El Prieto Trail

I went running up El Prieto trail again this morning – cloudy and cool. Maybe you’ve been wondering, like I have, what does El Prieto mean anyway? The dictionary tells me it means: swarthy, having a dark complexion; blackish, somewhat black; mean; tight; packed, crowded. Well, the trail is in a deep shaded canyon and it’s usually pretty dark in there. And the trail is pretty tight in places. And for those of you that are allergic to poison oak I suppose it could be a pretty mean place, too. I would also add that it can be pretty creepy when you’re alone – Blair Witch Project-esque. Here's a 10 minute video of someone riding down El Prieto trail (not me/mine).

Oh, and good news, back in January I retired some running shoes that were hurting my feet. Actually, all I did was put them in the closet for 4 months. Now I’m running in them again and they feel fine. In that amount of time my foot probably healed completely and may have even changed shape slightly, too. I’m only going to use them on the trail, though, where it’s softer. Maybe this is worth trying with other retired shoes as well…