Good Til the Last Drop

I gave into air conditioning today.  I just couldn't take the heat and humidity anymore.  I walked over to the clubhouse and ran 5 miles on the treadmill.  Even with the AC assist at a cool 75 degrees I still laid a fine spray of sweat across the apparatus.

We had been so lucky this spring and through the early part of the summer.  Usually the humidity arrives sometime in late April or early May.  The dewpoints climb into the mid 70's and running anything over 10 miles is almost impossible.

But the weather was incredible through April and May.  Even into June it never got really bad.  The running was more than tolerable.  Part of it was the weather pattern of afternoon showers that was doing a pretty good job of clearing out the humidity for early evening runs.

In fact last Friday, July 19, was incredible.  I ran a wonderful 5 miles along the trail that borders a massive slough with a cool draft blowing in from a thunderstorm sitting about 20 miles to the east.  It marked the end of spring I guess because Saturday was complete hell.  The humidity hung in the air, completely choking every pour on my body. 

It stayed that way on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, you get the idea.  It was awful.  I came home last night after running 4 miles and felt like throwing up.   I had run at a very slow pace, my hat was soaked all the way through.  Normally, it takes at least 6 to 7 miles on a hot, humid day for sweat to drip from the bill of my cap.

You can see in the picture above I can work up a pretty good sweat on a hot day.  This was from a race in July in Sacramento, about 4 miles into a 5 mile effort.  It was probably 7 a.m. and hot as hell but trust me, I don't miss Sacramento or its weather.

I'll adjust to this sudden increase in summer's wrath.  I may have to cut back the runs and accept the fact that age 57, I can't handle the heat like I did at 47 or 37.