Warm Weather...Cool Running

The weather has been all over the place lately, but I've still managed to get some pretty good runs in. I did about 4.5 miles up to Enger Tower and back on Monday night. It was hot, but I needed to get out there. My neighbors had also invited me to a BBQ right after I was done so I had extra motivation to pick up the pace. I finished my run, ran into the house to shower and was sipping margaritas in no time (not the best idea after a run, but I survived).

Tuesday I was bit hung over as I dipped into the 12 pack of Miller Lites in our fridge after the margaritas ran dry. So....I stayed in bed in the morning and opted for a trip to Petco that evening instead of a trip to the gym. oops.

Wednesday was the Western Waterfront Trail run. Again....SUPER HOT. I couldn't believe it. Almost 85 degrees or something crazy like that. I tried to keep a faster pace just because I'm so sick of being pokey all the time. I think I did okay. I fell off my pace quite a bit at the end, but I think the heat and dehydration got the best of me. I still managed to shave almost 4 minutes off my time from last year. Okay...so should I really be saying "shave"? Isn't 4 minutes more like hacking or gauging? Either way...I was almost a minute per mile faster. Not bad!!

Thursday I've been going to the evening boot camp class so I don't have to double up on Wednesdays. Normally this works out fine, but yesterday I showed up and the instructor said that we would be trail running in Chester Bowl. Um, what? Luckily a friend of mine showed up for the first time and he wasn't much of a runner. We walked a lot of the way. I was fine with that.

Today I am on a mission to find new running shoes. After my jaunt on the WWT, I actually ended up with a bruise on the ball of my foot. My shoes must just be too broken down. Probably doesn't help that I use them for step classes and all sorts of things that they aren't really meant for. I'm not excited about spending the money, but it will be worth it to save my feet a bit of suffering.

Tomorrow.....11 miles. I'm debating on doing it on the SHT trail just to be a bit easier to my feet. I'm concerned about water since I'll be out there a bit longer with the rough terrain. Do I just take my camelback? Or do I buy one of those fancy hand held water bottles? I think both options will annoy me, but which one will be less annoying? i'm guessing it's going to depend on how much those fancy water bottles cost....