Yesterday I hiked up Runyon Canyon for the first time in years. I hadn't been since the craziness of living in Hollywood drove me to the slightly more laid back downtown Los Angeles area.
I use the term "hiked" loosely... for me, a real hike consists of a couple required ingredients that are missing from the Runyon jaunt. Runyon, which is in West Hollywood, does have some decent elevation gain, and will get the heart pumping a bit for an hour or so. However, never once will you be totally alone. And heck, you can see Sunset Boulevard practically the whole time. You can't beat it for convenience, but remote it is not. Hollywood types pepper the trails, many of which are paved. Overheard cell phone conversations to agents, talk of script revisions and high fashion workout suits are the norm. You won't find much, if any, wildlife, but a celebrity sighting or two will help hone your observational skills. "Who is that guy? He looks so familiar! Oh. Yeah. He was that dude. In that movie. C'mon, you remember!..."
The signage scattered throughout is also laughable. There is a steepish bit of trail that is unpaved, and signs warn the unfit, shoeless person to beware. Those signs are new since I've been here. I have a vision of some starlet in designer flip flops stranded halfway up, her "people" subsequently forced to bombard the city with phone calls to erect the sign. I dare someone to prove me wrong.
As for the snakes, the warnings were probably appropriate at one time. Now, I can't imagine there is a rattlesnake with its instincts intact that would come anywhere near these crowded paths.
No, Runyon Canyon is not a hike, but it is preferable to slogging away on a treadmill in some stinky gym. It also makes for some damn good people watching.
Today' workout:
Swing combo, 12kg x2:
8 front right
8 lat right
8 front left
8 lat left
8 halos
then 30 sec. each pushup/ninja/burpee/mills/15sec rest x3
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