Desert Heat

So I'm back home for the week visiting family. There really isn't much going on. The wife flew with me to El Paso as she hasn't seen my folks in several years. But now she's visiting family in New Mexico, so I'm left to my own devices.

One thing I've managed to get done is to keep my string of 20-mile weeks going. Currently it stands at five with number six in progress. I stretched it to eight back during the school year, but other commitments got in the way and now I'm building it back up. I think I saw in a running mag many years ago that 20 was the magic number to where you could run that many miles and lose weight. Of course it's not that simple, but the number has stayed with me. Anything below 20 and I don't really have the sense of accomplishment.

This sixth week is more challenging due to the desert heat. The high temps are all supposed to be north of 100 degrees this week. You hear a lot of people say that it's not the heat, it's the humidity. I'm here to tell you there's some merit to that. I've gotten in three runs this week, all before 9:00 AM and I don't think the dry heat wears me down as much as the humidity in Athens does. The overnight temps here in the borderland stay in the 80s (it was 90 degrees at 11:30 last night- yikes) so the morning runs still take plenty out of me. I just don't feel as exhausted afterward, though that may relate to the flat terrain I'm on now as opposed to the rolling hills in my neighborhood.

I've done what is always recommended-- run early, bring water, and slow the pace. Today's fiver was at 9:15 pace, which felt more like a trudge, but it has to be like this in order to get my runs in and keep the streak alive. One thing about my 'hood in Georgia is that there are plenty of trees to offer shade, which is a disadvantage here in El Paso.

I reached my goal of 90 miles last month. Blew it out of the water actually, reaching 106 on the chart. The won/lost record sits at 3-3 since I got myself back to .500 in June. I'm still behind for the year in terms of total mileage, but I'm working on that.