CROSSWALK marathon

thank you city of San Francisco !

2006-09-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

this morning the city of San Francisco installed the crosswalk spanning Sixteeth Street at Wisconsin. and a crosswalk spanning Wisconsin at Sixteenth. not more than 84 hours have passed since i walked the CROSSWALK marathon on Sunday.

2:36 PM THURSDAY . . . how i found out:

Ted Purves and i had a meeting at CCA & i was walking him to the bus stop to finish our discussion.

At the curb of 16th, he says: Look Anne, it's your crosswalk.

I'm looking at it but i don't believe it!

i phone my parents who are at the hospital with Aunt Mary.
my dad answers: hello?
I'm in the crosswalk Dad, I'm in the crosswalk.
what? what?
i'm in the crosswalk. they put the crosswalk in !! it's in !!
are YOU kidding ??? followed by the heartiest laugh i ever heard my dad laugh.

Kyle & Susan drive by as i am standing in the crosswalk. i scream, they come round the corner and hop out. we walked back and forth across, stunned. a huge white Mack truck with a full load stops well in advance and i blow kisses to the truck driver from the crosswalk.

installation view, two crosswalks in use :

For Safe Crossing, SF Artist Walks

2006-09-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

For safe crossings, S.F. artist walks
Melanie Carroll, The Examiner
photo: Jason Steinberg, Special to The Examiner
Sep 11, 2006 2:00 AM
Current rank: # 16 of 6,512 articles

SAN FRANCISCO - Faced with the need for crosswalks in their neighborhood, some people might write to their elected officials or call City Hall.

But artist Anne Devine, 41, pounds the pavement — for 26.2 miles.

Devine spent Sunday completing the equivalent of a marathon in an effort to shed light on the need for two crosswalks on 16th Street — one at Wisconsin Street and the other at Arkansas Street. Devine set out walking the rectangular-shaped area 161 times, for more than eight hours.

"There's a lot of foot traffic here," Devine said Sunday afternoon as she crossed 16th Street’s four lanes donning an orange fluorescent vest. "This neighborhood is expanding. There's a lot of traffic. The City can't keep putting it off. There's so much traffic."

Devine, a graduate student at the California College of the Arts, crosses the street almost daily to get to campus and her studio, she said.

"It’s scary to cross 16th," 19-year-old sophomore Stephanie Sandstrom said. “One lady almost hit me. I had to jump out of the way of her SUV."

A pedestrian, under California law, has the right of way at intersections unless he or she is walking against the light. Still, many intersections lack striped crosswalks to signal that drivers should look for pedestrians, according to Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group.

Pedestrians make up 41 percent of traffic fatalities in San Francisco, compared with a national average of 13 percent, Walk San Francisco reported. Nearly half of those fatalities are seniors. The average San Franciscan is more likely to be injured by a person in a car than by a stranger with a gun, Walk San Francisco reported.

When Devine approached The City's Department of Parking and Traffic about installing crosswalks, city officials studied the issue, she said. The department found that two crosswalks were needed but couldn't fund the projects currently, Devine said.

Sam Fielding, program manager at DPT, could not be reached Sunday to discuss the matter.

As Devine continuously walked the rectangle pattern, friends stopped to offer support for the walk for which she’s been training for about four months.

Each time she completed the rectangular trek across and along the road, she marked the trip's number on her arm with a black marker and on a mechanical counting machine, like the ones seen at concerts or ball games.

"She’s passionate and dedicated," said fellow student Carly Troncale, 29. "When she gets an idea she goes with it ... even if it’s a bit masochistic."

mcarroll@examiner.com

with many thanks . . .

