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A perfect summer day, because summer is now gone.

The dog and I jogged a short relaxing run this morning, 13 C and windy and sunny. The weather has been amazing this week, lows in the low teens and highs in the low-mid twenties. Consequently, I've run every day except Thursday, and I've also been consistent with other workouts.

I didn't go through Helltober this year, but last week was a bit rough* What a relief to shuck off that cocoon of stress.



*Although, I got to spend two hours of it in a cath lab (not as a patient this time!) and it was really cool to see from a different perspective what I sort of went through almost ten years ago. Plus I could ask all the questions I wanted, and the questions I got asked were very mild. No hardcore "pimping."

Now I know I don't want to live in Seattle

Maybe.

It's been raining all week, although I ran with the dog yesterday during a break. That was my only run this week. It's cold rain and I have a cold.

Fortunately, this weekend will be nicer and drier.

I think I'll miss the sound once it's over, though!

Caught in the rain

5.17 miles today, not bad! Originally I was going to do just my usual 2-3 (sad, I know), but it was only 17C and lightly drizzling. It felt amazing.

It was just me and the dog and we just kept going, until we were caught in a thunderstorm.

The thunder and lightning was never close, and the dog was starting to smell kind of doggy, anyway, so it's all good.

Fall into fall with orphan storms

Oh, the higher temps in the middle of the week were dismaying (36 C in September can just shove off), but some of the turmoil in the gulf has been drifting north, bringing lots and lots of rain and some relief.

These are, as far as I've read recently, unnamed tropical depressions or some sort of disturbance. I don't know what they're officially called. They don't make it into hurricanes or even storms; they get tagged with some alpha-numeric code and then they just fall apart into anonymous strips of thunder.

I'm sort of torn. I'm glad these storms don't coalesce into something more devastating, because they're strong enough. I was stuck in a heavy downpour late last night, and my wipers were barely fast enough. Fortunately, traffic was light, I mostly remembered where most of the lane markers were, and I have AWD and wasn't going anywhere deep (flash floods happen here for some reason), so it was oddly peaceful apart from the one tiny part where thankfully only one side of my car suddenly hit a few inches of moving water...on an overpass. Like, how does that happen? I understand the very basic tenets of fluid dynamics but how does that much water collect that quickly?

However, I also appreciate what these storms have done to our weather and I wish there was more recognition, anthropomorphism or not. I had consistent ass sweat up until November last year, so this pre-fall/fall has already been a big improvement. We needed rain too (maybe not this much), so why not name these storms as well? Why must only the big bad ones get named and not also the milder and largely beneficial systems?

So I'm adopting this storm, whatever it is that's going on this week (maybe it's been two or more storms total, but I'm not sure what's going on). I'm calling her Emma. Remnants of Emma? What could have been Emma? Relief Emma? What's the technical term here?

Oh, and I've run a few times this week.  Today was three miles in between the bouts of rain.

I ran again (a couple or so more times)

I've lost count.

Thanks to Gordon (and possibly other tropical storms), the temps have been amazing.  Today's high: 25 C.  What?!!!

This summer, the nighttime lows were higher than that.  Add in the humidex (which I've been ignoring but definitely wilting from) and I'd pretty much forgotten what anything below 30 felt like.

I had class this morning at 8 and my kid was dragging, so I couldn't run until this afternoon, but it was still fine. It was 23 and overcast, and not 36 or  38 or whatever horrific number.  Plus I wanted it to be an easy run because my legs are still a bit sore from a recent 9/11 memorial stair climb (110 stories), and I want to save some juice for tomorrow. Knock wood, the weather is going to be like today, and I won't have an early class, so I can grab the dog and go.  Maybe we'll even make it down to the river.

I feel bad for all of those affected by the strong weather systems, and I feel bad for those who enjoy sunshine...but I haven't seen that infernal ball all week and I'm pumped! Sorry, dude, it's not personal.
Gosh, I actually feel human again.

I ran again and will run again

Actually, I ran a couple of short runs last week or the week before.  The overnight lows dropped to 24-25 C, and I couldn't waste that, even though the originally projected longer bout of cooler weather eventually withered to practically nothing.  I needed to cling to something.

