Hot in the city

Saturday morning - long run day - I got up around 6:45am and had some breakfast, then took a quick shower to wake me up, put on my running clothes and went out to stretch. It was already hot and humid out. I drank some water, grabbed my shuffle & garmin and took off. At first I ran south and there was a breeze so it felt alright, then I turned and went east with no tree cover and I realized how hot it was going to be. I did a 5 mile loop that ended up at the YMCA where I stopped to get a drink and weigh myself. I felt pretty good at this point - I was keeping up a good pace. I left the Y and decided to just do a 3 mile loop and end up back there for another drink before heading back across town. This time I stopped and again got a drink then weighed myself - I was already 3/4lb down. Not good when you are out for a 14 miler and you are losing 3/4 lb every 3 miles (especially when you're not a big person to begin with). I decided at this point I better not push it too hard - didn't want to end up passed out somewhere on the side of the road. I took off again - weaving my way through the neighborhoods and hogging up as much of the shade as possible - even stealing some water out of sprinklers where I could. My body felt good, but I was very hot and tired. I made it back to the house at 10.5 miles and got another drink and walked a few steps then went on to finish the last 3.5. Those were probably the slowest - the garmin kept registering 9:45 - not exactly where I wanted to be, but at that point I just needed to finish.
Regardless of the time and the weather I did finish it and it was good.

I did make a mental note about this particular run - I was running alone - for the first 5 miles or so I waved at everyone with little to no luck(when I run with Brooke we kind of take turns waving). After the first stop at the Y I decided I should take it down a notch and try to conserve as much energy as possible. At this point, for some reason people started waving at me - there were a couple ladies that even did the BIG wave - you know, hand off the wheel and moving side to side. Pretty impressive - it helped too. Maybe they could tell that the heat and humidity was zapping every ounce of my energy and were giving their little wave of encouragement. That's what I like to think anyway - and it works. It's amazing how there are times when you just don't have any more in you, but seeing or hearing just the right thing can propel you just a little further.
One of the big one's for me is when I see young kids - I don't ever want them to see me give up - I want them to know they can do anything.