Endurance Turtle A journey through this turtles triathlon adventures

I am a sucker for a sale, I just can’t say no and it drives George slightly insane. Anyway, I am aware of these shoes they call Salomon. They are trail running shoes and are usually a tad out of my price range for shoes that I am not sure if I would use on a regular basis. So when I saw these shoes on sale at Run With Us, in MY size…well…I got ‘em. They were a cool $30 (retail is $90), which we all know is a great deal on running shoes! Here they are:

I also wore my Drymax trail running socks…which probably wasn’t that necessary since I wasn’t running through streams or anything.

I also like these shoes because the laces are actually a pull system then you tuck the excess in the tongue, and if I ever do a triathlon that requires trail running (like the Iron Girl last year) then I can use these!

Anyway, as with all things I buy, I must do something to use them. So I decided I would go up to Brand Park and head up the trails. I really didn’t know what to expect and was a little nervous that I was doing it alone but everything turned out ok. But I still am strongly considering buying some mace.

I started up one trail and didn’t run for long, since most of the things I was going up looked like this:

Little steep and a little rocky, so I just took my time up it. As I went up one side I started to notice the trail go behind the mountain. And because I was alone and it was dusk, I decided I would stop there. But then I saw this person over the canyon on the other hill going up and thought, hey! I wonder where that goes! So I ran back down the mountain then found my way up the trail that made it to the top of another hill. Here is a picture of me toward the top:

The mountain looked over Glendale and if you squint you can see Downtown Los Angeles over to the left. It was really beautiful up there and I really enjoyed the little hike. I wanted to make it to the top, but I had to head back down because the sun was almost gone. I would like to go back and head up the trail and make it to the top. I have to say that even though I didn’t really run, it is a great way to get your heart rate up because even walking can get tiring. I also want to do a trail race this year, there are two that I am choosing between….The Great Race at Agoura Hills and the XTERRA Malibu Trail Race. I just want to try something different and challenge myself.

If you are in SoCal this weekend, enjoy this awesome weather that we have! 70 degrees and absolutely gorgeous out! I love it here