This weekend I had the pleasure to be in South Florida for the Yoga Journal Conference, which was awesome! I snuck out for my long run Sunday between yoga classes. It was hot out. When I say hot, I mean really really hot. My body hurt so much. The run was only 6 miles, but it could have been 100 for the amount that I suffered. I grew up in South Florida, and when I lived there, my body was acclimated to the hot and humid days. However, after five years in the freezing temps of South Bend, Indiana, my body has forgotten how hot 85 F with 70% humidity can be (arguably, that is cold in Florida for the middle of the day).
It was beautiful scenery but when I got dehydrated, I knew I was going to have to find water or I’d be in trouble. Running along the beach is not only hot, but kind of salty, which makes you thirstier than normal (and of course, I didn’t bring any water with me). About 30 minutes into my run, I was considering going up to a restaurant to ask for some water and then I remembered the showers along the beach. After people get all sandy, they like to rinse off before heading into their cars. This was a life saver. I ran over to the shower, drank some water and rinsed my face off a little. Suddenly, I had new life in me. I was running faster and with so much less effort. I even finished with negative splits! This run got me thinking… Am I in over my head for the A1A Half Marathon? I will be training in South Bend, in the coldest part of the year. I figured (actually hoped), that my Florida upbringing would protect me from the crazy change in temperature I would experience between my training and the race. I also kind of figured hot yoga could keep me slightly more acclimated to high temps and humidity. I don’t know though. I had a vision of finishing in under 2 hours, but now I’m just hoping to finish.
She Runs the Wasatch 