Running in the Heat

My week day routine involves getting out for a run at about 4:30 PM. I’ve noticed that temperatures at that time of day have been a little bit warm. Maybe even hot. OK, it’s been very hot on some of my runs. When other runners point this out to me, I often respond with some variation of “The heat kills more brain cells. Must be time to sign up for another ultramarathon.” I do have steps that I take to deal with the heat. When it started getting warm, I would soak my hat under the kitchen faucet and wear it out the door. I’d know I had the correct amount of water soaked into the hat when a stream of cold water dribbled down the back of my neck for the first several minutes of the run. As temperatures warmed up, I would take the additional step of soaking my shirt under the faucet. I would actually be chilled as I left the house. Even though these steps are temporary, they would help until I made it off the pavement and onto the trails where temperatures are always cooler. Even so, the heat experienced out on the trails can still be a factor to be dealt with. It’s times like this when I reflect on some of the wisdom handed down by the ultra community. One old saying goes, “Discomfort [or pain, in some versions] is inevitable, suffering is optional”. A positive attitude goes a long way in getting past environmental factors like heat. Sure, I feel the heat beating me up, but, even so, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than running along on one of our trails. Stay cool out there!   Martin