borrowed time

Summer training for the 2014 Chicago Marathon marches forward with distances getting longer, cross training being tougher, and sleep feeling better than ever.  My appetite has markedly increased as well, but some things never change.  I’m an eater, y’all, and don’t make any bones about it.  With hydration in mind, i’ve kept bottled water and gatorade well-stocked and as cold as possible, too. Cleaning out my fridge a few days ago for kicks and grins, I realized I keep more beverages than any other category of consumables by far.  The second most abundant is condiments.  

So far i’m really pleased with where I am.  Two full months into training and I feel great, continually thinking about the next long run, and even excited about the midweek five and six milers.  Part of the success thus far is due to the unseasonably cool temperatures we’ve had in Northwest Arkansas virtually all summer long.  I can’t count the number of overcast mornings that have topped out in the mid 60’s, which is dang near unheard of for summer marathon training.  I’ve taken advantage of the windfall, pushing hard and knowing that we’ve all been running on borrowed time.  And sure enough, it all came to an end this weekend, when summer stood up and slapped me across the face with a great big “HEY THERE!”

Luckily I knew it was coming, having watched my favorite local weather anchor Gina De Vecchio alert all of NWA to the pending heatwave.  Trying to think ahead, I met Don and Cynthia at the Venesian Inn for dinner on Friday night to carb load on pasta.  No meal is complete at the VI, however, without fried chicken, which is rarely paired with spaghetti, but somehow always seems to work better than expected at this family-owned landmark in Tontitown, Arkansas.  As usual, my meal was on point.

So I might have overdid it just a bit with three pieces of fried chicken, because I was a bit sluggish for the first few miles on my 16 miler Saturday morning, but i’m deciding to blame it on the heat and humidity instead of the groceries.  As stated earlier, this was the first long run of the entire summer in which I felt challenged in terms of the weather.  Summer running can be really difficult when the mercury rises to the 80’s and beyond, but it’s still do-able.  Here’s how to make it work:

• Start as early as possible.  This means setting an alarm on a Saturday morning and getting up before the sun does.  It might be tough, but it’ll make a nap later on feel excellent.  So do it.
• Hydrate with water and Gatorade.  Drinking fluids all day, every day is critical.  The only downside are the added trips to the bathroom.  I’m constantly going.  Always remember to wash your hands.
• Slow down.  Dropping the pace a full minute per mile isn’t the end of the world and will make summer running more enjoyable.  We’re all Kenyans on the inside, but nobody needs to run fast during the summer. 
• Pick trails in the shade.  This one might be tough, but it’s easier to find trails in the shade than it is roads in the shade, thus another reason to support local trail systems and leave the roads for idiots in SUV’s yapping on cell phones.
• Take walk breaks.  I do it all the time.  There’s no shame in my ballgame.

I finished up with the temperature marking 86 degrees at 9:30 in the morning.  That’s hot for running, y’all.  Too hot.  But such is training for a fall marathon, and hopefully these blistering long runs will pay dividends when I cross the finish line on the shores of Lake Michigan.  I’ve got multiple 18’ers ahead of me, and probably need to do a 20 miler at some point, and despite knowing that it’ll most likely be hotter than hell from here on out, it still makes me excited to think about those long runs.  I’d rather be running than doing anything else, because regardless of the weather, hot or cold, rain or shine, we’re all on borrowed time, aren’t we?  

I want to make the most of my days while I’m here to enjoy them, and somehow that has grown to mean lacing up and heading out to find sunshine on my face and the wind at my back.  In those moments, when my legs feel like powerful oak trees and my heart rate is pounding, when I am acutely aware of each foot fall pushing off the pavement to propel me forward, when a steep hill is dead ahead and I have no choice but to conquer it, that’s when i’m reminded of how beautiful life can be.  When i’m in the that place, it doesn’t matter how hot it is outside, because nothing seems to matter at all.

Run.