A Longish run

After a kind of disappointing training week (thanks mystery fever), I was hoping to re-coup some of my runs this weekend.  I had hoped I could at least do my four saturday morning before the heat hit and my 8 on sunday when it was suppose to be cooler.  Saturday dawned at 5:30 with me running yet another low grade fever.  Enough to make me hit snooze and roll over and go back to sleep till almost 8 am.  I am pretty serious about running, so for me to not get up and run is serious.  I enjoyed the extra sleep but not the stupid low grade fever.  I had decided that I would go to the local convienent care if  I was still feverish when everyone got up and ready to go for the day but by that time, I was back to normal.  We were under yet another heat advisory so I figured yet another rest day might not be a bad idea. Yes, I have a dreadmill but hello, who wants to run on a dreadmill.  I needed to do some shopping in town anyway so to town we went.  We had fun at target and we even had time for a fro yo date.  Couldn't find my name in the Coke name bottles but did find the hubby's name so just had to get one:)

I kept debating throughout the day that I might get on the dreadmill and run but I was still a little worn down from the fever and i kept telling myself yet another rest day was NOT a bad idea.  I did walk a couple of miles at 9 pm with my mom to fulfill her 10 K steps requirement for her fitbit.  It was HOT.  We were dripping two minutes into the walk and we were briskly walking at best.

Sunday dawned with cooler temps but SUPER high humidity.  Like 100% at 5:30 am.  I decided to go ahead and get up and fuel up in the hopes that the humidity would go down at some point in the morning.  After waiting till past 8 am and watching the temp and the dew point climb while the humidity stubbornly stayed put, I finally decided to head out.  It was cloudy and there was a breeze from the north and west so I hoped to not melt.  I have been freezing my water bottle so that it was nice and cold, but I was worried that I wouldn't have enough.  I was correct in my worry as we started running low around mile 4.  I usually do this route as a point to point route but I decided I wanted to keep stella and I off of the blacktop.  I figured we would go four out on the gravel and four back. I am glad that we did, as that kept us a little cooler I think.  I would stop every mile, take a swig of water and let stella drink as much as she wanted.  This picture is at 3 miles in.  

We were lucky that the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of our run.  If the sun had been out, that and the humidity would have made running  impossible.  I called my hubby to come and bring me more water around mile 4.  He obliged and tried to take stella with him.  We felt she was okay, but I didn't want to push it.  She freaked out when he left, so much so that he had to pull over and let her come back to me.  He said he had never seen her freak out that bad.  I guess she could still see me and that was too much for her.  She was barking and whining and clawing at the door of his truck.  With our new ice water and bigger supply, I would pour water on my running hat and all over her as well and we would both drink.  We made our 8 but we were both spent afterwards.  My pace was about 2 whole minutes slower than I normally run, but any running in these conditions is good.  I usually do NOT have a time goal when I run LSD so I didn't even look at my watch.  My phone was reporting by mile which was the only way I knew where I was even at pace wise.  I hope we don't have many more of these days, especially as my long runs begin to build again.  8 miles was doable at a slow pace but any more than 10 would be killer.  I say a huge KUDOS to my marathon training friends who ran 17 or more miles today.  Mentally, I don't think I could have done it.  Here is to a better week both health and running-wise!