My Weekend Run - Hittin the Trails

When Penny and I decided to meet up yesterday to go for a run there was no intention of getting on a trail. We were going to do 10 miles through the beautiful hills of Palos Verde and call it a day. I had told her that once LA Marathon was over I wanted to try new things. Trail running was one of them.

I had attempted it before about a year ago, it was fun, but I think the trail was a little advanced for me. Penny assured me that we would fine something that I would enjoy and more at my level. Robert and I are hikers so I knew a little about trails, but not enough for me to feel comfortable just jumping on one for a weekend run.

Hiking Harding Truck Trail in Orange County

We started our run around 6:30 so we could avoid the heat. The past few days have been pretty hot hitting high 80‘s, so the early the better. When I got to her house we could hear the fog horns going off from San Pedro so we knew that a cool marine layer was waiting for us.

View of the cliffs of Palos Verde

We headed out and about mile 3 Penny pointed out the entrance to the Ocean Trails that she usually runs with her four legged running buddy Velcro. She said “we’ll come back here one day and run those. You’d enjoy those trails” I agreed and we kept on going.

Penny got this beautiful shot

We went up a little more when Penny said “You know lets just got now. Why not, are you up for it”.....Sure was! We hopped the fence and started our way up the coast towards Trump Golf Course. It was BEAUTIFUL..ocean to the left with flowers to the right. I just wanted to dive into the flowers and take a nap. The weather was perfect, and after a while I forgot I was even running at all. Like I said I’ve hiked many times but this was different, it was so quite and just PERFECT. I took off my earphones so I could hear my feet hitting the trail, I now love that sound. We saw a few others just doing their normal Sunday morning walks and exchanged the normal runner/walker “Good Morning”.

Flowers were all a bloom

We hit the Trump Golf Course and decided to take a small break. This is when Penny introduced me to “trail food”. A PB&J Crustable sandwich and M&M’s...SHUT UP PENNY!!! You mean to tell me I can all my favorite snacks and run trails!!?!! This morning was getting better and better! I’m a GU girl, have never done the PB&J for a snack while running..I think she hooked me on that too. Trails and PB&J is complete heaven for me!

Heaven

Since we made a change in our run jumping on the trail it put us past our scheduled mileage, so we could either head back on Palos Verde, or get back on the Ocean Trail, we decided with the trail. We did maybe another 2 miles until it finally took us back onto Palos Verde Rd. From there was the home stretch back to San Pedro.

Our "Finishers" photo

I’ve had some awesome runs, but yesterday had me smiling all day long. What a perfect way to end my weekend, and get ready for my work week. I’m definitely going to be doing this again and I’m even looking up small trail races. So if you can suggest any to me please do!

So that was my weekend workout. Later today I’ll be posting the winner of the Ifitness Belt Give Away, so you have a little bit to get your entry in. I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of week!