Have you ever asked a group of 15 year-olds to describe what "heat" is without having them use the word "hot?" It's about the same amount of fun as having them describe what "motion" is without using the word "movement.
This morning, while running in the heat at 8 A.M. because I farted around again after getting up at 5 A.M., it was hard to describe the heat as anything but "hot." Except for maybe "damn hot" or "hot as fire" or "hotter than my husband when he's asleep and pouring forth heat like a nuclear reactor or a supernova."
It was pretty hot. And humid. Yay Illinois!
I wanted to do a 7.5 mile tempo (5 at 10K pace), and I was keeping the pace to around 9 minutes per mile just so I could finish the entire run. But the hot heat had other plans for me. I had to stop just before mile 4 and start walking. It was just too much. It didn't help that I was running in a place with no shade, either. If I wait to run that late again I am going to hit the shaded trail about 20 minutes away from my house rather than being an idiot and running in the summer sun here in almost Wisconsin.
Was I disappointed I couldn't make it? Sure was. But, to paraphrase a picture I saw on Facebook this morning, it's better to have a bad run than no run at all. I decided I wouldn't freak out about it, and focus on the good things about the run. There were two of them, the first being:
1) I am in love with my new Brooks Glycerin 11s.
I wore these shoes on all of my runs for Ragnar Wasatch Back this last weekend, and I wore them on my heat-hot sort-of tempo run this morning. They seem lighter than the 10s, and they are more flexible. And, this just may be my crazy brain's perception, but I feel like they are less "squooshy." The 10s give you a smooth and soft ride, but the 11s seems to give you a good amount of cushion without feeling so soft. Being the neutral-footed runner that I am, I don't really want a lot of cushion--I just want enough. Enough is enough, you know?
The second good thing about the run was:
2) I thought my new running skirt totally sucked, but it doesn't.
(Please note the awesome running hair that I have when I wear a visor. I have no running shame.)
I have reviewed this skirt before, but I only ran 4 miles in it. When I wore it for my 11.6 mile night run at Wasatch Back, however, I ended up with a nice chafe on the inside of my left thigh. You see, the shorts underneath the skirt have the seams on the OUTSIDE, not the inside, in order to prevent chafing. But they failed to realize that runners such as myself would be running with one leg of the compression shorts higher than the other, and will run all weird and wacky so as to chafe on only one leg using the seams from the other leg's shorts. How could they not plan for stupid runners like me who run all wrong in their products? Sheesh.
Because I was sure I was just being running-skirt challenged (and the skirt is so cute I just had to give it another chance), I wore it this morning for my hot-heat run. I am happy to report that no chafing occurred, especially since I was sure to have the shorts the same length underneath. That's not to say it wouldn't happen again at longer distances; now I know not to wear this on a long run. I'll save my sparkle-sparkley skirts for those.
So, in the face of a bad run, I have found some goodness. I'm still determined to get my mileage in, however, and plan on doing a brick workout tomorrow with the bike (15 miles + 3 mile run), and then doing some weights.
Hopefully I won't be dawdling in the morning, waiting for the hot heat to start before I get my movement in motion.
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