I wasn’t even sure that I would run today. For the second time since we went into Can’t Go Any Where Mode we ate something other than homemade. We ordered Mexican and the SDs were kind enough to go pick it up.

Not sure if it was the food or the end of whatever bug I have been near the end of for the past week. Either way, lots of seat time in the master bath last night and this morning = not a lot of fun to say the least. Then to top it all off after one of my sitting sessions at around 3:00 AM, I felt a damn dog tick crawling on my arm. Not really something you want to deal with anytime of the day, but especially that early in the morning and about half awake. Luckily it was still crawling around, so all I had to do was throw it in the flush and watch it sail away.

LOADS of FUN – overnight and not a lot of sleep either, our 18 year old cat decided to move back into the bedroom and she snores worse than the dog does. So I was in a great space for running this morning.

The Good?

It was overcast and the temps were still in the lower ’70s to start. Now my weather app said 73*F with 84% humidity with a pretty 10 mph stiff breeze out of the South. Not ideal conditions but runnable.

No sudden pit stops were necessary during my outing and while the tummy/digestive tract might not have been really happy, they stayed calm during the run – at least enough so that I didn’t think about them too much. Suffering through the heat was enough to focus on.

The Bad?

Somewhere on my second lap, the clouds disappeared and the sun came out in all its glory! It went from lower ’70s up into ’80s very quickly and the humidity didn’t change. The breeze kept up its 10 or so mph, which was about the only blessing out there once the sun came out.

The Run.

Planned 3-5 miles at a slower pace than yesterday. Plus checking out how the Beacon v1s were going to feel at a much slower pace than usual for them.

• 1.0 – 9:35 / Not in any hurry and the body was not into getting moving at all. All the steps felt heavy and forced for the first half mile. Then I figured out what needed to be done – run and moved a bit more limberly. The clouds were still around.
• 2.0 – 9:23 / Still cloudy, but some sun was starting to pop through and the old shirt was gonna take a bath, of that there was no doubt. A couple of the neighbors picked on me a little and told me I was running too slow and that I should run faster. I just laughed at them, motioned for them to come along and said “Not today!!!”. We bantered back and forth for a little and then I got back to the slog.
• 3.0 – 9:26 / Misery was setting in, between the humidity and sun coming out. I came really close to bagging the cat and heading back inside. However, I pushed for one more.
• 4.0 – 9:21 / A little faster, but by this point I was suffering a lot more than usual and really wanted to stop and find a nice air conditioner.
• 5.0 – 9:08 / Ahhh the plan worked, I got in one more mile than I really believed that I could this morning. I even forced myself to pick up the pace a little, very little.
• Not a great run by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to force myself to stay out there and put the miles in. Sometimes that kind of mental effort is as important as the physical effort.
• Distance: 5.04
• Time: 47:14
• Pace: 9:22

Shoes: New Balance Beacon v1 (Orange) – The Beacons did everything I wanted from them and the ankles didn’t grumble at all during the run. Although I did notice a little grumpiness in my left tibia area, but it went away, so I am not sure what that was all about?

What was I thinking?

I really was not all that into running this morning. Between being up a lot overnight, how the tummy was grouchy and the heat/humidity was pretty nasty to start and only got worse as the run went along.

This is not my favorite kind of running, but at the same time it does toughen me up for later in the summer. Heat/Humidity training equals High Altitude training – right? hehehe

I am glad I ran, but I am also glad that this one is done.