Otherwise, it's been straight 37-38 C/26 C and I've been miserable.  26 C in the morning is still too hot for me, unless it's dry, which it isn't here. Heck, I've barely been walking even though I carry baby wipes and extra underwear, and I can use my umbrella as a parasol (and I sometimes do because I get headaches from the heat and sun...(I need to find a straw hat because anything else on my head also gives me a headache))...and not exercising in turn jacks up my sleep plus the heat makes my limbs ache so I've become overly reliant on Tylenol PM which, even though I take half the recommended dose, makes me drowsy after a while because use isn't supposed to exceed two weeks and who knows how far beyond I am that, I've failed to keep count or to give myself breaks, and my latest exam score though not an outright failure is a testament to that and perhaps it's even low enough to merit academic counseling, which isn't too bad usually because it's here to help us and it's very supportive, yeah, I've been a couple of times because whenever our marks veer too close to, or into, the danger zone, we get a friendly email, and yes, this sentence reflects my summer, a massive convoluted frustrating and endless day or week or month or however long it is that I become embalmed in the zone between full wakefulness and full sleep like one of those hapless and useless grubs entombed in fiery golden liqueur.

Summer is my least favourite season, even back home in Canada. A few scattered days in the mid-thirties is bad enough, but 4 months of mid-thirties to mid-forties, with lows still mostly too high to run in, has been

___________________

whatever, fill in the blank and move on

because I am moving on, I think, finally!  DISCLAIMER: it's an excerpt. I'd rather not be a tease, but I've had this earworm since I heard this song on ah/fm several days ago.  The full track was like, whoa.

SOOO the high temps hit suddenly and hard around May 1, and in a lovely parallel, a storm is now passing through, followed by at least ten days of 29-32 C. Fingers crossed that there's indeed a summer weather switch somewhere and it's going to stay clicked off (ignoring that 29-32 C is still summer weather...can't be too greedy).

So the plan is to run this morning!

Also my parking pass expired at the end of August, so I'm going to have to get off my butt at any rate!

I ran again

Humid, but only 23 C!

It wasn't comfortable but I'm grateful that I was able to run a couple of miles or so.  Just have to get through another month or two.  Autumn will be here eventually, right?









* Let's be honest, Winter doesn't come down here, so I'm not pinning my heart on that.

I ran

This is noteworthy!

Last night, an approaching storm system shoved the hot air aside, and so I had to hit the streets.  First run in at least a week, maybe two, I forget :(.  1.5-2 miles only. However that was enough because I'm out of shape, and it was still hot for running, about 27-28 C.  That's ~10 C cooler than normal, though, so it didn't feel hot at first.

It was so good to run, especially since I've been having the low-grade issues that I get whenever it's hot and I'm not exercising enough, stuff like poor sleep, loss of appetite, muscle soreness, fatigue, etc.  Yesterday morning, I was starting to feel emotionally sandbagged too...the endorphins came just in time!

The next few days are supposed to have scattered thunderstorms and cooler temps, so I should be able to get in a couple more runs until the heat comes back.

Have I mentioned that I dislike summer? And that it's mutual?

At any rate, I'm greatly enjoying and appreciating the reprieve! :)

On the Grill

I hate the heat, but I gotta congratulate it today. (sorry for the abrupt end. This isn't the best version but I really like the cut in the beginning)

Anyhow, talk about record-breaking! my hottest day ever in North America: 44 C! (48 humidex). So I dusted off this old blog to celebrate!

But yeah, I didn't run today. We walked about 1/3 of a mile, which is more than what we've done all week with the exception of yesterday--oh, yeah, yesterday was amazing! Mostly overcast and only about 27 C, I think. Still too hot for me to run with the dog and the stroller, but we walked to a local park, hung out there for a bit, and walked home, about a mile total.  Not bad for a 2.5 year old and his decrepit mom who hadn't walked all week.

Yeah, all week!

I even bought a parking pass for school and used it all of last week--I didn't buy one last year, but it also didn't get above 40 last year, as far as I remember.  Still, I'm amazed that I seem to be the only one thinking "OMG, heatwave." People are saying it's hot, and my kid's school is keeping everyone inside all day, but not one person has called this a heatwave. When we were living in Kansas, we had about six weeks in the 36-42 C range, and that was apparently the worst heatwave in 50 years, but they do everything bigger and better in Texas, I guess. Or maybe everyone else is also going around thinking "OMG, if I go around calling this a heatwave, people will think I'm delusional."  Or maybe everyone is just as fried as I am.  Sorry if this post sucks...I get stupid in the heat.  Park in the shade, folks.

Fortunately, I ran 5 km or more every day except for one during the two weeks I was back in my home province earlier this month.  It might be another two weeks before I run again, but I'm hoping to at least resume walking once the lows get below 28 or 27 C...hopefully soon. 

Oh, and to sum up 9 months of running: bits here and there. Mostly 1-3 short runs a week, and at least one longish (5-8 miles) run on the weekend, weather permitting.  Not much. Oh, well!