Hot Flashes

On Saturday, the temperature here in Denver was 71 degrees, it definitely felt like spring was springing. Actually, it really felt more like we had just skipped spring altogether and jumped right into summer. I woke up late on Saturday, lounged around, posted the Weekend Splits and then at high noon decided it was high time I got started on my long run. No, I was not high.

With all this cold weather we’ve been having lately, I’d forgotten just how much the heat can affect your time, or how easy it is to blame it for a bad run. I’m all about making excuses. When I returned from my run I actually told my wife that I was sick of the warm weather and much preferred running in the cold to running in the heat. She told me that I was an idiot for running during the hottest part of the day and she’s probably right. Frankly, there are only two words that can be used to describe someone who waits until the hottest part of the afternoon to run: mor on.

I woke up Sunday morning, not 18 hours after my long sweaty run, to the sounds of neighbors shoveling the snow from their walks and my two boys yelling “Daddy, it snowed!” I for one will not be complaining about the weather ever again (this is an outright lie), and I refused to shovel the driveway one day after getting sunburned as a matter of principle. For what it’s worth it doesn’t take much to sunburn my handsome fair complexion. I once had to be hospitalized for second degree sunburn after I stood at our front window waiting for the mailman to deliver my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. True story.

Saturday gave me a brief glimpse of what the spring and summer have in store for me and it was a nice reminder that I’ll need to get up earlier and not be so lazy about getting my runs in. Now if I could just get one more glimpse of summer today I can remain obstinate about not shoveling the ice rink that is my driveway.