There's been a slight miscalculation

Today was an Orange County Day since Carrie works Sunday, so we started bright and early, and I almost didn't make it out of my driveway for how cold it was. 33 degrees is not a reasonable temperature for a San Diegan, and it took a lot of willpower not to go back to bed. We were told that we need $1 for a mystery event on the walk and I packed my dollar and set out to pick up Carrie and head North.

We started from the mall in Newport Beach and after some troubleshooting with Jo'l and her camera holster we were off and going on what would become our longest walk so far. 

We started in a canyon that looked suspiciously familiar until it simply looked suspicious. In case you're wondering, Carrie and Jo'l would not let me explore what was in this hole, even though it was bound to be something fascinating. 

We set off along a marsh that smelled a little like the bog of eternal stench, and after some creative reenactments we breezed through the area with the miles disappearing behind us with easy conversation. 

Pretty soon we were around a corner and out onto a busy street where it was time for bread, cheese, dried food, and a failed experiment that can only be described as teriyaki sponge. After we ate at 6.5 miles we were all still doing pretty good and headed out toward our first pier of the day and couldn't help but notice how clean and clear the water was. It may have something to do with the fact that it was too cold for anyone to be out in it churning up the sand. 

Pretty soon we were nearing mile 8 and I was starting to hurt. My right hip was getting painful, and I was pretty sure that I was working on a new blister on my left foot. We stopped at a bench to check things out, and sure enough it was blisters all over. I'm not sure if it was the way I was walking, the new socks, or my shoes failing me, but t hurt. Lucky for me Jo'l put together fantastic foot arts and crafts kits for each of it with bandages, KT Tape, moleskin, scissors, and everything you need foot basic blister triage. I got to work and was not pleased to find that I needed to use stupid molefoam on my stupid blister while Carrie and Jo'l got to stretch blister-free. 

Heartened after blister recovery we wound through an alley that we cleaner, quieter, and quainter than anywhere that we live. I think I could get used to alleys like this. Carrie also found the sign of her dreams, no bicycles. I know she's resistant, but we'll get her onto a bike for a training day soon. 

From there we wound through a residential neighborhood and along the backside of the docks finally finding out why we had each packed $1, it was for the ferry ride to Balboa Island, and boy were we glad to sit down. For some reason this walk felt long today. 

After getting off of the ferry we were supposed to cross a couplet of streets and find ourseves back at the car, but suddenly my mileage read 13.4 and we weren't there. I spoke up and Jo'l admitted that there may have been a slight miscalculation, we had longer to go. So we took a deep breath each and went up a couple of hills to keep going. 

By the time we reached the car we were just shy of 15 miles and my blisters had swollen to the size of small grapes with a matching set for each foot. My right hip is still unhappy and I'm doing a very disinct waddle.  I don't know what my strategy is for tomorrow, but we're going to do a couple less miles and I'm going to shoot for less foot irritation.