Uphill battles

The weather has changed. A week ago, all in Northern New England (I capitalize our sweet NH/VT/ME area since we are quite different from the south) bundled up against the cold rainy outside. Now, not so much - the tide has turned and I find myself looking at our thermometer which states 93 on our porch. Yoiks!

I bring up the change in weather as the topic directly relates to today's post, which is a 2-in-1 blast. I meant to write about the Red Hook 5k yesterday, but was distracted by a Fisher Cats game in Manchavegas (Manchester.......hee, hee!). Hothothothot. How hot? A new runner just missed the finish line because she fell down, seizing. Big, strong men, as well as newbie runners, fell prey to the heat and the Portsmouth Fire Department was on hand for help - GO PFD! We also had a friend help out; he happens to be a racing RunnerDad and a firefighter for a different town!

SwimGirl did well, placing 3rd in her age group. She was pretty pleased, as the amount of running she has been doing is much less than last year, as she is spending MUCH more time swimming. I did well, too, considering the heat, bettering my not-so-fab finish at the Children's Museum 5k by about 30 seconds. However, neither of us had done much (me=no) training in the heat. At one point, I literally thought my head would explode I was SO HOT. Blech.

Therefore, today I did 7+ miles at 8am. Now, the temperature had not yet reached its zenith, but still had some power, being 75+. I also trained running down from lovely Dovah into southern Maine. (Yes, I live close enough to the border to run into Maine....yeesh.) I mention this only because those familiar to the area have a strong awareness of the HILLINESS. I figured I might as well get the best use of my time as possible and ran hills in the heat. I then went home and discovered a pair of my "little" shorts fit without tightness - SCORE!

The pain, she pays off! Woot!