College students are pressured from all over these days to stay in tip-top shape. “Americans are getting fat,” warn health journals. The Atkins-savvy yelp the rally cry, “Hold the bread!” The hard bodies gracing pop culture’s elite boast six-pack abs like it’s normal. Nice weather and beach-goers in swimsuits don’t take the heat off either.
While some students maintain their healthy lifestyles with pricey memberships to local gyms and questionable workout videos, others are taking advantage of the free workout spot right next to SF State—Lake Merced.
“It’s a good route,” said respiratory therapy major Don Trinidad, 24, during an afternoon run. “Five miles. Scenic.”
One of the last natural freshwater lakes in the Bay Area, Lake Merced offers an assortment of recreational opportunities that can help students get some fresh air and stay fit.
A dirt running path circles the 4.4-mile perimeter of the lake, and woodsy hiking trails criss-cross the 740-acre municipal park. Usually, the pathways are filled with people jogging, walking, biking or just taking the dog out to stretch its legs. With a reasonable mixture of hills and grades, the course around the lake has proved to be a beneficial course for people in training.
Jose Melendez, also a 24-year-old respiratory therapy major, is already starting to train for Bay to Breakers, a 12-kilometer race across San Francisco coming up next May. The sun still hangs high this early in the afternoon, and sweat bleeds through his blue shirt as his muscular legs carry him in easy strides through his lengthy workout-- one trip around the lake in approximately 45 minutes.
“Usually we see improvement,” said Melendez, who runs the lake with Trinidad two or three times a week. “Two to 3 minutes, but it’s hot today.”
Running and walking aren’t the only ctivities students can get involved with at Lake Merced.
For golf-lovers, the Harding Park Golf Course, which can be accessed at the end of Harding Drive west of Skyline Boulevard, serves as a top-notch public green for San Francisco residents. According to the Harding Park website (www.harding-park.com), buying a $40 resident card can bring the green fee down to as low as $24 a round at a course where the PGA will start holding annual events in October 2005.
Next to Harding Park lies the nine-hole Jack Fleming Municipal Golf Course, where students can tee-off for a more relaxed game for less than $20.
Hitting a bucket of 40 golf balls at the driving range costs $4.50.
For the risk-takers and adventurers, it is still possible to take a boat out on the south side of the lake, said Lake Merced Task Force chairman Mondy Lariz, though no rentals are available due to the recent closing of the Lake Merced Sports Center. The trade-off, he said, is that nobody is there to charge the old fees, so anyone who can get their hands on a boat can row, fish or just enjoy cruising the water.
To some, Lake Merced means even more than recreation.
Dr. Barbara Holzman, a professor of geography and environmental studies at SF State has studied the lake as a community resource for more than eight years.
“First you have to realize the ecological importance,” said Holzman. “Being one of the only natural lakes in San Francisco, it brings the aesthetic. The traffic hums there instead of roars. It’s so close and so beautiful.”
From her time spent researching how people use the lake presently and historically, she understands how Lake Merced motivates and inspires students to exercise and relax.
“Water is such a nourishing thing,” she said. “Just to walk around the lake really gives perspective in the hectic-ness of being a student.”