Back on the Trail

       

Only about half-way to the top!

     I went on my first trail hike in over a month this morning! Felt great to be back in action! My roommate Graham drove me out to little tujunga canyon about 20mins north of where we live. I'd never been out there before so it was cool to explore some new territory. Once I found a good mountain, he left me there for a couple of hours while he went joyriding on the canyon roads. He's a professional stunt driver, so driving on winding roads is what he does best.


My new Venture Pack

        I wanted to try out my new backpack. I've been using a camel-pack up until now in all my races. It's been great to carry water and a few snacks with me on my runs so far, but isn't going to be large enough to carry enough supplies for extended periods of times in my upcoming races. I'll have to be more self-sufficient. So I got a Venture Pack from Condor Outdoor . It arrived yesterday in the mail and I was excited to put it to use. It's a 28Liter backpack; which is a good size cause it should have enough space for all my supplies, but also isn't too bulky so I can still run with it.



Me, my new backpack, and the mountain!

         I'm not gonna lie, this hike was kinda tough for me. My legs were definitely feeling weak after being on vacation for June. I purposely didn't bring my trekking poles though, cause I wanted to give my legs a little wake up call! This was also one of the steepest hills I think I've hiked before. I'm not sure what its called or how far it was too the top. I found it kind of randomly. When me and Graham were driving, I saw the hill and just thought "oh, that'd be a good one!" So we stopped and sure enough, there was a hiking trail at the base. I knew the mountain was steep when I saw it, but it felt about twice as steep once I got started. That always seems to be the case when judging how difficult a mountain will be. Although once I got to the peak, I felt refreshed. I could feel my strength coming back to me!

Refreshed!

Like I said, it felt great to be hiking again! It won't take long for me to be back up to par. In the next few days I'll test my legs on a 50 miler or so. But for today it was good progress



On top of the world! or at least the valley.