Today we're bringing you a few different ways to get your heart pumping in the great outdoors of SF. The most obvious venue is our very own Golden Gate Park, over 1,000 acres of pure tree-hugging fun.
Interested in getting in touch with your inner child and getting pretty bro-tastic in the process? You have several options for kickball teams in the city: the large and organized WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association) league or the local, boozy KickballSF. (Disclosure: the writer played on possibly the least-winningest KickballSF teams of all time.) KickballSF prides itself on being the "booziest" kickball league, where teams decide homefield advantage by chugging beer from a flabongo. WAKA bans alcohol on the field (in accordance with park rules) but offers the opportunity to take your kickball skills to state and national championships. Both offer the chance to redeem your third-grade self from the accusation that you kick like a sissy.
The choice of bridezillas-to-be, BootcampSF is the place to get your sweat on in the great outdoors. Classes run for six weeks at a time and will get you doing more lunges, squats, dips and push ups than you have ever imagined. Laps around Kezar, pushups at dawn (or sunset), and tossing around a medicine ball will all get you ready for swimsuit season.
For those not ready to quite break a sweat but do enjoy wearing all white and hanging out with the AARP set, the SF Lawn Bowling Club might be for you. Similar to Italian bocce or French boules, you're throwing balls at other balls. The club has been around since 1901 and is recognized as being the "oldest public club in the country and known as the first municipal lawn bowling green established in the United States." Free lessons are offered every Wednesday at noon, so if the weather is still cooperating tomorrow, let's have a long lunch, shall we?
Last but not least, we venture north from Golden Gate Park to Aquatic Park and the Dolphin Club. Founded in 1877, the club hosts swimmers and rowers in the Bay. Temperatures in the water get "as high" as 61 F, so this is not a club for wussies. If you'd rather be above the water rather than below it, you can grab one of the club's rowboats or kayaks. For the hardcore, the club hosts the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, featuring a swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park, a bike ride to Mill Valley, and a run to Stinson Beach and back.
· KickballSF [website]
· WAKA Kickball [website]
· San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club (SFLBC) [Golden Gate Park]
· BootCampSF [website]
· The Dolphins Club of San Francisco [website]
[photos via Gary Wetzel, mbonde, koi FITNESS, Dolphin Club of San Francisco]