2006-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Carly Troncale
Sara Thatcher
Susan Kief
Kyle Shepard
Angela Brown
Kajia Brown
Jerome Rapp
Charles Spaeth

Melanie Carroll, The Examiner
Jason Steinberg, Special to The Examiner
Henry Mulak, KCBS Radio

Angela Somers
Jennifer Bryce

Gigi Gee
Eric Polson
Roger Hillyard of Farley's
Johnny Jack of Polkacide
Nancy Byrne
Matt Gonzalez
Ted Purves
Brian Conley
Josh Green
Renee Gertler
Ali Naschke-Messing
Jennifer O'Keefe
Lindsey White
Tammy Kim
Daniel Purbrick
Christine Yap
Melanie Lacy Custers and husband Dave
Marsha Shaw
Gareth Spor
Amanda Curreri
Katina Papson
Breean Cox and Nalia
Reggie Stump
Hanna (1st yr)

Owen from Dale's Auto
Scott Snibbe
Jen Lovorrn & infant

Jane & George Devine
George & Teresa Devine
Jane Devine
Bridget Barnhart
Cristine Lategano Nicholas, Nick Nicholas
Jessica Mott

and to all of you who sent emails & notes

special thanks to AXIS CAFE
for access throughout the day

CROSSWALK marathon :: 09:53 AM - 08:40 PM :: 161 circuits / 26.2 miles

2006-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

well first things first, i kind of overslept as i shut my eyes for an extra minute this morning and woke up in a start at 7:12 am. i called Carly and told her i would be at the site at 8:30 am. i need to eat a good breakfast and not rush off - it is a long day ahead of me.

got to start somewhere

2006-09-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

i am nervous, or anxious . . . whatever you call it. the marathon is in just a few hours, tomorrow morning. i worry i haven't planned something, haven't thought something/anything/idontknowwhat out. there are still posters i want to hang, more things i want to do. on the way back from the last of the errands, i park my car at the corner and just sit, watching cars through the windshield. a slight drizzle. the light pulls in and dusk heightens the drama here at the corner. i know this is where i must situate the table, must center the energy: Sixteenth & Wisconsin. it IS where Tom Knight marked the start. it will be my start, my end.

i head home to sort/pack gear for the morning.

postman rings twice

2006-09-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

the fighting stallion arrives today, surely a good sign:

full circle

2006-09-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

it is after 11 PM. i race to the gym for my last workout but the gate is pulled so i continue on to campus and walk circuits of the main building, indoors. 10-10-10. i reverse direction every ten minutes. without the treadmill i don't know my exact pace but use my heart rate as a guide. i smile, walking in circles here at CCA. right back where i started. but not quite. the nave is quiet & i feel a sense of peace. the humor is definitely here, and i enjoy the knowing, a deep knowing from the core: the absolute strength of all the training - my body knows, my mind knows.

hanging around : tape, tacks and staples

2006-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

fruits of my labour

2006-09-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

i've switched my final distance walk to today, the holiday. i realize when i get home it should have been 3 HRS GOAL, but i walked 3 HRS EZ. the camera is out and my eyes see the familiar territory of my walks. i am happy tonight. i know where i have been, where i am coming from. i see the beauty in it.

three dog night

2006-09-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

i am cross town this weekend, house-sitting and dog-watching for a friend. she has three dogs, a trio of retrievers. the house borders on The Presidio. out the tall-doored back gate of the garden and i walk onto a fire road that feels like England. the toe path along the canals by Tommy's mums house, the one before she won the Lottery. the weather clouds here but that hardly dampens the luxury. everyone i encounter seems to know the dogs but i struggle to distinguish them from one another. later at dusk when i walk [8x2 ECONOMY], a strange passing encounter with a young man onthe path creeps me out. i duck through the garden and finish up out on the streets with no further incidents.

second cup

2006-08-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

we woke in the dark of morning and dressed for the half marathon.

new york new york

2006-08-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

good to be back in the streets of NYC. hopping off the train & exiting Penn Station i've got on a little black dress for tonight's wedding and afoot, my green trainers. there is a humour in it all, strappy black heels in my bag. i walk at training pace from gallery to gallery in the summer heat, slicing through the crowds and moving like a fish upstream. first to Chelsea, to visit friend David Leonard's paintings in a group show, then up to 69th & Madison, for the "Yes Bruce Nauman" show which Chris told me about. i stay a long time there. after, a refreshing walk down the shady side of Fifth along the park. even hot enought to tempt me into getting an ice cream from a curbside vendor.

