What I walked through this morning. Image courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn/ freedigitalphotos.net.

I took a power walk this morning, or I should say I tried.

My first mistake was that I left the house at 9:30 a.m. It was already over 100 degrees. Now, if I was in Virginia, I would just pick a path with lots of tree coverage. However I’m in Arizona. Trees are slim pickings. I’m visiting a desert. Walking after 9:00 a.m. is nuts.

My second mistake – no hat. Since I started power walking at the end of February, I’ve never considered a hat an essential part of my gear. Well today it felt like my hair was going to combust.

My third mistake was the fast pace. My thinking was to get this over with as fast as possible. Heh! I just ended up going through my water a lot faster than normal. OK, I admit that I poured some water on my lava hot head. Consider it fire prevention.

Nearly out of water, I ended up turning around, feeling defeated. Total distance – 9/10 of a mile. Very sad.

Thankfully I put on some sunscreen before I left the house. Yes, I was hot as hell during the walk but my skin did not lobster.

Tomorrow I’m going to try again, but I think I need to be out the door at 6:00 a.m. The sun isn’t as strong that time of day. But tonight, I’m going to get a hat.