assumption that there is nothing closer to "First Blush" than a newborn less than 24 hours old, the female Dawn Jogger brings this special edition. Grace Eloise Getze was born at 11:47 pm on 11/4/07, weighing 7 lbs, 4 oz (two ounces less than her father at birth) and measuring 20 inches (1/2 inch less than her father).
The female DJ's presenting the un-swaddled version here (complete with ankle bracelet just like Martha Stewart wore during house arrest - this baby isn't going to leave this hospital!) and two proud men. Much prettier photos are posted on the male DJ's blog. A pretty exciting day almost exactly 33 years after the most exciting day in the female DJ's life...

Sunrise 6:39: Wow, it's light

On waking this first day of being a grandmother, the female Dawn Jogger was eager to get her run in so that the DJs could head to Walnut Creek to meet Grace. She arrived around midnight last night - no details yet. How nice it was to leaving at sunrise, rather than returning to the house at sunrise. The sun was hitting a eucalyptus tree in Stanford's arboretum just so...

Sunrise 6:37: On baby watch

The female Dawn Jogger's son called early this morning to say wife Julie's water had broken. But that didn't mean labor got going. Just starting now in the late afternoon. So the wait for baby Grace continues...

Sunrise 7:36: Warm dish top

The temperature registered in the mid-40s in the male Dawn Jogger's vegetable garden (both a cool and hot spot) this morning, so the female Dawn Jogger was not quite dressed for the "heat" atop Big Dish. Yesterday had been warm during the day, and she could feel the temperature rise as she ascended from Piers Lane. Other exercisers were shedding clothes as they walked. It was cooler along a style "pondy" Lake Lagunita as she make her way home...

Sunrise 7:35: Last day in the dark...

...at least for a month. The female Dawn Joggers looks forward to a month of lightness, being able to once again run around the lake, sprint across the golf course, and not always to rely on a well-lighted path. Just a hint of dawn appeared east of Lake Lagunita, with sunrise itself 20 minutes or so away...

Sunrise 7:34: Home before sunrise

No place to run, lots of place to hide. That was the conclusion of the female Dawn Jogger as you tried to find a lighted route from the beginning to the end of her route. She set out in the dark - and it stayed dark thanks to the extended week of daylight savings time. Thankfully, just one morning left (that matters with Saturday allowing for later rising). There were cheery signs of last night's Halloween along the way...