Crissy Field is one of a handful of parkruns in the US and the most westerly parkrun in the world. This means that whoever comes in at the end is the last of many thousands of parkrunners around the world to finish that week.

I did Crissy at the end of a 2 week holiday in California. It turns out that I wasn't the only one with that plan as, of the 40ish runners that morning, half were Brits on holiday or in San Francisco for work. Most of the rest were Ozzies with a few randoms and only a couple of Americans. Whilst parkrun is massive now in the UK and spreading quickly to other countries, its been slow to catch on in the US. It's odd as there's a big running culture there and certainly that morning Crissy Field was full of runners with their own plans.

The Crissy Field course in any other place would be pretty boring. Its flat and basically up and down 1 track. Its the scenery that makes it stand out. The first half mile ran out towards a jetty with Alcatraz in the distance, then doubling back to the start and continuing along towards the Golden Gate Bridge before a second turn and back to the start. That morning was chilly and foggy with the mist hanging just above the road section of the Golden Gate hiding the top. I would be surprised if there was another parkrun with a more amazing view.

Note: I've noticed that, since I did Crissy in October 2015, the course has changed slightly and the run out to the jetty had the start has been replaced by an additional loop on the Golden Gate end. Not a big surprise as the previous start section involved running through a Yacht Club car park.

Crissy Field parkrun

More parkrun posts