I've been trying to run as much as I can all summer. I've had some challenges to overcome, and at times I can't drag myself out of bed to hit the trail, but when I do, I'm ALWAYS glad I did. If you look at the picture below, you can see why. Isn't it beautiful?
Challenges:
Johnny leaves for work at 6:45 so he can catch the 6:54 train into the city. If I want to run, I have to be back by 6:45. That means getting up waaay earlier than I'm used to!
The weather, like in most places is unpredictable. It ended up raining a lot of mornings. Sometimes I'd get up, eager to run, only to find it wet and rainy. I'm sure the die-hard marathon runners hit the path anyway, but hey, I never said I was a die-hard marathon runner. So, back to bed for me.
All of the rain caused much humidity here. Many warned me of the humidity in Chicago, but I informed them that I was from Dallas and clearly knew all about humidity. Well, I was wrong. Dallas ain't got nuthin' on Chicago from a humidity stand-point. Sure, it was humid in Dallas, but never so that I didn't even want to step foot outside. If I did, I immediately wanted a shower. AND, it was difficult to breathe. Needless to say, not great running conditions. (As a side note, we really only had to suffer through maybe 2 weeks of extreme humidity. All in all, most of the summer weather was great.)
The rain and humidity brought another little treat. An ABUNDANCE of mosquitoes. Hungry ones. One day after the humidity had calmed down, I eagerly hit the path. I didn't realize what a problem the mosquitoes were until AFTER I got through with my run. I guess with the adrenaline pumping and the music jamming I didn't realize that I was breakfast for the hungry masses. Luckily the Benadryl kicked in quickly and I was only swollen twice my size for about 4 hours.
If you've kept up with my blog, you probably read all about the bad storm. Sadly, a lot of damage was done to trees along the path, and portions of it were not in running condition for some time. And although the crews worked quickly to restore the path, I missed many morning jogs.
Now here it is, mid-September. My new reason for not running is that, "baby, it's cold outside." I am a little behind the curve on what to wear on a 6 am jog when it's still below 50. I'm thinking I'll wear my p.j.'s, stay in bed and hit the treadmill in the afternoon. I'll save the beautiful Prairie Path for summer. And now I have something to look forward to.
Ahhhh, the Prairie Path. What a wonderful thing.
1 comment:
When I read "I am a little behind the curve on what to wear on a 6 am jog when it's still below 50. I'm thinking I'll wear my p.j.'s..." I took a mental pause and immediately pictured you running thru that first pic of the Prarie Path in you pj's and houseshoes before I read the rest of the sentence. funny. :-)
Humidity? Mosquitos? You mean Wheaton isn't all sunshine and butterflies??? I have to rethink my move now.
Post a Comment