26 Miles of Trail - Solo

Howdy Folks

I thought that I was going to do a back-to-back weekend again, but yesterday's 26 miles proved to be more than enough.



I decided to do a course that leads from Village Christian School in Sun Valley, up and over the Verdugo Mountains to Brand Library in Glendale, and back.



I decided to bring my special sandals along to test in some of the harsher parts of the course, but ended up barely using them at all. My special sandals have a serious design flaw...rocks get under the foot too quickly...really irritating.

Ran into deer a couple times on this run. Started at 6:30 am. I have often seen deer tracks, but today was the first time to actually see them in these mountains.



This course has a little of everything, starting with some rather steep single-track, followed by a long, long climb. The killer is the 5 mile descent to Brand Library, a descent that has to be reascended!



It remained fairly overcast most of the run. The biggest problem came after I stubbed my toe on a rock coming up the Brand Library climb. My feet were getting a bit tender, especially as I started to descend the last 7 miles. Those were tough miles. I thought I would make it easier with the Foxy Feet™ sandals, but rocks would quickly get stuck under my feet in the sandals, so back to bare.

I think that the trick with sandals is that they have to be tight against the foot, with no play where rocks can get in.



Somehow I made it back. Can you believe, it took me 6:44 to run 26 miles! That was a hell of a long time, but in the end, I think it was a great training run.

Best, Barefoot Ted