The biggest challenge so far has been sweat. Sweat leads to chafe indoors (not to mention annoyed looks from maintenance staff and concerned looks from everyone else), and severe fluid losses outdoors. I tried getting a hydration pack, but look back on Day 2 to see what happened with that.
Day 5 was a hot one: about 87 degrees of dry heat, meaning the first really hot day that I would have to take on in my 30 in 30 challenge. I planned to run 4 miles indoors, and then hit a 7.4-mile loop on a place called Windy Hill, which I would run twice. But since I've been living in San Francisco, where the summers look like early April wherever you live (highs in the 50's and overcast), this is the first time my body has had to deal with heat in 3 years. In the past, heat has not worked out well for me.
Windy Hill climbs and descends some 1200 feet, with a flat and exciting mile along the ridge at the summit (I have a video from the top, and maybe I won't be too lazy to upload it later). My first climb was a slow walk-jog on the sunny side of the trail, and then a tender-footed descent through the trees on the back side. Realizing that I was way, way behind schedule with 7 miles to go, I decided to cut out one mile and walk the last mile at home with my lovely girlfriend and the dog. That would make it easier, right? Well, not really. I would get to cut out the exciting and fun flat at the top of the ridge, but still have to climb the hill in its entirety in my final 6 miles. I ran 3 miles straight up, and then turned around and ran back down the way I'd come.
When I got back to the car, I'd been running for 2.5 hours on 32 oz of water in heat in the mid-80's. I was covered in salt and my muscles ached all over. For the first time I doubted the viability of this adventure. After drinking over 3 liters of water before bed, I still woke up with a raging dehydration headache. I put away another 3 liters of water in the morning before starting on the day's 30K.
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