34,092 steps, 24℉, -4.4℃

I had to get at least one long practice walk in, so I did that tonight (Monday night/Tuesday morning: the walk was about five hours long and took me until well past midnight). I'm planning to walk, this weekend, out to Paldang Dam and back—a trip that, Naver Map tells me, will be about 31 km, one way. This won't be another four-day walk like my trips to Incheon: I'll be hiking out to the dam on Saturday, overnighting in Hanam City (not to be confused with Hannam—two "n"s—next to Itaewon), then walking back to my place on Sunday. The first day's walk is going to be a bitch because the dam is actually about 6.5 km past the place where I'll be staying in Hanam. Luckily, that's 6.5 km that I won't have to do on the second day, which is nice. Still, the first day's walk is going to be 37.5 km long, which probably gets me up around 50,000 steps. I'm going to be one aching half-Korean come Sunday morning, and walking back home all day Sunday isn't going to help.

The reptilian part of my brain is telling me this walk is a bad idea. The weather has been relentlessly below freezing, even during the day. It may be better just to continue walking modest distances, thus saving long, ambitious walks for the spring and fall. We'll see. If the weather turns ugly—snow, sleet, ice, cold rain, etc.—I'll definitely cancel. If I end up hurting my feet during my practice walks this week, then I'll cancel. But if all goes swimmingly, then I'll very likely strike east and give ol' Paldang Dam a visit.

More news as it happens.