In the heat of the day

This past weekend (July 7 and 8) was hotter than it had been so I decided to take good advantage of the sunny skies and rise in temperature. Saturday I headed out to nearby Herrick and Danada Forest Preserves in Wheaton. There are about 10 miles of wide limestone trails at these two connected preserves and is also home to the Windrunner 10k held in August (26th) . Around 75% if the trails are unshaded and exposed on a sunny day, the rest travels through wooded areas.

Setting out from the car park around 10am I decided to run the shaded sections and hike the exposed sections to maximum my time in the sun and heat. The run/hike went well and I felt strong for the 9 miles I did despite the sun. I made sure I drank regularly from my Camelbak Rogue, what a great purchase, and took in a couple Hammer gels and some Succeed! caps at varies points. In all it was a great run/hike.

Sunday I got to sleep in more than normal. Laura and I went grocery shopping in the morning, watched Le Tour de France London to Canterbury although didn’t see my sister or my uncle who both live in that part of England. After lunch I headed to Blackwell forest preserve, just north of Herrick (linked by a trail and road crossing). I arrived around 1.45 and went to the Mt Hoy car park. The temperature was 97F in the city and even hotter in the burbs and I was about to start some hill repeats on the biggest hill in Du Page county. It is approximately 100 feet of elevation gain from the base of the hill on the grassy slope to the summit and some sections are fairly steep. After a number of treks up and day with the sun blazing on me Scott (the Badwater runner I am crewing for) and his wife Caryn showed up. Scott had planned to do a total of 20 return trips which he did with easy. I completed my planned 10 and was pleased with the effort. Caryn I think did 10 or more and then hung out with me to chat while Scott finished up. A lot of water and energy drink was drunk by the 3 of us. I was surprised to see others out there on the hill, most only did one trip to the summit and right back to their cars, while one chap was doing multiple loops and a high school football team was doing some training in preparation for the season. Often than that compared to July 4th Blackwell was fairly peaceful.