Still Warm

I'm back in the mode of really looking forward to running, a nice change from the laziness of the recent past. Even though it was 85 degrees today when I got home I knew that wasn't bad. It was even better than my Tuesday run. It's funny how things seem so different, relatively speaking. In May 85 degrees was unbearably hot coming out of winter and spring. Now it seems almost cool. I made a couple of mistakes, though. I forgot to put my water bottle in the freezer, and when I was about a mile from home I realized I'd forgotten to put a sports drink in to cool off as well.

So I adapted. I filled my hand-held water bottle with ice cubes and cold water. On my route out of the neighborhood there is some landscaping by the entrance and across from the pool. I knew if I ran the whole route with the bottle in my hands the shaking, jostling, and heat from being in the sun as well as in my hand while holding it would cause the ice to melt too quickly. I stowed it in the big rocks at the neighborhood entrance in the shade behind a bush. That gave me about 1.5 miles without it. Later when I was at about 3.5 miles I hid it in someone's bush by the sidewalk, giving it another ten minutes or so of rest. The ice melted, of course, but I know it lasted a lot longer this way. Next time I'll have to remember to get it in the freezer. In fact I'm going to do so right after I'm done posting this.

As far as sports drink goes, I went old-fashioned and poured it over ice in a tea glass. That worked. I've already put two more in the fridge, though.