private drive

2006-08-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

here we all are in Cape Cod for Andrew & Jen's wedding. we are out late, up early and there is barely time to walk. the week since flying in has been bad for training, that's for sure. in a break we head to the beach. i walk. everything is askew with my schedule & today should be 10-40-10 but i have a strict time limit before we pile back in the minivan so it is only 35 mins. beyond the the beach, i walk in timed patterns in and behind the residential areas - among paved and gravel roads marked PRIVATE leading to coastal homes. a casual nod to a runner, and later on a more frequented public road, a pair of walkers opposing traffic. i appreciate the time alone. i even find an unlocked porta-potty with sweeping sea views at the construction site of a cliff-side mansion.

forget me not

2006-08-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

in all the rush to get off to the airport, i absoutely forget to walk yesterday (Tuesday). today is a travel day & it is not likely i will train either.

please don't feed the horse

2006-08-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

today i walk five plus hours, to Marin Headlands . . . the stables. it is the longest i will walk in my training, and i have carefully chosen this months ago, when i first mapped out the training routes and thought of places i wanted to walk to. haven't i loved the Headlands since my first visit in 1988? i think about that as i walk. today my route takes me high in along familiar territory: past two of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory hawkbanding blinds/ sites, where i used to sit and lure in hawks, band and release them.

someone has just dined, i see :

the ground opens up below my feet

as i decend into the Valley, it feels like Scotland, if i know what that is

Bridget and Carrie meet me at the stables there in the truck after they finish up at the artist's talk at Headlands Art Center. our timing is perfect. they are full of smiles & they bring me a sandwich. we sit together a while in the warm evening sunlight and i am happy to be here.

i show them a stick i've found that looks like a horse.
we laugh at this sign nailed to the wooden table :

San Francisco Marathon : 2nd half (13.1 miles)

2006-07-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

my scheduled training today is : 3 HRS GOAL PACE

i am walking in the San Franciso Marathon, 2nd half . . . a half marathon

well first things first, i was happy not to have overslept this morning, up at 4:55 AM. it was a solitary experience among a crowd, having talked just briefly to a woman waiting in the long lines at the porta potties at Stow Lake, our 2nd half marathon start area. the walk was beautiful, among familiar places in the park i hadn't walked in years. throughout the park, the smell of eucalyptus. when we popped out onto Haight Street and began our street route, i felt a new surge . . . there was a magic importance and a lift, seeing the street cleared of traffic and intersections tended to by uniformed police officers and leather-clad Hell's Angels with shiny Harleys and big smiles. I felt protected, safe, not care in the world, focused on the walking, the experience . . . just wondering where the next water station was. The heat was up and i needed liquid. My anonymous Haight Street Hero handed me an ice cold fruit punch Gatorade. As I walked on, cheering spectators sipped coffee at street corners and perched on porch steps in slippers and bathrobes with bowls of morning cereal.

cross town, we enter lower Potrero Hill, coming into my territory. There is a slight choice on the route, and i of course pick the Sixteenth Street one that goes right by the block where I will walk CROSSWALK marathon in September. i deviate an addtional block off route and walk one circuit of CROSSWALK marathon, smiling to myself.

soon i am home, just a few minutes shy of 3 HRS AT GOAL PACE. at Bottom of the Hill i see Johnny, my neighbor . . . we stop and chat. more neighbors, we are laughing. you look like a marathon person. pointing to my bib - yes, i actually AM in the marathon! home to change into dry socks and shorter pants. plus, the chance to avoid one more porta-potty along the way is greatly appreciated.

still home, i check some email, make some phone calls. Jen is around the corner and comes out in her ever stylish PJs with camera for a chat. while we are talking on her corner, the police cars come up, marking the official end of the road closures and trucks pick up the orange cones along the route.

