Sweet (and Hot) Summertime, and Catching Up

It’s summer already?! With 6 months to go, this year has flown by so fast! So much has happened this year, everything from starting a new job (along with navigating a new city during the week), to getting back into my training schedule after surgery, to some out of state trips and more.

Since I’ve decided to blast my daily stressors away, and just have fun, by training for two of my favorite sports, I was at the park this last Sunday getting in a long run. I have a very bad habit of liking to sleep in on Sunday mornings, which is normally fine anytime in the fall or winter. However, running later than normal in the summer sun is a feat unto itself. Already reaching a blistering 90 degrees by 9 or 10 am, a hat, SPF 100 sunscreen, and a handheld water bottle are barely enough to combat what mother nature has to throw. Regardless of the sunscreen, I now have the worst sock and tan lines known to man. Summer goals as follows: wake up at 6:30 and get moving!

Urban exploring

Recently, with all the rain, my favorite local park’s paved trail has been falling off bit by large bit, like a crumbling cookie into Buffalo Bayou. I try to stay off the paved trail as much as I can, since the flat dirt trail is so much more fun. I love the feeling and crunch of the ever-changing dirt under my feet, the sounds of nature all around me, and the feeling of the wind when it sometimes blows by, sanding down the edges of the summer heat and making a hot humid day more bearable. I was heading back to the car at mile 5, with 3 more to go when I ran into another runner at the water fountain. I didn’t know him, but have seen him around at times. I asked him how many miles he had done, and we started a conversation. We will call him E. He is from Jamaica, super-fast, and an ultra-runner. We ran the last three miles together, and he gave me some great training advice, some of which I started yesterday.

We talked about so much, his family, politics, the current state of the job market, etc. The conversation was unique. How many times do we have great conversations with strangers? (And I’m not talking about that weird guy who ran beside me for 4 miles twice earlier in the year, yammering on and throwing out uncomfortable compliments.) I’m so glad I got to meet E., and hope to see him out on the trails on weekends.

The secret to looking cute after a hard workout: filter, filter, filter!