14 Miles + 100% Humidity in January = Not Pretty

I took the following self-portrait after finish today’s long run.

I think it’s an accurate representation of my feelings about today’s run and the “lovely” weather (read “humidity”) that all my non-runner friends are “loving!” (I always want to remind them that summer is coming and is always 30-50 degrees warmer than “winter”.)

I plan on talking about the week in general in Monday’s training recap so I’ll just mention it here today. This week has not been the greatest. I had low expectations for today’s run and the run did not even meet those.

While the soreness that has plagued me since Tuesday’s pump class has mostly dissipated, a couple other things (both of which I can’t change) kept almost all pleasure out of this run.

Those two things? 1. I’m a woman. 2. South Carolina’s weather sucks.

I forgot just how much my performance suffers in high humidity. As much as I love Greenville, I will not miss the humidity when I move in the fall. (Lord willing)

Before I go any further I need to stop and say that Mom did great. She had a strong, consistent run and finished so much stronger on her second 10 miler than her first. Plus, she did that even after taking Chisel for the first time on Thursday. I would have been waddling if I’d done that.

Since Mom had only 10 miles on her plan for today, we parted ways at mile 9.5 and she headed back to complete the last half mile on her own. I, on the other hand, had 4.5 left.

I had to be all kinds of mental cheerleader, drill sergeant, you name it, just to get through the rest of this run. Once I got to mile 10 and a new song on my iPhone started I started the count down game. 1.65 until I turn around. How close can I get to that before this song ends? It’s a “fun” game. Just ask yourself that question every time a song ends until you finally finish.

Somewhere after I walked at mile 12 while eating my last Gu Chomps, I decided I’d had enough. The remaining mile and a half (or so) wasn’t easy but I laid the hammer down and just ran. The ability is in there, it just had a tough time getting out today. The last mile? 8:46. Booyah!

These runs come along every once in a while. The fact that they come along at all is frustrating to me. However, instead of dwelling on the suckiness that was this run, I’m moving on. I’m gearing up for hopefully my fastest 5k yet this coming Saturday. Then, the real finish line comes into view, Hilton Head, one month. Bring it.

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