72 deg. feels like ... I should have gotten up earlier

Up until now the weather this summer has been great. There were even some days, a few weeks ago, where I thought the leaves might start to turn. This past weekend all that changed and Tennessee summer started to feel like a Tennessee summer. If you went for a long Saturday run I'm sure you felt it.

I have the fortune and misfortune of working a forty hour week in three days. It is fortunate because, now that I'm not in summer classes, I can run most any time of the day. It is unfortunate because I am not able to join Team A.S.K. for the long Saturday runs.

Today I realized another unfortunate aspect of not having to schedule a run around five work days. Instead of waking up and running when it is cooler I spend my morning checking baseball scores, reading NPR.com, and drinking coffee. Then once it gets nice and hot I drink a few glasses of water to rehydrate myself and set out on a run. This is where the fun starts. Today I ran when it was in the high 80's and the humidity was 30%. If you have been in the south for any period of time you know there are days when you pray for high 80's and 30% humidity. Today the weather did slow me down some and I wasn't able to really get into a groove. Even if the weather was cooler my morning routine is not one of a person who is running a half marathon in 8 weeks. The way I'm going I'd just be drinking my first glass of water when my teammates cross the finish line.

The solution - Obviously it's get up and out the door earlier

I will have to start training earlier because it is only going to get hotter. My body needs to know my mind expects it to have run a few miles by daylight. By the time race day rolls around my mind and body shouldn't even have to say anything to each other. They should just give one another a familiar nod and be on their way.

So, for my later than it should have been run, I took a short walk to the square to warm up then hit the Greenway. As residents of Murfreesboro we are fortunate to have an excellent greenway. It doesn't run along the ocean or through the Redwoods, but I would put it up against greenways in any other small, land locked community. The Parks and Recreation Department does a great job and continues to expand the trail. I made it to the General Bragg (yes we still name things after Confederate Generals 100+ years after the Civil War) trailhead. This was a good midway point because I knew it had a bathroom and I had made sure I kept myself hydrated during the run. I also took the oppourtunity to splash some water on my face and douse my head.

Curious as to how far my run was I used a great tool avaiable on the US Track and Field site. On the site you can use Google Maps to map your run or find routes that other people in your area have mapped. My run was just shy of six miles once I made it back home.

You can park at the General Bragg Trailhead off of West College St.
or on the Square downtown. You won't have to pay for parking on the
weekends. If you are there during the week park off of the square. If
you start at the square you can end your run with some coffee and carbs
at the Clay Cup, during the week or The City Cafe, on the weekend.