Hills of Tallahassee, in August

Florida continues to be astonishingly harsh for training and again the 85 degree 85% humidity took its toll on me this past Sunday. I got up for 8 miles and had my new Nathan pack with me, which felt great full of ice water on my back when I was getting started.

At my parent's house in Tallahassee, there is only one way out of the neighborhood, back onto a 45 mph road that is not intended as a main road, but is definitely well traveled (it's named Centerville Road, BTW). After getting a quarter mile down it, I have the option of a couple neighborhoods to start running through. Since Tallahassee recently made a huge road extension to help move traffic through town, there is now a long stretch of road with nice sidewalks, a few trees, and few stop lights to interrupt the run called Blairstone. I have run it before training for the Gainesville half marathon last year.

Now, the downside is that Tallahassee is fairly hilly (the city is named for the seven hills it is built on, or so I was taught in elementary school). I tried calculating the total ascent I made with http://www.mapmyrun.com but I am not sure I did it right. At any rate, my time on the run should give you some indication of 1)my poor stamina for hills at this point and 2) just how hot and muggy it was. It took me almost 1:15 to run 8 miles, almost a ten-minute/mile pace! I've not been that slow that I can remember since I started paying attention to my times.

It was long, slow, exhausting, and before long, the now lukewarm water on my back began to make me a little nauseated. But, I got it done and felt that beat-up-but-in-a-good-way feeling afterwards.

4 miles done this morning, and I am continuing a routine of 4/day on weekdays with a long on the weekend to get used to the base miles before my training officially starts in a couple of weeks.