I guess It's Summer

24 miles this morning in some pretty disgusting weather. Actually I had a few flashbacks to Chicago '07. I started the run at about 5:30AM and I could tell right away this was going to be a challenge. The humidity was high even at that point. By the time I was finished, the temps were in the mid 80's and the humidity wasn't far behind. One of the challenges for me when I do this run into work is to be able to get fluids throughout the run. This was definitely important on a day like today. Last time I did this route, it was cold and rainy and dark for much of the run so the need to drink wasn't as important as it was today.

So my question is, what happened to all the water fountains? I must have run past at least 5 or 6 ball parks and playgrounds today and not one of them had a drinking fountain. You'd think at least some of them would. Has the bottled water craze trickled down to the 5-12 year old demographic as well? Finally after about 17 miles of running I ducked into a gas station and got some water. I probably should have stopped a lot sooner to get something, but I really hate breaking up my long run rhythm with a lot of stops…and when stop at a gas station to buy something, it does turn into a 2 or 3 minute process. Plus, I was disgustingly sweaty, so the thought of standing in line wasn't all that appealing to me.

Anyway, the run went pretty good with a 6:48 average pace and all miles except for the first one coming in under 7 min/miles. I haven't been too concerned with times and workouts this week as I just want to top 100 miles for the first time in a few months. You gotta start somewhere, and hopefully, this week will be the start of a bunch of 100 miles strung together. That is what I did in 2006 and I still think that was the strongest I have ever been for a marathon. Now if I'm able to combine that with some speedwork and tempo runs, I feel like I should be able to have a really nice race come October.