Fall Begins

Labor Day has come and gone, and a new season is here.  School has started, and at least in new York, the weather has turned to distinctly Fall-esque.  Temps in High 70s, with a chill in the air at night.  The US Open is on TV, and you can see people actually cold at night.  It makes me remember going to baseball games in Texas where the scoreboard would have the temperature at 95 degrees -- at 9 p.m. at night.  I love Fall; always have.

Florida running is always interesting.  Aside from being the brightest place on earth (or at least for me), the weather is really darn unpredictable.  It seemingly rains every day at some point, the humidity and heat spontaneously combusting with the water from the Gulf of Mexico to produce an afternoon shower.  Except when it comes in the morning (see below).  And this year, for whatever reason, the weather was moving the exact opposite direction -- from Southeast to Northwest.  So all my instincts were wrong about which way the rain was heading, the wind was blowing, etc.

That leads to my last Florida run, a planned 6.5 mile jaunt at about 11 a.m. on a partly cloudy morning.  Set off at a good pace, and then, about 1 mile before my turnaround point, I felt a rain drop.  I could either turn around, and cut the run at 4 miles or so, or push on and deal.  I pushed on and dealt.  But then, more drops, and then an out and out downpour.  Not a little rain, a real shower.  Yuck.  I stopped to get some water at a convenience store and waited to see if it would pass.  It didn't.  My shirt and hat were dripping.  My shoes -- waterlogged and squishy.  Glasses were rain speckled but also indispensable as they kept the rain out of my eyes.  And I was 3 miles from home.  I got back out, figuring I didn't have all day and the rain wasn't going to pass anytime soon, and might as well deal with.  And the rain slackened somewhat, but it was still raining hard.  And the streets and sidewalks were now flooded.  Running through giant puddles created by overwhelmed storm drains, muddy sand off the sidewalks and streets, cars splashing in said puddles.  Yuck.  Time to not worry about pace and just get home.  A survival run.  Not very much fun. 

And I forgot to restart my Garmin (or the rain stopped it, which has happened before), and because it was wet, I couldn't get it restarted.  I have never felt more helpless, drenched in the rain, punching buttons and trying to get my Garmin going.  I just pushed on and whatever. So when I got home, my Garmin showed a 3 mile run.  Thanks Garmy.  I am thinking it may be time for a new Garmin.  This one is 2 and a half years old, and the buttons are beginning to stick.  And the bezel is more finicky than ever. 

But then the next day, an easy trip back to New York... and fall.  We landed and it was 73 degrees.  And sunny and dry.  Good to be home.  Back to college football season!

Wings of a Butterfly

Its amazing how unrelated events all conspire to produce an unintended result.  Several nights ago, I ran at home late at night on my treadmill.  The family cringes at the sight and smell of my sweaty gym clothes.  They really smell chlorinated or something.  Anyways, I left them, along with my shoes on the back porch.  Except that night it rained.  So my shoes were drenched.  I pulled out the insoles, put in some newspaper and left by an air conditioning vent to dry. 

We are now in Florida on vacation.  I grabbed my shoes, and packed them quickly.  Went for a run, and noticed, hmmm, my shoe laces seemed a little loos and tied a little longer.  Went for a blistering 5 miles in the Florida sun and nearly melted.  When I came home, I took off my shoes ... and no insoles.  I had just run 5 miles without insoles, or even noticing that I didn't have insoles in my shoes! Somewhere along that chain of events before packing the insoles never made it back into the shoes.  Well, now I was stumped.  I couldn't run the rest of the week without insoles.  There isn't a running store close to buy a new pair of shoes.  So, I went to the closest drugstore (and there is one on every corner in Florida) and bought a pair of Dr. Scholls Sport insoles.  With gel cushioning rebound also!

Today I went for a run expecting a squishy feeling.  But...nothing.  Felt completely normal.  All is well that ends well.

Running in Florida is such a difference for me.  It is hot.  It is humid.  It is flat.  It is sandy and even windy. And most differently, it is bright.  Unbelievably, eye hurting bright.  I have sunglasses glued to my face 24/7 when I am here, and I still end up squinting. 

But it is vacation, the last week before school starts, so very hard to complain.

Thanksgiving Runs...

We are in Florida on the annual Thanksgiving migration.  Compared to New York, Florida is hot, flat and humid.  And a welcome change.  Unfortunately, one thing that did not change was the one constant in New York over the last several months: rain.  The day before Thanksgiving, we got almost an inch and a half of rain.  I managed to run in a light drizzle and ran a neat 5 miles.

Thanksgiving, though, I was determined to put in a good run before turkey, pie and mashed potatoes.  I actually made the mashed potatoes based on a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis (basics: potatoes, butter and cheese.  What could go wrong with that?).

So, anyway, got up and ran about 8.5 miles.  I had wanted to do a turkey trot, but the St. Pete trot was about an hour and a half away.  Eh, so I just ran around here.  8.5 sunny miles, with a distinct wind.  I went with a comfortable pace, with an eye on my heart rate.  First mile 7:28; second mile: 7:28; third mile: 7:28.  I have never, ever, run three miles in exact same pace as measured by Garmin.  I mean they were within 0.3 seconds of one another.  I couldn't do that again if I tried.  Next 5 were all within a band of 7:31 to 7:22 per mile.  That is a fantastic pace and still a little freaky in terms of consistency (I didn't realize that I had run 3 straight at 7:28 until I got home and looked at the data.)

That made my decision to eat well yesterday an easy one.  Sadly, the highlight of the meal was not my potatoes.  Rather, my sister in law made the pie on the cover of the November Southern Living:  a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crumb crust and pecan strudel on top.  That was delicious.  And I am sure low fat.  Calorie wise, I bet it accounted for 7 of the 8 miles I ran in the morning.

That is what Thanksgiving in Florida is all about.  Today is Auburn/Alabama, and another day of gluttony (burgers, beer for lunch; stone crabs and wine for dinner.)  And today it is sunny and bright.  Ahhh, vacation.