That was a tough one.

I walked 11 miles this morning. Yeah. I'm awesome. I know. Except it took 3 hours and 1 minute.

I didn't think it would be too big a deal. I did 10 miles the last two Saturdays. And last week's ten was in Atlanta. There were a ton of hills that caused me to use different muscles and the walks there were much more challenging cardiovascularly. But those hills are nothing compared to Arizona's heat. I was concerned that the hills in San Diego would pose a problem for us desert walkers, but I know now that we'll be fine. Because San Diego is not as hot as hell.

Jennifer couldn't meet until 6:30, but I wanted to get in some miles before the temperature was unbearable. I started walking at 5:30 so by the time I met up with Jennifer, I had already walked 4 miles. We walked for two more hours. Luckily, we took a new route that was a little closer to civilization so we were able to stop at a convenience store to fill up our water bottles...twice. Next time we'll bring cash to buy a snack or get packs so we can carry a snack. Three hours is too long a time to walk out in the sun without any kind of nourishment. By mile 8, I was really starting to slow down and get a little loopy. My legs and feet were fine. I was just hot. So hot. Why, oh why, is it so hot? When I got home at 8:30 am, the temperature was already 95 degrees. Sure that's better than walking in the middle of the afternoon when it's 113, but it's still pretty darn hot.

We decided that next time we sign up for something like this, we're going to make sure the training period is in the winter.