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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

The Heat, my god, the Heat!

September in Florida is a lot like August in Florida. The days still see temperatures in the nineties, and the humidity is much the same. Everyday is a scorcher, and we all feel as though we have found hell on Earth. Thankfully, I've noticed that the mornings haven't been quite so bad the last couple of days. Last night on the news, it was forecasted that the lows this week would be around 78 degrees. Good news for me.

On Sunday, I plan to run another 5K and I'm hoping for a far better outcome than the last one; I am particularly crossing my fingers that I don't feel as though I might faint this time around. If the temp is 78 at 7:00 am, then that's the temperature the gym is air conditioned at, and that's good news.

Last night, I ran outside for my once a week outside run, and it was still damn hot. When I returned home, I had the beet red face and sweat soaked clothes. It wasn't pleasant. So I'm praying for a little spell of cool morning weather this Sunday, so that I can at least run with some dignity. That red face business is just embarassing.

Aside from the weather, I have also begun preparing for race day by re-organizing my Mp3 player. I've cleared all the old songs, and re-ordered them and added a few new ones so that I have the best song order for a 3.1 mile run. And this time, I am bringing my MP3 player with me. In other 5Ks, I've left it at home, but this time, it's coming with because I really need those songs; they help provide for "mood." The music also helps me time myself. It may come as something of a shock to most, but I don't actually own a watch (have never liked them -- they sit funny on my wrist and it feels like they are rubbing my wrist bone weird), so the only way I calculate time while I'm out running is by estimating the length of the songs. Most songs are about 3 or 4 minutes long, but there are a few that are five minutes: I noted their times as I downloaded them. So that helps me gauge my mile times, which is helpful in maintaining my pace.

But in the end, I have to just accept whatever I can do. In yoga, we used to adhere to the philosophy that you are not in competition with anyone, not even yourself. So, I need to just accept each race as an accomplishment in and of itself and not worry about my times or racing against previous times. I'm just there to enjoy the run.

(Yeah right. I know I'm in competition with myself, who else do I have to compete against?)

1 comment:

brent d. said...

I always have music when I run. If I don't I start thinking too much and that's not a good thing. I noticed earlier you had a post about the Foo Fighters. I have 2 running playlists on my iPod. One is just Foo Fighters songs and the 2nd is everything else. It's something about the Foo that just keeps me going! Loved the blog. Keep it up.