Blog

I have to say, writing this blog has given me such an eye-opening experience of the area I attend school in. Every park/trail I visited, I had the same exact impression and that was, “Wow! I had no idea this was here.” I thought this especially when I pulled up to Appleton Memorial Park.I really wanted to go look around Gardens of the Fox Cities, and I really hope to go back there sometime.

But what if it was this hot out when I was there, what would have been different in my run? Well, it’s not rocket science that you should make more frequent stops and drink more water to avoid the risk of a heat-related illness or injury. I also think my instinct would be to run in the morning or late in the evening, as those are supposed to be the coolest points of the day. A more effective way at determining the best time to run in hot weather is actually by looking at the heat index, not the time of the day or the temperature. Heat index combines humidity with the temperature so it gives you what it would actually feel like on your run, and the lowest heat index is not always in the morning or at night.

Something that’s also scary about humidity is that it prevents sweat from evaporating into the air, so the heat stays put on your body. Since sweating is the main way to get rid of body heat, that can make your run possibly dangerous.

Maybe I’ll go back to Appleton Memorial Park in the winter, when the humidity is long-gone. I noticed there is a place for an ice rink and sledding – seems so far away, but it’s amazing how soon the summer is ending and how fast the cold weather will set in.