Saturday the 8th

It is a windy day in the City. Windy as in gusts are currently 20+ miles per hour. Low clouds are hurried across the sky. Sun comes and goes.

My plan was to walk down to the ocean, north along the coast to the Golden Gate Bridge, and then come back the same route. Given the wind, I decided to look for a route that kept me inland rather then along the coast. To see the route click on the title of the post or go to http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3710233

Lessons applied: Ate breakfast. Stretched before I went. Stretched along the route. Brought snacks-cliff bar and nuts. Drank water slower then last time. Put the uphill at the end of the walk to break up the monotony. Chewing mint gum gave me a second wind at about the 9 mile mark. Drinking water through the gum increased the freshness.

Lessons learned: New shoes needed a little more breaking-in time. Thicker socks are nice in theory, but seem to pinch the toes in reality. I've got a few different pairs to try. About a third of the way along the walk, I added Gatorade to my Camelpack. It helped a bit with the finger swelling. Also, my iShuffle died. Not battery-the buttons stopped working. On the plus side, I priced out new Shuffles last week, and can get a new one with more memory for less then a hundred bucks. On the minus side, I already spent my fun money on a second pair of shoes, good walking pants, socks, a hydration system, etc. So, I'll practice walking without music or podcasts. I suspect the podcasts have been slowing me down (not a fast enough tempo).

Total walking time: 4 hours 10 minutes (approx.)
Total time with breaks: 4 hours 35 minutes (I did go into the pet store and make a few short pit-stops).
Total distance: 13.2 miles
MPH avg: 3.17

I'm starting to suspect my 18 minute MPH goal may be an unattainable goal. I'm pretty sure I can make it if I only measure actual walking time.

It's interesting how the first 4 miles are really easy, and about mile 9/10 is where I start to get tired. Maybe I need to stop and take a break around mile 8. Good to know that I can pull off a half-marathon distance. It's getting easier!

Time to finish my post-walk beer.