Tag: Pacific Crest Trail

Trail running shoe, who knew?!

I took up volleyball thinking I’d be like the beautiful blonds who run around on the beach in their bikini’s and jump around and hit balls. Wrong, I was a fat Korean girl who was born with two left feet, sporting mustard yellow gym shorts trying not stick out during tryouts. Little did I know that running was part of this whole ordeal.

Many moons later I do have all the years of embarrassment to thank for becoming a semi-regular runner in my thirties. Though I was never a star of any of the sports I played from JR High School to High School, you could count on me to show up, do the drills and cheer for my teammates. And luckier for me that stuck with me, now I run 2-3 times a week and try to go to the gym at least once a week.

So when I was considering doing the PCT, I knew I had to step up my game, and the first thought that came to mind was- shoes. 2,650 miles, think about it, that’s about 13,992,000 in feet, so one of the significant gears on this trek would be the shoes. And to be honest with you I have never been a huge fan of hiking shoes, first off they are massive, clunky, and did I mention that I have two left feet.


Shoes have come a long way, however; I didn’t know that trail running shoes existed till I started to search online. There are some differences from running shoes, but very minimum; I tried the ASICS GT-2000 4 Trail running shoes for women, and so far so good. I’ve tested them out walking the dog, running in the park and walking on different types of terrain to see if they would make the cut. I’ve got to say ASICS hit it out of the park, for the running and walking aspect I didn’t forsee any issues. However, b/c there’s no ankle support I had some hesitation. But to my surprise, the support on the bottom of the shoe is stable, enough that my ankle felt sung, like a well-fitted glove.

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I’m going to keep testing them out, and want to use them for the El Camino De Santiago; that’s just 500 miles. One pair should suffice for the whole trip, and that would be the ultimate test before the PCT. If you’re like me and want comfort, flexibility, and stability, this pair might be the one for you.

At it again

What’s got me blogging again you say, 11 years after our first adventure driving cross country from San Francisco Ca, to New York City, NY? As some readers may have remembered from 2005, Kenneth diligently blogged our whole trip, zigzagging the United States, from there we lived in Chinatown NY, now in Brooklyn. But in-between those years we’ve adopted a pit bull, gotten married, been through 2 layoffs (one for each of us) and a birth of a small business.
But the one adventure we both cherish the most is the Mongol Rally, where we (including Graham M.) traveled from London to Mongolia in an eco-friendly car that held less than a liter of gas at a time. Once we got back, I thought nothing can ever top that trip, and pretty much laid my traveling hat to rest.

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It’s been well over two years now, and I’ve gotten bit once again by the travel bug, but this time I wanted to share all my personal experience along the way. Documenting helpful tips, tools, and besides, I like the idea of trying to keep up this aging body that of my younger years.

My dream is to finish a thru-hike on the west coast, called the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT typically starts from the borderline of Mexico and San Diego and ends at the Canada and Washington State line. The trail is 2,650 miles and it takes about five months. The El Camino De Santiago (The Way of St. James) comes to mind, a 500 miles pilgrimage from France thru mostly trekking in Spain covering about 15 regions, ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. “The journey takes hikers over the Pyrenees Mountains, past vineyards, and through lush eucalyptus forests. UNESCO declared the trail a World Heritage Site; the European Union named the Camino its first European Cultural Route in 1987.” www.outsideonline.com

Oh, and did mention, China, Vietnam, Bhutan, Africa, India, and China- come on people it’s the biggest country and most of it, undiscovered by travelers. So, here I am once again sharing my thoughts and ideas, similar to that of cheapassfood.com, Mongol Rally, and our cross country trip across the US. I guess I can’t help it, I’m a child of the 90’s and by god we are over-sharers.

Drop a note and let me know what you’re thoughts are, and thanks for reading.
Young