Hot hot heat

You may know firsthand or have heard that it is hot in this part of the country. We didn't hit triple digits here, but the temperature tipped north of ninety, which is hot enough. The messaging signs above the interstate indicated that an air quality alert was the order of the day. That's just for old folks and kids, right?

I still wanted to get my exercise in, so even though it was 5 p.m., surely one of the hottest times of the day, I set out on the path around the park. Usually I'll do three trips keeping mostly to the park's perimeter. That route takes me around an hour to complete, including time walking to and from home.

I felt good after the first lap but also was cognizant of the heat. Mercy, it was hot. Not humid, just very warm. As I got into the second lap I could tell that the heat was wearing me down faster. Tired and soaking wet, I gladly called it quits after the second go-round. When I got home I saw that two laps had taken about the same amount of time as three typically do.

Moral of the story: pay attention to those air quality alerts. While I felt like I was functioning fine, I was going slower than usual to compensate. Also, although I prefer to carry as little as possible, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring some water along.