Early Run

But not early enough. Since I'm off work for a few days I got up early enough to run outside today. I headed out about 6:30 with the sun already climbing into the eastern sky. I felt good starting off, as usual, but the humidity really bore down on me. I took it slow and easy for 4 miles. The temperature was in the low 80's, but as I keep saying it's the wet air that's the killer. I thought there would be more people out and about walking and running. Guess they were smarter than me and went earlier. Since I'm not training for a race right now that was early enough for me. It's a matter of principle, I suppose.

Staying Out of the Sun

Once again I took the route that went nowhere today. I ran another 6 on the treadmill and finished up Office Space. Then I watched a DVD about MLB's greatest rivalries. Even though the first part of it was New York-centric, I will say I can certainly understand how much fun it would have been to be a fan when the Giants and Dodgers were also part of their city. The Cardinals-Cubs rivalry was given a rather bland rendering, especially compared to the interpretation of the East Coast rivalries. Not to take anything away from those, but the Midwest rivalry can be just as bad as the others sometimes. It was a good distraction from the monotony of running inside, though. I don't see the temperature heading south anytime soon, which means it'll be tough to get some runs in as we travel the next few weeks.

Running Out of Season

It was just plain weird to be running on the treadmill in summer. I'm so used to doing so during winter that I expected to look out the window and see snow in the yard. Instead the temperature is so hot that there's no way to run outside unless I waited until late in the evening. I'd rather not. So I set up a fan and a DVD and ran inside for an hour. Since our treadmill is downstairs it was actually that much cooler than running upstairs, much less running outside. I ran 6 miles and it really wasn't too bad. I was watching Office Space, which I haven't seen for several years, and it still kills me. The older I get the more parts of it seem like real life, kind of like Dilbert comic strips. I think that actually bothers me, but I try not to notice. Otherwise I'd cry.

110 In the Shade

Okay, not 110, but 104 heat index. Yesterday when I went out the temperature was 96 degrees with a heat index of 104. But 110 in the shade is a Fogerty song, not 104. The only thing I can say of way of explanation regarding running in that temperature is that it was mostly shade. At times. The sun came out a few times and it was not good. I ran verrrrrry slow and dumped a lot of cold water on my head. That seemed to work and I was able to go 4 miles with no designs on going further. It was crazy and I wouldn't do it on a regular basis, but the clouds were too much of a temptation. I had thought earlier in the day of running on the treadmill with a fan trained on me, but I succumbed to the outdoors. Tomorrow might be another story, though I'm not sure what Fogerty song I could use for running indoors in the summer. This might require a little research.

Level of Effort

I think I've mentioned before that sometimes the effort I put into a run isn't necessarily borne out in the numbers. This was one of those days. The weather forecast said humid, and yes, it was. I had high hopes of running about eight miles, but that was not to be. I ran 5 and the effort felt at least like 8. Actually, I've run eight miles before and not put as much into it as I did on this shorter run. Humidity saps my strength like nothing else during a run. The sun was also shining nice and bright. I headed out about 9 a.m. and even though the temperature was just below 80 degrees it was still a tough day for a run. I took along my water bottle and had it mostly drained during the short outing. I cut my hair pretty short last night and that seemed to help a little bit. Even so I still sweated about 100 gallons. Okay, not that much. The tough thing about running when it's this humid is that the sweat has nowhere to evaporate. Such is the running life in the Midwest during summer.

Rare but Humid

It was a rare day for running in the middle of summer - the sun was not shining. Today was rainy and cloud-covered, which made for somewhat lower temperatures. On the other hand, it was just as humid as ever, if not more so. When I went to work this morning the big faucet in the sky opened up and drenched me in the 10-second run from my truck to the front door. I looked like I'd just taken a shower with my clothes on. This afternoon's run continued the theme. I could have held out a dry washrag and in five minutes it would have been soaked. Even with that, I couldn't resist the opportunity to run without the hot sun slamming down. I ran a full 6 miles. The 12-13 degree drop from my runs earlier this week helped quite a bit, too. In the midst of July this was a good day for running, and I was glad to take advantage of it.

The Road to Recovery

Another run in the heat today on the road to recovery from laziness. I went 4 miles again and sweated about four buckets' worth. The temperature was in the high 80's with humidity to match. But as a bonus today was the release date for the Old 97's new album and so I ran to that. Totally worth it. And now I will go listen to it again as I recover.

Overcoming Laziness

The past week has been one of extreme laziness on my part. I could blame the heat, but that's not entirely true. I could say I was working on home projects, but that's not true, either. I could say I was working lots of overtime, but that would be an outright lie. No, I spent too much just being lazy. And when I had a chance to sleep late on the weekend, I took it. No more, though.

Today I waited until the temperature dropped, even though it wasn't scorching hot in the hundred degree range it was still plenty warm and humid. I also considered this a warmup run after being idle for six days. I ran a route that was the most shaded I could find in the area and tried to keep the pace down. Four miles was my plan and that's all I ran. Hope to do more than that tomorrow, but also trying to be smart and not pile on a bunch of miles this week. I didn't see a whole lot of other people out running on the evening of Independence Day. Guess they got their runs in earlier.