I wanted to run yesterday (because I run Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays), but this heat is keeping me from getting motivated.  It was muggy and hot and I figured I’d wait until tomorrow to run.  I got in my car to head home after work today, and was shocked to see a temperature of 112 degrees on my thermometer.  I snapped a photo from my cell phone.  It ranged between 110 and 115 on the way home.  Just insane. How can I train in that kind of weather?  That’s a pretty good indication I’m running after dark, when the temp gets down into the lower 90s.  Around 9:15pm, the temps were about 91, so I headed out to run my 4-miler.  I went to Fenton Park like I always do during the week, and decided to run 4.2 miles, which is 3 laps around.  The humidity was low, and it felt pretty nice out.  There were some ball games still going on at the time, but by the time I went around my third lap, they were turning off the lights!  One interesting note about running at night is that with each lap, the stars looked like they were in a different position…and I guess that’s right…it was about 15 minutes a lap for me tonight.

While running, the mind wanders, and today I was just imagining what it would be like to run down the streets of Vegas and have all the lights and casinos passing by.  Pretty cool scene. I can’t wait to run it.  I felt good about today’s run, since I ran it non stop.  I had a good stretch afterwards and I didn’t experience any side pains like I had been in the past. I was getting pains within the first half-mile, but now I don’t have any pain at all.

Conditions: 91 degrees, less humid, clear starry skies.
Results: today: 4 miles; total: 39 miles; time: 46:50; pace: 11:09
Thoughts: I enjoy the night running.  There are parts of the park where there’s hardly any light, but I like the lack of sun every now and then, especially when the official high was 105 today!
What I’ll remember the most: The stars.

Since it’s so hot this week, I decided to wait until sunset to do my running.  I just can’t do the treadmill thing anymore.  The temps were around 90 degrees, so it was much cooler than earlier in the day.  The evening brought a lot of humidity, but I like that.  I’ve always enjoyed working in humid conditions instead of sunny conditions.

My calves hurt earlier this morning, still recovering from the 8-miler on Saturday, but by the time I ran, they felt great.  The 3-miler in Fenton Park was cool tonight, because the park’s baseball fields, tennis courts and basketball courts are all lit up.  The park doesn’t close until 11:00pm, so I think I’ll enjoy coming here in the evening to do my runs.  And there’s plenty of people around, so it’s interesting people watching.

I purchased a new mp3 player and used it for the first time tonight.  It’s the Creative MuVo V100. It’s a 2GB player/USB port.

I’ve always liked Creative’s products, and this one is no exception.  I bought a Zen Vision a while back, and was strapping it on my arm when I ran, but that mp3 player has a hard drive in it, which constantly spins, whereas this one is flash based, so there’s no moving parts.  Plus this one’s the size of a domino, where as the other one is a big larger than a deck of cards.  I liked having this in my pocket while I ran. I enjoyed the freedom of not having anything velcroed to my arm!

Anyways, back to the run….I ran the whole 3 miles non-stop and came in under 30 minutes, which is an improvement.  I also spent a lot of time stretching, which I don’t normally do.  I watched this video on YouTube, and it helped with my stretching after the run.

My left big toe still hurts from last Saturday, and it’s gonna be that way the whole training period, since it’s bruised under the nail.  Well, that’s what they say…runners lose nails…here we go. Oh well.

The temps are expected to be at 103 tomorrow, so I may wait until past sunset to do my run.   I’m excited again though!  Can’t wait to lose some weight!