Thursday, July 30, 2009

Hot and Cold

I like running. I mean really, I really truly enjoy it. It's fun, it feels good, it makes me happy and I look forward to it. However, I do NOT like running in the heat! (And heat to me, since I live in Minnesota, is anything above 78 degrees. I know, I'm a wimp!) When it's hot I just lose everything I love about running and it turns into a chore instead of a retreat. That's exactly what happened on Monday. My friend was watching the kids so I thought, I should take advantage of this and go on a 6 mile run. Unfortunately I didn't leave until noon, when it was 85 degrees outside. I started out slow, thinking I'd speed up, but I never could. The first 3 miles were all about 9:30 miles. The last three were even slower. I had to stop a couple times to drink and pour water on myself to cool down. I ended up finishing in exactly 1 hour, blah! The whole run just felt like so much work. How the heck to people who live in Arizona or other hot places do it?

Anyway, today was the total opposite. It was a cool 65 degrees when I went on my run at 10am this morning. Teya was at preschool so I just had Brinley and was able to push her in our single jogging stroller. She did awesome, fell asleep before the first mile and slept the whole time. I felt awesome too. I ran 4 miles in 36 minutes, not bad for pushing a stroller! The best part was it was fun! On Monday I thought I was losing my love for running, but now I know it was just the heat! : )

3 comments:

  1. that's how i felt after that freakin' marathon! i wanted to give up on running so bad and never run another marathon again. it is good to know the heat bothers you too. i'm not sure how people in the west do it. wake up at like 4am and still have to run in 80+ weather???? crazy people!!!! :) oh yeah, what do you think about the fargo marathon? have you looked into it at all? it is in late may, 2010. i'm thinking about trying that one next year rather than grandma's.

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  2. I feel ya sis, when I was running in Monterey as a Marine, we usually ran in the chilly mornings there, perfect weather for a run. After Monterey I was stuck in Texas for three months...I tell ya what, I lost every little bit of enjoyment I had for running by running under the Texas sun. Since then I've never really enjoyed running as much.

    I guess the fact that our base was pretty much in the desert (seemed like a desert) and was square shaped made our runs not so exciting and torturelike. Run one mile north, 90 degree left hand turn for another mile, turn around and come back...no breeze, no scenery, no trees for shade. Just you, a fart trail of faster runners in front of you, the runners behind you complaining about YOUR fart trail (Tex-Mex food rocks!) and the sun...that's all...three months of running hell.

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  3. I totally know how you feel. After running in cool weather, my actual marathon training started in late spring and I thought I was going to die running in that 80 degree weather. I guess I'm used to it now though, because it isn't bothering me too much anymore.
    Sorry I've been totally absent on the blog scene lately, thanks for checking in! I got a job (doing reservations for an airline, I'll be working part time from home, but right now the training is full time and it has been crazy trying to juggle everything!). I am still alive and still training. :) I think my marathon is the same weekend as your ragnar. Right around the corner!

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