Even a 7 AM start didn't keep today's 14 miles from being incredibly hot and difficult. Hell must be REALLY hot!Jumping into the middle of the story...I willed this water fountain to not be a mirage at mile 11. I was out of water and struggling from the heat. Almost naked, I was sweating so much my left shoe was squishy with sweat. Humidity must have been over 99% with a temperature of 120F! Ok, maybe it was only 80% with 85F, but I was really heated up.
I ran an out and back on a local bike trail this morning. Running south from one of my favorite starting spots. A nice 9 min/mi pace for the first 4 miles. Didn't need to drink any of my 32 oz of water I was carrying. A lot running in the shade though the humidity was high already. A lovely time up to this point.As the miles added up, the sun got higher and I got hotter. Started drinking my water and getting sweat in my eyes. Still plenty of shade to find on the trail. At the turn around at 7 miles I was still feeling great. No problems.
My pace was getting slower as I ran in the sun with a 10:12 pace for mile 9 (or was that mile 10?) and my shirt came off. I was really getting hot. My legs were fine, but I couldn't get them to move very fast as it was hard to get a full breath. I was really sweating and out of water.Water fountain wasn't a mirage! I refilled my bottle, rinsed by cap AND drank some water. The final few miles were a combo of running and walking and running and walking. I could run in the shade just fine, but the sun was over heating me.
In the end, I completed my scheduled 14 miles to finish successfully week #3 of my Goofy Plan.
I'm scheduled to kick off week #4 with a 10 miler tomorrow morning! Weather forecast is for hot weather. :)