my feet have hot spots but i am relaxed otherwise. i have decided that while my training for today is complete, yes, it is important to walk the rest and finish the half marathon. at a very leisurely pace, i walk the familiar route through Potrero Hill and out along the water past the ballpark on the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building.

i step over the finish line and collect my finisher's medal.

and it feels good.

i walk a few more miles this afternoon, through the Ferry Building, along Market Street, and finally home from the bus. yeah, everything is tightening and i am tired.

bib 26086

2006-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

picked up my bib this evening for Sunday's walk in the SF Marathon. there is the whole marathon culture to observe . . . hadn't really thought of that since CROSSWALK is not an "organized" event in that way, nor is it coming from the marathon (distance sports) culture.

lost in thought, i almost forget i am going to see X tonight at The Warfield. brilliant, as ever, they are on the stage.

serious slump

2006-07-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

for numerous reasons, i am moody - the ultimate crank, i even would say of myself - and i bail completely on training this week. for the first time since i began, even illness and injury has not kept me from walking. but now i see it is all mental anyway isn't it? a varitety of otherwise minor annoyances come one after another, snowballing into a serious drain.

along the edge

2006-06-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

it is a beautiful sunny Sunday & i am planning today's route: one way out along the water via the Embarcadero over to Suzanne's. eight miles, about right for time of 2.5 hrs continuous walking. makes me hungry just thinking about it !

seen from within

2006-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

ahh, the doctor has suggested an MRI for my shoulder. this is hopeful, that there might be some diagnosis and relief from future recurrances. back in SF, tired today. i worked a lot here and have slacked off on today's training . . . will walk tempo tomorrow.

whiskey zulu foxtrot

2006-05-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

it rained yesterday (a deluge) so the long walk was postponed.

at Caumsett this afternoon, a young fox and osprey are observed. i walked familiar territory, the stables and trails. the trees are magnificent. among the rocks at water's edge, i make a short video. glad i packed the camera.

my mother joined me part of the way. we had pizza together after, at a favorite place for slices.

Deborah Gibbon (1969-2006)

2006-05-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

plans were to head up to Sonoma, but something kept me in town today.

i spent the day out in the garden, working for hours on the lavendar tree. trimming back, finding the shape, covered in the scent of lavendar. time has passed. the tree keeps growing where Blue died in my arms with our friends around us. in the company of friends. brushing the long tendrils around, well it always feels good.

and later, Kyle came and knocked on the door. at first i was confused, then stunned. We have lost Deborah, who died last night.

what can i do? it is such a deep sadness, typing her name with Blue and with Ingrid on the CROSSWALK page.

http://www.deborahgibbon.com/

these boots were made for walking

2006-05-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

"Arguably more significant is that Van Gogh was himself a marathon walker. He could walk fifty miles in a day. When in England he trekked from Ramsgate to London in 24 hours in order, among other things, to visit the National Gallery, and did tours on foot from London to Brighton. He walked because he was broke. In the winter of 1879/80 he strode from the Borinage coalfields of Belgium to Courrières in northern France to visit the studio of Jules Breton, a painter whose heroicised accounts of decent working life he admired. Arriving at the artist's house he was too humble to knock. It was a week's round trip, and largely foodless and, as he wrote later, "it nearly killed me". So when Vincent painted old boots they stood for many things including ambition and the long road of self-improvement by hard work."

new route map

2006-04-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

this afternoon made a new route map from a googlemap script, and that also maps the circuit at 0.141 mile, meaning 186 citcuits for the marathon.

tonight, a second mapping lands it at .160 mile, meaning 163 circuits for a marathon. for now i'll go with the 163.75 circuits until it is measured "officially".

the lilacs are in bloom, many hours moving dirt and weeding instead of writing papers for the final week. tonight as i type, the soft scent of lilacs and white roses finger across the room. just three more days till summer, LET ME OUT.

cambodia

2006-04-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

i have been thinking a lot about Ingrid yesterday & today. reading about Cambodia, wondering what it is like to teach in the smaller, rural communities there