Two Day, Fifteen Mile, Festival of Sweat and Pain

Summer has hit here in NC.  We have had a few previews during the spring but avoided any sustained heat through most of June.  But, our luck seems to have run out and now everyone is going to suffer and sweat.  I am in the process of going for my first 100 mile month and have benefited a lot from the mild weather.  Thursday mornings sweat-fest provided me with all the warning that I needed to know that Saturday and Sunday's runs would be brutal.

Hiroko decided to join me at Umstead on Saturday morning.  She did a 3 mile power walk while I ran a 5 miler. My legs were unusually stiff when I started my run.  It was an odd sort of stiffness in my lower legs, which I attribute to switching to a standing desk at work (No, I don't own a Mac, a Prius, or run in Vibrams,  but the standing desk trend is something that makes a lot of sense to me).  The pictures below are all from Saturday's 5 miler and give an idea of heat and mugginess of the morning.  The are no pictures of Sunday's 10 miler and trust me, you wouldn't want to see them if there were!  On Saturday, the stiffness abated right around the 3.5 mile mark, but before that I wore a freakish scowl of pain for most of the run that just added the pièce de résistance to my appearances.  


I made sure to get up early for Sunday's 10 miler, and I started nearly an hour earlier than I have over the last few weeks in a vain attempt to avoid the heat.  My legs were sore, but I thought that the would be worse because I had spent 4 fours driving Saturday to meet some family members, who were traveling thru NC on their way back to WV.  But, my legs weren't as bad off as I feared at the start of my run.  By three miles I had turned into a sweaty mess and the run was beginning to turn painful.  I was glad to reach the midway point because it meant I was committed to 10 miles, but it also meant that the worst of the hills were rapidly approaching.  The hills of Umstead Park suck under normal conditions, but they are even worse when your shoes are filled with sweat and you're being chased but three horse files.


Luckily, shortly after I climbed the worst part of the hills I was able to pass of my horse files to a couple of interval runners.  I felt a little bad about it, but since there were two of them, they stood a better chance than I did.  The last 2.5 miles hurt and left my legs screaming, but I did them and completed my run, which gave me 26 miles for the week and 106 miles over the last 30 days.  At the end I could ring out my shirt and most have lost a good two or three pounds during the run if not more.  I spent the rest of Sunday attempting to re-hydrate and rest my legs. 

post 5 miler

Soaked in Sweat

Yep, ringing out the sweat.

After meeting up with Hiroko

 

BTW: we're having a boy!