Little training pleasures

I'm not a very goal-oriented person. Biking and running are most often things I enjoy while doing them, more than in anticipation of beating the pants off of someone weeks later. And so, it's the little things along the way:

--Running past Westcliff in Santa Cruz to the UCSC marine station, with a whale skeleton on display you can see from space and a view of the ocean from the chiptrail you get all to yourself.

--The friendly cat beside the running path that purrs away at a good ear-scritching.

--The monarch butterfly boardwalk in Natural Bridges State Park. Even without the butterflies, it's like walking into a cathedral whose floor happens to be occupied by a bed of blooming blackberries full of lumbering bumblebees.

--Public parking in downtown Santa Cruz (okay, not a training thing). 100 minutes for 25 cents, which is mindblowing compared to the highway robbery committed in San Francisco.

--Riding Skyline Rd between Black Rd and Bear Creek Rd above Los Gatos. One-lane, twisty as heck, dipping and rising, surrounded by trees and greenery. (bypassing the poison oak--look but don't touch)

--Earning a turkey + avocado + cranberry sandwich from Togo's. It's sorta Christmas-y, and it works for me.