Hot times

I must admit that I am a weather wimp.

Bring on the snow and cold and I’m fine. I’ll bundle up – won’t necessarily be thrilled as I warm up over the first mile – and log some miles. Not a problem.

But on mornings like today when I walk out the door at 5:09 a.m. and immediately encounter a wall of heat, it gets inside my head. Granted, this wall of heat consisted of 77 degrees, but that just doesn’t seem right when the sun hasn’t even gotten out of bed yet.

I was only going for three miles this morning, but I was thinking about the weather for most every step. It’s days like this in particular when I really miss Wisconsin, where I used to live. Many summers it rarely rose above 90. Early morning runs were quite pleasant, sometimes offering the slightest hint of a chill when running along the shores of Lake Michigan.

After moving South a couple years ago, my summers are much different. Saturday’s run was a bit of a scorcher. The course for the day was south of Kansas City at Longview Lake. My schedule called for eight miles, which was a blessing. Many of the full marathoners had much longer runs that kept them plodding and sweating through the heat for much longer than my hour and 20 minutes.

I may be a weather wimp, but it's not all in my mind. The heat definitely can take a toll on a runner's body.

The organized Saturday runs come complete with water and Gatorade stops every couple of miles. Staying hydrated is a big deal, obviously. When I go for my solo training runs sans water stops, it’s more of a trick. I have a couple courses that include water fountains, but that’s not much of an option as I go through residential areas.

It’s been a relatively mild summer so far, but it looks like the heat has arrived. The mind games I encounter while trying to cope with the hot weather should be interesting.