I’ve Been Stood Up!
Today’s Workout: 3.5 mile run/walk
Time: 45 minutes
Days to Marathon: 85
Today was going to be a tough run. I had signed up for the Austin Bat Run 5K, and I was going to really push myself. In theory, I would get an idea of how fast (or slow) I am in a race situation. The excitement, camaraderie, and festivity of an actual pin-a-number-on-your-shirt race always produce better times than your typical training run, and I was looking forward to the added data point.
Granted, I didn’t do the best pre-race preparation possible. I took two full days off of running this week after tweaking my knee a traipsing around a golf course. Then I stayed out until 11 last night helping a friend move, questionably wearing flip flops to lug heavy objects. My diet also was less-than-stellar — we’ve been in need of groceries for a week, but with every evening booked solid, I’ve been trying to cobble together “healthy” lunches from work cafeteria veggie burgers.
Still, a 5K isn’t particularly long or challenging, so I thought I would get a pretty solid idea of where I was at.
Around midnight last night, I decided to look up packet pickup for the race. (More evidence of my crack preparation.) That’s when I saw this:
Of course I’m dying to know what really happened. Heat just doesn’t seem like a plausible excuse. You scheduled a 5K in Austin in August. Of course it’s hot! There must be some bigger issue. So now I’m compulsively checking the internet, hoping the local running store (http://www.runtex.com/) or the local liberal rag (http://www.austinchronicle.com/) will spill some juicy gossip.
And of course I still had to get my run in today. Since I was only going to do a 5K to begin with, I didn’t feel guilty going out for just 3.5 miles. Unfortunately, I also didn’t feel guily about sleeping in, and despite trying to push myself a bit, the heat made those 3.5 miles some of the slowest and hardest yet.
I think hitting lulls in marathon motivation is inevitable, but as I ran today, I felt not only unmotivated, but angry. I am seriously angry about the weather. Honestly, why do I live in this ridiculous city where it’s been over 100 degrees almost every single day for the last 3.5 months??? Why do I try to run in a place where they cancel runs because of the heat?
Moreover, how can people look at the facts that it snowed in Minnesota this June, hit 100 in Seattle this July, and you can fry an egg on my front porch right now, and STILL not believe climate change is real? It makes me so mad I want to kick a Hummer.
Okay, I’m not really trying to be political. I mean, I do believe in global warming and the need to protect the environment, but mainly I’m just irritated because I don’t want to run in this heat anymore!! =(
Maybe next year I’ll sign up for a marathon in Minnesota.
Running Fiesta 
This says it all. Golf is tougher than running. Summer in Chicago was the coolest in memory. There's a reason why half of Texans didn't live there 25 years ago. Trucks and jeeps came without the air-conditioners that SUVs and Hummers have today. Don't kick'em – it's bad for your knee.