Happy hours are pretty darn happy. Because of this, we have them at least once a month. But our culture is about more than martinis, so at the start of 2017, we made a commitment to expand our social activities “beyond the happy hour” by participating in community-minded events.

Our first such activity took place Sunday, April 23, 2017, when we ran the Levi’s Presidio race in support of The Guardsmen, a 70-year-old Bay Area nonprofit focused on improving the lives of at-risk youth through summer camp, scholarships, and more.

16 Firewoodians plus a number of spouses, significant others, siblings, and children ran the three races: 10-mile (2 runners), 10 km (6 runners), and 5 km (all others). It was a typical San Francisco day: blue, green, crisp, gorgeous.

We ran on the Golden Gate bridge, and the length of Crissy Field and the Marina. We walked. We pushed strollers. Kids played soccer. And in the end, we rested on the grass as we listened to an organizer recite the very long litany of all category winners. Opportunities for medal winning abounded since medals were awarded to the top three places for the 10-mile and 10 km runs and for at least 20 or more age and sex categories.

We are happy to announce that the only winner of our team was a 5-year-old—Jess’s son Luka. Congrats to those little legs! Nathan Woody finished closest for our adult participants, to best in class (62 out of 853 10-mile runners.) Go, Nathan! I brought up the rear at the very top of the bottom 9% in my category in the 10 km run—ahead of everyone who stopped to take selfies—making Firewood proud.

We ended the day at the Presidio’s Main Post Lawn, eating delectable food truck treats, enjoying muscle-relaxing libations, getting noticeably sunburned, and canceling out any figure-slimming effects of the morning’s exertions. We’ll call that a success.Do you wish you’d been there? Don’t worry, we’ll do it again. Good for fun, bonding, and supporting great causes. And some really great pictures, too.

Do you wish you’d been there? Don’t worry, we’ll do it again. Good for fun, bonding, and supporting great causes. And some really great pictures, too.

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