It's Hawt

Well, summer is finally here. Running when the temps are in the 80's has never been my preference. It does remind me of training during summers home from college back in the day, which is kind of fun.

Today, I headed for the Commons for 5 miles. I was a bit sweaty. I did manage to take out 5 deer flies, which eases the heat momentarily each time. But, it was obvious I was feeling the heat. I thought I was running much faster than I was. The loop is about 5.1-5.2, and I clocked 44:16. Felt more like 38:16. Ugh. I wrung out my shirt before I drove home. Yuk.

I've brought water with me on the last two runs. We got D a handheld bottle so she can stay hydrated on her runs now, so I thought I'd try it out. Overall, it's not bad. It does only leave me with one hand to kill deer flies, but the hydration is worth the trade off. I always know it's there, but it's not annoying. The bottle holder we have is only 10 oz, and I'm not sure I'd want to go any larger. No idea how some ultra-types run with two 20+ ouncers. Maybe I need to do some curls.

For all you runofiles out there, are you aware that the World Championships are going on right now? Yeah, I barely was myself. I've watched a bit, but not much. Compare this to my eyeballs being glued to the tube for the Tour de France, and it's a bit sad. But, I have some theories:

1. The coverage: I know I've complained about television coverage of track & field before, but it absolutely kills me. Tom Hammond could be in a coma and be more excited than he sounds. Plus, he's not particularly knowledgeable. Add that to the least imaginative coverage ever, and you get mediocre television. Compare that to the greatest sports commentary team of all time, Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin, covering the Tour, and it's no contest. I do have a number of ideas to improve the coverage, but that's for another post.

The one bright spot for me is Ato Boldon. He does a pretty solid job with the sprints. Plus he said this following Bolt's WR: "There's is no one on this planet or any other that we know of..." who has ever gone that fast. That's awesome. He can't pull off those specs, though.

2. Lance: He's a media phenomenon. People are drawn to him. Both positively and negatively. The ratings were up some ridiculous amount this year worldwide. Lance had pretty much everything to do with that. On the flip side, track has Usain Bolt. From a media perspective, he's very similar to Lance in every way. BUT...he's no on the track for very long. If you include the qualifying rounds in the 100 and 200 meters, you can only watch him for less than 2 minutes. He;s absolutely electric in both his perfomance and personality, but he's no where to be found during the women's discus. The closest we've had is Dan vs. Dave. Ooops.