Summer Running

The temperature is rising, and that only means one thing...

Time for summer running.

Now if you know me at all, you know I'm a little bit of a polar bear. Fall is my favorite season, but I love when the weather turns cold and it starts to snow. I especially love to run in the winter, when I can don my pink fleece running jacket and run the streets as the frigid air sears my lungs.

I never feel quite as alive as I do when I am running in the cold.

But, since being a runner means running all year round, and not just during the seasons that please me, I have finally pulled my running shorts out of hibernation (and invested in a season's supply of body glide), located my singlets, and mentally prepared myself to sweat through the summer. 

Summer running means carrying water on shorter runs, hitting the road on Sunday mornings practically before the sun comes up to beat the heat, and lots and lots of sunscreen. It means fewer races, more people crowding my favorite running paths, far more time spent lying on the floor after my runs out of sheer exhaustion from the effort it takes to slog through the summer heat, and snarky blog posts because while running in the winter for me is practically a religious experience, in the summer it's usually just something I have to survive.

I don't particularly like it, but since I recently decided to run a full marathon that is exactly ten months and three weeks from today, I just have to do it.

So, as the temperature starts to rise, I declare my summer running season - and the beginning of my marathon training - open.