Unpleasant Friday Run

Yesterday I set out to run another 14 miles as I had previously established as a minimum training distance. I had run 14.03 miles Wednesday, or so I thought. But no, as I began running yesterday, the thought occurred to me that I had inadvertently skipped a .1 mile segment of my course, finishing instead at 13.93 miles. Dammit! Still, I did run 14 miles, for all practical purposes: especially when considering the distance accrued from the times I crossed streets back and forth for various reasons. That alone would have put me over the 14-mile mark.

I wasn't too happy seeing Friday morning's humidity at 70%. Regardless whether it is cold or hot, a high humidity usually leads to a more taxing run for me. This is one of the main reasons I have avoided night running, since the nighttime is usually marked by an upward spike in humidity. As it turned out, at the run's start it was 45 degrees. I first felt uncomfortable with a tee shirt, as opposed to some heavier clothing over my upper body, but within a mile of running I was glad of my decision.

It's funny how others seem to relish the high humidity: the roads and paths were full of joggers. Most of them were heavily clad; I wondered how they would survive the sweltering heat they were building up under their clothing. But to each his-or-her own, I suppose.

My run went pretty well, given the unwelcome moisture in the air (it actually broke out into a light misty rain a few times). But I had to curtail it at 10.48 miles because my bladder was overloaded. I suppose that, in retrospect, I could have gone back out and finished the 14 miles after relieving myself. But it simply was not an enjoyable run. And as I have stated before in another article, I seem to always have a time limit hanging over me anyway, with other areas of my life making their demands on me.