The cicadas' buzzing raises the mercury millimeter by Millimeter until it spills overthe back of your neck

DAY 2 - Mile 13.7 to 35.6: 54.5k steps, 331 flights of stairs, 11 hours I slept fitfully, my legs aching and head pounding. I awoke at 6:00a with a neck ache and headache, and a pile of Adawannas* pressing me into the bed. *Adawannas: vexing creatures of a size somewhere between smurfs and minions,…

DAY 1 - Mile (-1.9) to 13.7: 40k steps, 160 flights of stairs, 6.5 hours Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man played over my car's speakers as I pulled into the Wild Valley trailhead parking lot. Fitting, I thought, feeling my bravado swell with the brass crescendo. It was 11:00am after running errands and…