Outside

This week I was in Philadelphia again, with no way to post after my runs. For some reason I haven't been able to creates posts on my iPad.

I ran twice at Neshaminy State Park. Both days were extremely hot and extremely humid. At least the running trail offers plenty of shade. On Tuesday I ran counter-clockwise and went a total of 4.25 miles. I wanted to get to an even four and ran up the middle of the park by the pool and around the picnic area. That added a little more distance then I'd originally wanted, but a quarter mile wasn't too bad. I was just happy to be running outside again.

On Thursday I changed it up and ran clockwise, which was nice because I had a better view of the river and the Philadelphia skyline. It was a hotter day, or so it seemed, and by the time I'd run two circuits of the park I had no interest in trying to get to a round number. I ended up at 3.75 miles.

Both days my mileage wasn't as much as I'd intended, but I return to my philosophy of effort versus mileage. With the heat and humidity my level of effort was at least as much as a 6-mile run on a spring day. And I certainly sweated more.

Today was going to be a treadmill day. I woke up briefly about 6 a.m. and thought about going for a run then, but sleeping longer won the argument. A few hours later I drove to the store to get some milk and saw a ton of people walking and running because of the thick cloud cover. The temperature was 85 degrees, but the clouds and a little bit of breeze made it seem cooler. I took my water bottle, which turned out to be a good move. I kept the pace slow and easy and went 6 miles. The only time I walked was coming up the hill by the golf course. I definitely needed to slow for a walk since I could feel my heart beating way too fast. I'll be interested to see how the heart monitor recorded that stage of the run.

For at least a week I was able to run outside. That was a nice treat.