Today's run was supposed to be an out and back 20 miler on the mid mountain trail (a 34 mile loop near Henderson, Boulder City, and Lake Mead) with a 10 mile tempo during the second half. Temps were a little warm at the start (high 70's) but not unbearable, and I felt comfortable throughout the majority of the first half. I ended up turning around a little early on accident, because I miscounted the mile markers, so I ended up turning around at about 9.7 miles. Once I turned around I began my tempo. What I didn't know before coming here is that in the direction I was heading there was a mild uphill or rolling for most of the first 6 miles, followed by 1 steeper uphill mile, and then 3 miles that felt like you were getting dropped off of a cliff. So, I began my tempo heading up a huge hill, just as the heat was starting to get to me. Temps were in the upper 80's, and maybe even as high as 90, and there was absolutely zero shade, and I was running up a hill so steep that I was struggling to break 7:00 pace in some parts, and was never going faster than about 6:20-6:30 pace. This lasted for what I will call 3.1 miles, at which point I got to run 1 mile downhill, and then another half mile semi-flat but still downhill. At this point I was feeling terrible (hot, dehydrated, tired) and I decided to cut my tempo short. Total time of 30:09 for 4.6 miles. At this point I wanted to get some water, however I couldn't find the water fountains I thought were close to the trail. I could tell I was overheating, so I slowed down even more hoping that I would be able to manage my body temps better while running slower. This didn't work, so I started looking for someone that I could get water from. I eventually got some water from a guy out with his dog, but the water was warm, and I had overheated enough at this point that I still didn't feel good after getting a small drink. I stopped a couple minutes later and walked for a bit, hoping that my body would get temps under control if I didn't run. This worked a little better, and after walking for about .4 miles I ran the rest of the way to my starting point. Total running time for what ended up being 19 miles was 2:22:0X. After finishing I got some water, and put my head in the bathroom sink to try and cool off. I picked up some orange juice at the store and drank a lot of that as well. | 