Bullenhitze

That’s a term that my mom will recognize and should get a laugh from, but I doubt anyone else will know it. Go google it.

Couldn’t get out to run this morning until after I made arrangements for the locksmith to come over (see yesterday’s entry). That put me out the door at 9:30 and into a wall of sticky heat. This did not promise to be a run I’d remember fondly, and the combination of heat and humidity had me wondering what the RealFeel was, although I hate that concept. If anyone out there can remember PDR 2002, or was at the R&R Half last year, I would call the conditions even worse than those.

I took it easy out to the Art Museum and, as I do on my once-a-week BN workout, let it rip once I hit MLK. Mile 1 was a 5:52; mile 2 was a 5:54; mile 3 was a 5:55 and mile 4 was a 6:13, as I had to withdraw almost all the seconds I banked to finish the four river miles in sub 6 minute pace (23:54). From there the loop goes up the BN and I passed the Ford Rd. intersection in 9:58, just under my 10 minute minimum. I am proud of this – hammering that hill today was a gut check. And then the last checkpoint, which takes in the whole stretch from Falls River bridge to where Ford Road hits the Belmont Plateau went by in 19:25, 25 seconds over the minimum. By that time I was spent and the rest of the way home was a deathmarch/cooldown. 13.5 miles in 1:43:33.

If I can keep getting in workouts like this I will be able to take on anything Virginia Beach has to throw at me on Labor Day. I started the workout weighing 169, finished it weighing 162. My stomach has been queasy all day and I’ve got an insatiable thirst. But I’ll be alright, and it’s a price I’m happy to pay for the feeling of having had a good workout.

I’m on the train to DC right now, en route to hang out with my sister this weekend (in the air conditioning). Annette sent me an email a few days ago that I’ve been meaning to post here:

guess what, I ran a mile !!! Need to start a blog!

I’ll look to hook up with one of a few running clubs in the area that do long runs on weekend mornings, and hopefully add to the interesting acquaintances that I usually make when on these runs.