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As a frequent visitor to Silicon Valley, I have concluded that the place to stay is next to the Stanford University campus. Jetlag normally ensures that I have plenty of time for a run before my first meeting of the day. For starters, Stanford has an outdoor 400m track, an option that's hard to pass up when every outdoor track in the North-East is covered in snow. However, for a long run, I head to the Stanford hills, behind campus as you look at it from El Camino Real. I usually start on the El Camino (north) side and warmup with a run through campus; Stanford Ave on the East side or the campus loop drive will both lead you to Juinpero Serra Blvd, which forms one border of the park. The park is mostly grass-covered hills, but is also home to some large radio telescopes and various other bits of scientific equipment. It's possible there's a particle accelerator buried there somewhere, but I've never felt any ill effects from high energy radiation.
Once you've entered the park through one of the gates on Junipero Sera, there is a huge network of trails, some paved, some gravel or mud depending on recent weather, and most of them pretty hilly. From several places in the park you can see most of San Francisco Bay. It's an excellent place to watch the sun rise over the mountains east of the bay. I haven't yet explored all the trails, but have found no trouble constructing a 90 minute run without coming close to hitting the all the boundaries of the park.
You can see some of the park in the picture of the Stanford campus at Stanford's Home Page. There are also good maps at this site.
Submitted by Bruce Davie
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