Brutal sun trap, not an ounce of shade.
Usually on my long runs, I peeter out towards the end. I’m not anywhere near as strong as when I started and I start taking way too many walk breaks. Today I decided to focus on fixing that little problem. I changed my run/walk ratio a little bit so that I would be sure to successfully hit it for every mile I was in. And I’m pleased to say, it worked. I ended just as strong as I finished. At one point even, towards the end, it was so hot and sunny I basically said, “oh bugger this, just keep running until you find some shade.” Yep. That worked too.
Today was brutally hot in the Pacific Northwest. Dangerously so. My brain feels a bit cooked, to be honest, and this week’s happenings are kind of hard to write about. I know that it gets a lot hotter elsewhere (I was born and raised in Arizona); however, we are not used to this kind of heat here and this summer has been cruel. It’s from the lovely El Nino weather system. I used to love El Nino in Arizona. We’d be cooler than normal and it would rain and rain and rain. Well, the exact opposite is happening here. We are unseasonably hot and we’ve not had a decent rain since April. Our lakes are disappearing and the state has been having one fire after another. Ooops, I digress. I’ll get back on topic.
Heat or no heat, I had a great week of training, hit all my workouts which is super important to success (we won’t talk about Friday’s debacle). The Motivator has also had a great week of training. He’s just finished up week 4 training for the Chicago Marathon, and he nailed a 12-mile run yesterday with ease (faster than I could finish grocery shopping), not to mention the 5 miles he did today in the brutal heat as well. He’s aiming for a sub-4 marathon time… I really do think he’s going to over-achieve and actually do much better than that. He has the mental game, not to mention he’s upping the physical game, I’m proud to say. He’s an inspiration. Maybe one day when I grow up, I’ll know what an 8-minute mile feels like.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep on keeping on. And I’ll let you know how the weigh-in goes when the new scale arrives…
Never A Dull Bling 
Hey! Good job getting it done, and finding a method to keep you strong! 🙂 The heat is NO JOKE up there, is it? My brother lives in Lacey, and they came to visit for a few weeks. They returned home to dead grass! Stay safe and hydrated!
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Thank you Dawn!! And yes, the heat and lack of rain are terrible! I feel your brother’s pain with the brown lawn… we’ve almost given up with the landscape this year! 🙂
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Hi…I found your blog via your comment on Dawn’s blog. I am following her too! I too started running in my 40’s. 46 actually….now 6 years later I’m still at it. Sorry about your heat. I can attest – it is awful!! We have it all summer here in Georgia. i was running at 5;40 this morning to try to beat it. The sun is coming up a bit later now, so today was my first flashlight day in a long time!
I have a new running post on my blog. If you get a chance, I hope you come visit it sometime. Thanks!
https://travelrunstyle.wordpress.com/
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Thanks Rebecca! I definitely will!!
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Ugh, I can really relate. I live in Denmark which right now has unseasonable “cold” weather, but last week and the week before that I was running in Provence, France. I am training for my first half marathon and, not being a natural “8-minute-mile” champion, it really spurs me on to read that you are sticking to your training plan. I even pursuaded my four year old son to bike next to me on my short run today (2 miles) with the baby sleeping in the stroller!
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Haha, I tried to get my son to do that, but he said, “Mommm, you’re too slowwww!” Best wishes for your training! I’ll look forward to the race report!
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Running sounds difficult, running in heat sounds impossible – to this couch, nay, chair-potato. I guess my mind ends up getting the exercise my body needs 🙂
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Hey, at least you’re getting exercise, and at the end of the day, isn’t that what’s most important, hehe! The mind is just as important as the body, and you have one helluva mind!! So you go girl and keep on keeping on! That chair works great for you! 😉
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I keep promising myself that one morning, I’ll go down to the park and stretch my limbs. I’ve almost run out of excuses now. A few more days and then I’ll be counting too…yards if not miles.
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Hahaha! Yards count too! 🙂
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