Run #12 had everything: sunshine, surprise friends, a diva camera, and just enough calf drama to keep things interesting.

South SF Bay trails and shortest gap yet

I took on half marathon run #12 on the south east San Francisco Bay trails – starting and finishing at Google, while Paula rolled next to me on her bike 😍🥰, turning the whole thing into a moving film set with her handlebars as the camera rig. The timing made this one special: run #11 was just last Monday because of the holiday, so this was officially the shortest rest period I’ve had between two half marathons in this 52@52 adventure.

The great Insta360 plot twist

This time I mounted the Insta360 X5 on Paula’s handlebars and went in feeling pretty confident that the battery would finally last the entire run. I switched off PureVideo since I’m running in broad daylight, disabled AI processing during recording so it would only kick in while the camera is charging, and turned on the extended-time option, even if that might sacrifice a bit of video quality. After the run I realized the camera had stopped after about 50 minutes—not because of the battery, but because the SD card was completely full, which is what happens when you never delete anything from a camera you bought back in November. So the X5 survived, the battery plan worked, but my data-hoarding habits didn’t; wish me better luck (and a cleaner SD card) next time.

Chance meetup on the trail

In the middle of all this, we had one of those perfect serendipity moments on the trail. Without planning anything, my wife and I suddenly found ourselves joined by a group of friends from work who happened to be out riding: Marcelo (who already made a cameo back in run #5, remember?), Derek and his father, and Sandro, a special guest all the way from Brazil. It turned the run into a rolling reunion, with bikes, jokes, and catch-ups weaving in and out of the miles.​

Gear and body check-in

On my feet I stuck with the Altra Rivera 3 again, trusting the familiar zero-drop feel and roomy toe box to carry me through another 21.1 km on tired legs. My knee, which had been a concern before, behaved surprisingly well this time and was never the star of the show. Instead, my left calf decided it wanted a speaking role and began to hurt after the halfway mark, forcing a few stop-and-stretch breaks along the way. The pain stayed in the “annoying but manageable” category, and each quick stretch was enough to reset things so I could keep cruising.

Next weekend, here we come

This week will feature plenty of calf stretching, light mobility, and massage gun. If all goes as expected, the leg should calm down and I’ll be ready to line up again next weekend, SD card freshly cleared, to chase half marathon number 13 in this 52@52 journey.